Tyne and Wear Metro: Displaying line colour on destination displays, PA

[choo.choo]

Compared to other Metro systems, the Tyne and Wear Metro makes relatively little use of the named/coloured lines in communication with passengers. The coloured lines on the maps/journey planner apps seem to be the only official passenger facing reference to the colours I’m aware of - I don’t recall ever seeing passenger information displays or hearing PA announcements a train ever being referred to as a “Yellow” or “Green” line train. For those unfamiliar, the convention instead is that they are referred to by their destination and those familiar with the system (or who look it up on the maps) then know which line it will take.

I would guess this is because the lines share track in the core section, so the colour designation is relatively arbitrary in that there’s nothing (physically, at least) preventing a train running that starts on one line and terminates on another. Although AFAIK this never happens in undisrupted service anyway.

I think for tourists, new students, or anyone who uses the system infrequently, it would be useful to provide some indication of which colour line a train is taking directly. It wouldn’t be necessary for those of us familiar with the system, but others new to the Metro may only know the name of their departure station, the name of the station they want to go to, and the colour of the line. Obviously you can just look at the maps and work it out but if you’re unfamiliar and in a rush, or if you’re getting onto the platform as the train is pulling in etc, it seems like an extra step where potential unnecessary confusion could arise.

I have been approached by people especially at Central and Monument a few times confused by this, one time someone thought an Airport-bound train was for the yellow line because the display on the front of the train was yellow (lol), one time someone got South Shields and South Hylton confused (presumably not from the area), etc.

I think as well as showing destination, indicating a line colour (where possible in undisrupted service) on station displays, train displays and PA systems would be beneficial, as it would make the Metro more friendly to those who aren’t regular users and improve accessibility.

Thoughts?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 7 Jan 2023 ==

Edit: I’m not familiar with the Stadler PIS displays but potentially they could include this idea

 

[edwin_m]

It's a particular issue for Metro because of the way the yellow route crosses over itself at Monument. A casual observer at Central station might look at the map and think a "yellow route" would take them directly to Byker for example, which of course it would eventually but certainly not the quickest way. This may be a reason to emphasise destinations rather than route colour.

I was a regular Metro user in the 1980s but have hardly used it since then. At that time the platform displays had a roller blind that included the route colour - yellow going northwards through the central Newcastle stations would show "To the Coast". Train destination blinds showed the final destination against a background of the route colour. There were also red and blue routes for Pelaw to Benton and St James to North Shields short workings - in the opposite direction they just displayed yellow destinations. So I think the colours were much more important historically than they are today.

 

[Tramfan]

The platform displays after the original roller blind ones (prior to the current ones) included a couple of coloured lines next to the destination of the train IIRC. The coloured train blinds were removed in the late 90s and replaced with new blinds with green text on a black background.

 

[LLivery]

The London Underground seems to be the only system in the UK that uses line colours/names for almost everything. I find it strange Manchester, especially Manchester, and Tyne & Wear don't bother.

It's a particular issue for Metro because of the way the yellow route crosses over itself at Monument. A casual observer at Central station might look at the map and think a "yellow route" would take them directly to Byker for example, which of course it would eventually but certainly not the quickest way. This may be a reason to emphasise destinations rather than route colour.

This surely could easily be solved at Monument in the same way London's Circle line is branded - 'Yellow Line via South Gosforth', 'Yellow Line via Wallsend', 'Yellow Line towards South Shields'. I've never used the T&W Metro, but I assumed that's how it'd be.

 

[adam_haddad40]

T&W Metro has never used line colours in any meaningful way. The destination on the front of the train shows “St James” and then it flips to “via the coast” or “via Whitley Bay” to show its going round the loop.

The signage at Monument station is pretty poor if you’re changing trains - especially if you’re changing from a St James train going north round the loop from platform 2 to a direct St James train going west from platform 4. It’s clear no one has ever put themselves in the passenger’s shoes and designed the signs accordingly.

 

[DanNCL]

Internal displays on the Stadler fleet will show line colours. Example shown here:

Image from https://www.nexus.org.uk/newinterior

 

[choo.choo]

Internal displays on the Stadler fleet will show line colours. Example shown here:

Image from https://www.nexus.org.uk/newinterior

Great! I guess time will tell as to if this will be repeated on the outer and station displays, and voice announcements.

 

[Megafuss]

T&W Metro has never used line colours in any meaningful way. The destination on the front of the train shows “St James” and then it flips to “via the coast” or “via Whitley Bay” to show its going round the loop.

The signage at Monument station is pretty poor if you’re changing trains - especially if you’re changing from a St James train going north round the loop from platform 2 to a direct St James train going west from platform 4. It’s clear no one has ever put themselves in the passenger’s shoes and designed the signs accordingly.

Nowadays the colours aren't as meaningful and I agree the signage could be better.

The old platform describers used to display the color and destination, which was handy when they had a four line colour system.

 

[DanNCL]

Great! I guess time will tell as to if this will be repeated on the outer and station displays, and voice announcements.

Line colours won't feature on the external displays. The external displays are white LEDs, which on the front will display the destination and train running number. 555001 was running on the test track at Velim with "Merry Christmas" on the external displays during December.

As far as I understand new voice announcements will be recorded for the Stadler fleet (if they haven't already been recorded), but I don't know what those announcements will contain or who has voiced them.

The printed timetable posters on every platform have shown line colours for a few years now.

 

[choo.choo]

Perhaps it could be an issue with green illuminated things not being safe to have on platforms or train exteriors, particularly in the dark? I'm not sure if there are rules around that.

 

[Volvictof]

The colours don’t hold much relevance for navigating the system but they are useful for differentiating the two lines on the map and making it a bit easier to look at. I grew up on the yellow line and sometimes referred to that, but when I became a driver I was quite surprised that no mention is made of the two colours in the business at all, at least not that I’ve heard. We generally refer to them as the “airport/Hylton line“ or the “the coast”
You can also tell the route by the train numbers.
101 - 112 is green line
121 - 136 is yellow
Ones starting with 14 are morning shorts and ones starting 15 are afternoon shorts

 

[Class142sbad]

I've always referred to the different sections as lines/branches and not really the colours on the map. Like the Sunderland line or airport branch. There is no real mention of the colours on the system other then the map and like what Volvictof said, there is no mention amongst drivers and I don't think workers at nexus refer to the colours. It just makes the map easier to understand and that's it.

 

[choo.choo]

By pure coincidence a lecture I had today (my degree has nothing to do with the Metro) was given by someone who ran focus groups for the Metro Futures project during the design stage of the new trains. Here are some excerpts from focus group transcripts where people discuss this issue exactly:
https://pastebin.com/raw/daeZXMZf

The conversation was machine transcribed so you'll have to read around sentences that are transcribed slightly incorrectly.