Train notifications - am I being "Bah Humbug"?
Dec 18th, 2016, 05:24 AM
#1
Original Poster
Train notifications - am I being "Bah Humbug"?
A week until Christmas, and our local train station is being festive. The train notifications on the platforms are indicating that the trains are going to Sleighmouth, Baublemouth, Winterloo and Salisberries.
The problem is, if I were a visitor, unfamiliar with the area, would I know that they were bound for Weymouth, Bornemouth, Waterloo and Salisbury - particularly if English wasn't my first language and I didn't realise they were christmas themed words?
I'm not sure I shouldn't contact the train company Do I have a point or am I just being a grinch?
The problem is, if I were a visitor, unfamiliar with the area, would I know that they were bound for Weymouth, Bornemouth, Waterloo and Salisbury - particularly if English wasn't my first language and I didn't realise they were christmas themed words?
I'm not sure I shouldn't contact the train company Do I have a point or am I just being a grinch?
Dec 18th, 2016, 05:27 AM
#2
yes I might be irritated but...... given the quality of announcements in British railway stations I doubt most people notice, and hey finally, just chill a little smile never hurt anyone 
My last long ride up from London the train-captain told us we were cruising at 4 metres....
My last long ride up from London the train-captain told us we were cruising at 4 metres....
Dec 18th, 2016, 05:30 AM
#3
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As a tourist I think the only one that would seriously trip me up is Weymouth...but you know, I'm sure the staff are bigger grinches than you, because I bet they are getting a lot of really stupid questions from jet lagged tourists over that
Dec 18th, 2016, 06:05 AM
#5
Looks pretty stupid to me. How am I supposed to tell Sleighmouth from Baublemouth? I was just in that area this year, and I would have been ****ed. Is it just the platform signs, or the main one as well?
Dec 18th, 2016, 06:11 AM
#6
If you are speaking of the vocal notifications I can tell you from experience that "not knowing the language" isn't some insurmountable issue.
I go to Italy a lot; I understand very little Italian. I understand even less when it is heard over some platform loudspeaker and I wonder even if I did understand Italian if I would be able to figure out what was being said.
It happens in English, too, or did at one point. Those "announcements" in NY subway trains were spoken so fast it was like hearing a foreign language sometimes.
I suspect a lot of people who decide to take a train probably have some basic idea of what to do but perhaps I am being much too generous or stupid. I'm sure I'll get told very quickly given who else is on this thread.
Since you obviously made this post out of concern as opposed to smug boredom you deserve a happy holiday IMO.
I go to Italy a lot; I understand very little Italian. I understand even less when it is heard over some platform loudspeaker and I wonder even if I did understand Italian if I would be able to figure out what was being said.
It happens in English, too, or did at one point. Those "announcements" in NY subway trains were spoken so fast it was like hearing a foreign language sometimes.
I suspect a lot of people who decide to take a train probably have some basic idea of what to do but perhaps I am being much too generous or stupid. I'm sure I'll get told very quickly given who else is on this thread.
Since you obviously made this post out of concern as opposed to smug boredom you deserve a happy holiday IMO.
Dec 18th, 2016, 08:40 AM
#11
"...they should really also announce the regular names too..."
As discussed above, you must never travel by train if you believe station announcements would be useful substitutes.
The most useful station announcements I've experienced were in Morocco, the station Mohammedia. After hearing it several times I knew how to pronounce Mohammed in Moroccan Arabic. Otherwise in other places, they may as well be in Arabic.
As discussed above, you must never travel by train if you believe station announcements would be useful substitutes.
The most useful station announcements I've experienced were in Morocco, the station Mohammedia. After hearing it several times I knew how to pronounce Mohammed in Moroccan Arabic. Otherwise in other places, they may as well be in Arabic.
Dec 18th, 2016, 09:33 AM
#12
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Announcements are no use at all to me as others have said. The only ones that I've been able to understand anywhere have been in Germany lol. Even in the US they are often a complete mystery. I don't know what kind of magic the speakers of German trains turn on...
But hopefully in this case the trains at least have digital displays with the name of the destinations
But hopefully in this case the trains at least have digital displays with the name of the destinations
Dec 18th, 2016, 09:44 AM
#13
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It seems from willit's phraseology that the LED signs on the platforms have been infected with the "Be seasonal" bug. AFAIK, that can't be done by local station staff: it has to originate from the operating company: in this case, the Southwestern trains division of Stagecoach.
