Removing unnecessary and pointless announcements

Does anyone on here know a "visually impaired person" (VIP) whose opinion on announcements might be somewhat different to those of us with reasonable eyesight? Would reducing announcements be in line with the Equality Act 2010?

That's a very good point.

Any changes must take account of visual and auditory impairment - although I'm sure that LU are well on top of that.

I don't think that the 'change here' information would be any more useful to a visually impaired person than to a normally sighted one. In fact, making room for a very clear "This is XXXXX" would most likely be of benefit.

Issuing 'change here' messages would only really seem to benefit someone who gets on a train at random, hoping it will take them where they want to go - and that would be absurd.

Surely, when undertaking an underground (or any other) railway journey, the prime thing in the passenger's mind is: "I must get off at XXXX". And surely, cutting down on as much extraneous clutter so that the station announcement stands out would be the best way to help everybody. And having the station name displayed on arrival would be of great assistance to hearing impaired people who tend to be forgotten.

"Due to an incident on the line, you may experience some delay to your journey. London Underground apologises for any inconvenience caused."
"This train is being held here awaiting a vacant platform at the station ahead. Please await further announcements."
"This train is being held at a red signal owing to congestion ahead. Please await further announcements."
as well as the ever annoying;

Whilst they are available to us, we are actively discouraged from using them by management. The reassurance PA's (those annoying one's we do when sat at red signals) are supposed to be done manually with our own voice 'to reassure customers that everything is normal and we are in control'.

Anyway, in the interests of a balanced discussion I think some context is required here.

Whilst I quite agree that the idea some survey arrived at the conclusion that the travelling public want us to reassure them every single time we experience a brief delay is questionable, it should be noted that these reassurance PA's came about as a direct response to 7/7. At that time the travelling public were nervous when trains stopped in tunnels between stations and having the driver come on the PA and essentially say "no worries folks, this is quite normal" was most likely quite welcome.

17 years later, is it still relevant? The terrorism threat has changed, and indeed Covid has caused its own change. Wi Fi is everywhere and access to information is improving. The railway is arguably a different environment now.

I think its certainly right to pass on relevant information when the driver has it. Sometimes we are as literally in the dark as our passengers and so I suppose the simple rule of 'if you've got nothing interesting to say, don't bother saying anything' might be a good benchmark. But then again, if you leave it to driver discretion you will get a complete mix of standards. At least with the current system there is a basic standard.

Bottom line though is that there are many different types of customer using the railway and they all have very different needs. It's impossible to find a one-size-fits-all solution!

There's still the issue of waiting 30 seconds on some lines to find out where a train is going + 20% of the time this isn't possible until train departure.

I agree. I don't know how limited the RTI library is on the Vic but on S stock one could trigger a more useful message such as 'London Overground is suspended between xxx and yyy.'. All stops served by any TfL rail borne services are in the library including trams.
And yes, these are generally added too liberally on the Vic at weekends. During a 4LM closure we were told about it at length on the Vic at every station across central London!

Passengers ARE uneasy where unscheduled stops are concerned.
Driverless trains at the Gateshead Garden Festival, long before the London terror outrage, carried a prominent sign thus:

"Trains may stop between stations for good reason".

You must be reading a different thread to me as I see nothing like that at all.

This bit you have correct.


But this bit is a mixture of half right, completely wrong and a matter of personal opinion.



Your first two sentences I agree with, after that it starts getting a bit embarrassing.

Bus announcements are a godsend for anyone who is unfamiliar with a route, particularly if the stop you want is one that is frequently bypassed.



And the key point implied there, surely, is that the announcement be made by the driver.

We're all used to transportation devices such as lifts that can gabble away quite happily with nerry a human in sight. Hearing a clearly automated announcement is unlikely to reassure.

Even the unhelpful 'stopped at a red signal' means something when it is made by a human being - i.e. that the driver is aware of and monitoring the situation and that he is carrying human beings, and not just delivering a set of articulated carriages.

Where/when we have driverless trains, the system will know exactly what the delay is and will be able to select/generate a useful message to inform passengers.

ETA: If TPTB think it necessary.

This www.railforums.co.uk/threads/fear-of-being-stuck-on-the-underground-without-an-announcement-from-tube-driver-pls-help.227438/#post-5510274 gives an interesting alternative perspective. A driver's announcement suggesting passengers hold on to something as the train was about to trip past a signal stuck at danger and so would stop suddenly rather backfired and caused one passenger extreme worry. I'm not saying the announcement was in any way wrong, but it does confirm that nothing will please everyone.

I have lost central vision and periphery vision in one eye and some periphery vision in the other eye. I have also lost a small amount of colour vision in one eye too. I remain an outpatient of Moorfields eye hospital. 

Usually after a visit to the hospital, I have dilated pupils which make my eyes extremely sensitive to natural light. It is particularly difficult even crossing the road and I have to just look at the ground whilst squinting my eyes. The green painted strip on the pavement which runs from the hospital to Old Street tube station entrance is therefore very helpful for me although the paint is starting to dry out. Fortunately I do not have any difficulties using the tube (when it is underground) with dilated pupils. However it is difficult for me to look outside the window with dilated pupils in broad daylight when the tube travels above ground. Announcements as to what is the next station can therefore be helpful in this case. 

I struggle to read the new platform DMI's as the text can be too small unless I happen to be particularly close to the DMI. Platform posters are still fine and very helpful. I think TfL should be commended for the useful "line posters" (whatever they are called) which shows the next stations along the line in one direction. Whilst the platform posters in my view are good (particularly those placed on the tube tunnel walls), some of the text for the in-car line diagrams is too small e.g. the text for Turnham Green on the Piccadilly line. Again, announcements are very helpful in this case, particularly regarding any specific station details. 

It takes me 3-4 times longer to read using just my "bad eye". If I was to close my "good eye", the best way to describe trying to read is that I have to offset the focus of my eye very slightly away from the word to then see it clearly before progress to the next word. By the time the sentence is finished, I need to have remembered all the words. This is simple if you can make out the words easily (as with "normal" sight) but when you need an extra second or two to make out each word you would be surprised at the increase in difficultly when reading even simple sentences. 

In my case (if the "good eye" were closed) what helps is to have white text on a black background. It really makes a significant difference for me in comparison to having light grey text on a white background. I am able to see more clearly the region of lost vision in the central part and for whatever reason, this allows my brain to better adjust and be able to read the text more efficiently. For this reason, I also made the comments some time ago that the grey colour of the zones on previous iterations of the tube map is simply not clear. In fact, I found some almost impossible to discern. As far as I am aware, TFL do not offer alternative coloured maps, except a black and white version.

I can imagine reading can therefore become a "chore" for people with worse visual impairments and even the knowledge of knowing there will be regular announcements is probably highly beneficial.

As an aside I also have ASD. I do not like having to approach strangers for advice. I would only do so if absolutely necessary. Having announcements and maps means that I can have less social interaction with strangers which makes my journey more comfortable. An example would be at Acton Town. During a period when there have been delays, a member of staff gives announcements about the next train to Heathrow or Uxbridge as well as details of the approaching train. This means that I do not have to stand in an area of the platform which makes me feel uncomfortable just to read the DMI (yes, this is a thing) when the platforms happen to be particularly busy or even during regular times where I know people typically tend to accumulate (e.g. near entrances or the DMI).