Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Have you travelled by bus lately?
I don't travel by bus that much so it was a surprise to me at the weekend to find that the 141 has gone all hi-tech and features 'next-stop audio visual announcements'. This is absolutely great for people that don't know their bus routes and probably extremely annoying for people that do. Unless someone on Wikipedia is having a laugh, this technical wizardry is down to buses being fitted with GPS and gyroscopes - your 141 is not just a bus, it is an iBus.
It all sounds rather marvelous, but it is difficult to reconcile the statement 'We also send data directly to traffic lights where timings can be altered to help speed up buses so reducing the problems of congestion.' with a world that allows the Sainsbury's gridlock situation, and having just stood at a bus stop showing 'Next 141 in 13 minutes' only for two 141s to turn up at once.
(PS. Most likely the 29 has this as well, but I travel even less often on that route.)
(PPS. The announcement for the Rowley Gardens stop pronounced it as rhyming with 'Owww', rather than 'Oh'.... Is this correct?)
Tags for Forum Posts: buses, public transport
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Takaokagiejin on
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I too thought it was Rowley (Rohlee), and won't be told I'm wrong by a bus. Is there a real live person out there who can tell us the right answer?
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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I find the announcements a bit intrusive, but at least they are (so far) at a reasonable level.
I have practically stopped using the Piccadilly Line because of the ear-splitting level of the announcements - much louder than other lines. If you complain to station staff they agree but say a) they have no control over them and b) management ignore their complaints.
And there is a constant barrage of hectoring and useless announcements as if they are auditioning for Butlins. I don't need to be told that "There is a good service on all London Underground lines". I EXPECT there to be a good service - tell me only if there is a problem.
It's odd - my hearing gets more acute the older I get :-)
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Being a regular bus user, I find these announcements useful, especially if I'm on an unfamiliar route. My family travelling from Liverpool street to my house on the bus find them very helpful (especially my Dad who has a tendancy to get horribly lost). Even on a familiar route, can't say they bother me much, much less than someone playing 'tunes' on a tinny mobile phone speaker or too loudly on a walkman and if the iBus could jam all mobile phone calls made from it after the first three minutes, then I would be spared listening to people's conversations to their pals three inches from me ear.
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Permalink Reply by Danzigger on
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I'm not particularly impressed with the announcements; if someone wants a particular stop what's wrong with asking the driver or another passenger? It's another instance of a Hi.Tech "solution" displacing human interaction.
I'd rather some thought, money and effort went into more pressing problems of anti-social behaviour of the type you mention Liz, and the violent, threatening behaviour I often see on buses. A conductor would be miles better than any gadgetry.
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It's not that I think the announcements are a bad thing - obviously they are helpful. But I think they are being used instead of a conductor, and in that respect they aren't as good.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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They're not as nice, sure... but they are at least as good. I overheard a young Spanish(?) bloke on a Night bus once asking if it went to GLOU SES TER Rd... it did but the driver just grunted "never 'erd of it".
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I agree that most bus drivers I come across are pretty grumpy. Are they like this to begin with? Or do they start the job with a smile on their face and a song in their heart only to be ground down by the people they have to deal with?
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Permalink Reply by Karin on
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bus drivers suddenly seem to come alive to shout at folk with prams/buggies! Usually to tell you that there are too many prams on the bus - and this is when they have already let you on and you have swiped your oyster card.
Plus I love the way everyone storms the 29 without waiting for people to get off the bus. I was threatened by two teenage girls recently who were so busy getting on they didn't see me getting off with my daughter in her buggy and I accidently ran over one of thems toes and when I said sorry she threatened me and my little girl (she's not a particularily scarey looking two year old)
I'm walking from now on
Rant over....
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How horrible!
You can perhaps sympathise with bus drivers a bit when you see how rude, inconsiderate and down-right nasty some of their passengers are. However, perhaps if drivers vented spleen on aggressive teenagers and fare dodgers, rather than mums with prams, it would make the situation better.
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