I don't know whether we're being grinchy, but I think this nonsense is getting corrosive.
My - usually close to outstanding - local Co-op has one huge problem: its staff insist on chatting to customers, so service takes forever.
Bad enough when you're just trying to pick up a paper, get the dogs home and groomed and get changed in time for the 0831 into town. But at this time of the year, it starts getting deranged.
Yesterday, I missed a train because the poor chap trying to check me out had to explain to his boss why he wasn't wearing a red hat with white bobbles. That, too was a mandate from The Centre.
It all started, if you ask me, with Tom Peters and his fatheaded In Search of Excellence. Customer Service has been run by lunatics ever since: making your computers give incomprehensible information to passengers isn't the maddest idea current management thinking has created: but it's not far short.
Whenever I come across this sort of thing - in reality or proposed by someone - I always ask one question:
"What would John Lewis (actually John Spedan Lewis, who created the current ideology behind the chain named after his father) have done?"
My local Waitrose doesn't do this kind of nonsense: so it must be wrong.
I don't know whether we're being grinchy, but I think this nonsense is getting corrosive.
My - usually close to outstanding - local Co-op has one huge problem: its staff insist on chatting to customers, so service takes forever.
Bad enough when you're just trying to pick up a paper, get the dogs home and groomed and get changed in time for the 0831 into town. But at this time of the year, it starts getting deranged.
Yesterday, I missed a train because the poor chap trying to check me out had to explain to his boss why he wasn't wearing a red hat with white bobbles. That, too was a mandate from The Centre.
It all started, if you ask me, with Tom Peters and his fatheaded In Search of Excellence. Customer Service has been run by lunatics ever since: making your computers give incomprehensible information to passengers isn't the maddest idea current management thinking has created: but it's not far short.
Whenever I come across this sort of thing - in reality or proposed by someone - I always ask one question:
"What would John Lewis (actually John Spedan Lewis, who created the current ideology behind the chain named after his father) have done?"
My local Waitrose doesn't do this kind of nonsense: so it must be wrong.
Dec 18th, 2016, 10:13 AM
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Thank you, Flanner, for bringing up Tom Peters. I always wondered if the store run by Stew Leonard in Norwalk, Connecticut, which Peters was always praising, had remained a success, and what had happened to Stew.
So I looked it up.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/f.../11/01/331999/
It seems the Leonard family were into tax evasion. That must mean they were really smart. Except they were caught and gaoled. The store is still going strong, and run by the family. It claims to be the world's largest dairy store, whatever that means.
As for South-West Trains, I think it's daft. It was better when the station staff at Brockenhurst listed the stations to Bournemouth by shouting them.
So I looked it up.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fsb/f.../11/01/331999/
It seems the Leonard family were into tax evasion. That must mean they were really smart. Except they were caught and gaoled. The store is still going strong, and run by the family. It claims to be the world's largest dairy store, whatever that means.
As for South-West Trains, I think it's daft. It was better when the station staff at Brockenhurst listed the stations to Bournemouth by shouting them.
Dec 18th, 2016, 10:50 AM
#17
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Even with English as my first language, I would be mystified at this. I'd be far more comfortable in a French or Italian or German station listening to announcements. The whole thing is sort of cutesy in a mess-with-your-mind sort of way.
Dec 18th, 2016, 11:27 AM
#18
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You never should believe the overhead signs in English stations anyway IME - the train 'approaching platform 1 is the delayed North Pole Express' (and at times not the one listed, etc.)
Always listen to the PA announcements - alas harder to understand for foreigners than written signs.
I do think it is rather cute however all in all.
Always listen to the PA announcements - alas harder to understand for foreigners than written signs.
I do think it is rather cute however all in all.
Dec 18th, 2016, 10:31 PM
#20
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"You never should believe the overhead signs in English stations anyway"
Typical uninformed claptrap from a foreigner who never even uses British trains.
If there's one thing certain to be dafter than corporate management who've read Tom Peters, it's a Yank lecturing us on how to run a public transport system.
Typical uninformed claptrap from a foreigner who never even uses British trains.
If there's one thing certain to be dafter than corporate management who've read Tom Peters, it's a Yank lecturing us on how to run a public transport system.
