Poster at Wembley Park southbound

I knew it was the phonetic alphabet but couldn't work out what RTI was meant to be...

Sounds like it's a poster telling drivers to bombard us with announcements to me

Poor TfL can't really win, can they? I quite like being told about delays!

It's probably so that if the Jubilee or other lines are disrupted, passengers can use the cross platform connection on to the southbound Metropolitan line, rather than changing at Baker Street.

The RTI is indeed real time Information. The Jubilee Line is performance figures mad, even by LUs standards. The train radio this morning was glowing hot from Neasden control informing drivers that managers were out and about all over the line ensuring drivers were giving out RTI. If only Neasden themselves were more forthcoming with RTI when there is Jubilee disruption....but I digress.

Well I am one of these people who broadcast these "self congratulatory messages", and I am not a manager, in the main they are broadcast by control room operators or station supervisors. PAs being broadcast is [Especially good service messages] a double edged sword. On balance, they are a good thing I feel. As to your views on the Jubilee upgrade Diana, they are well known.

There are similar laminated posters at Acton Town and I've seen a few popping up across the network.

Any public-facing role in a large organisation is always going to get held up to standards that are easily put in to a spreadsheet to analyse. My work gets pulled up on really specific and subjective stuff in our equivalent, it annoys me as we provide consistently good customer service.

As long as you don't get over-zealous managers pushing targets for the sake of it the 30-second rule is actually a good standard. I really appreciate one effective PA on my journey if there's going to be a slight delay or we're being held at a couple of red signals. Have sympathy for drivers if you're getting in trouble for not repeating the same thing seven times when constantly stopping at red signals.

"Infamy, infamy.....they've got it in for me!"

From Carry On Cleo I think.


I find it amazing now that there are so many announcements on the Underground these days. A complete contrast from my commuting days in the 1970s to early 1980s. I respect the good intentions but is too much a bad thing? Or is too much better than nothing?

This thread has made interesting reading. That's what I like about this Forum!

Much better than nothing as it used to be,although the clarity could be improved sometimes.
Some drivers can be very ''chatty'' and you half expect them to come out with something like''Arriving at Pinner International in 10 minutes,fasten seat belts,cabin crew doors to manual''

We are waiting for the current "trend" to slowly die away, as I am sure it will at some point in the future - but maybe not until that big sports event happens in a couple of years.

The public, whilst getting "more" information - in fact overloaded with the stuff when there is nothing to tell - are actually stuck between being told what's going on and being told what the "criteria" set for each line wants them to be told.

A recent discussion / example.

This morning. Signal problem Aldgate East. The H&C service is shown as "part suspended between Liverpool Street and Barking." People on duty did ask if it could be shown as "Liverpool Street to Aldgate East" to prompt people into getting to the latter and catching onward District services. Unfortunately the "criteria" does not allow this.

Fictional example. A branch of the Met line has every other train cancelled. For a 10 minute service this means the service is running every 20 minutes. However, the criteria states in simple terms that unless a customer has to wait more time than the equivalent of 2 cancellation headways (in this case 30 minutes) then "minor delays" cannot be advertised. Under the criteria, "Minor Delays" tells the customer that they "may have to wait longer than normal." Taking the theory behind this, think of an average platform. Very few people will actually have to wait the full 20 minutes - mainly only those who just missed the previous service.

So within those 2 examples. In the first you see a case of advertising more disruption than needed, and a lack of telling people what IS running. In the second, a case of advertising less disruption, and again a lack of telling people what IS running.

A long time ago I sat in a few meetings designed to come up with suggestions to "revise" what we tell people (I even asked for suggestions on here as to what should be given out.) Unfortunately, the discussions died a death and we were stuck with what we have, and carried on telling customers what the "criteria" set out, rather than advertising a clearer picture.

Anyone trying to replace the system has to also bear in mind that the replacement must be as simple and uncomplicated as the "Minor Delays / Severe Delays / Good Service" message, but at the same time it must give out valued information. The criteria should also be simple, whilst at the same time making sure our customers don't avoid their usual journey for the sake of one small delay.

Is this criterion part of your fictional example, or is it part of TfL's actual rules? Is it muddying the water to ask if Overground services use the same criteria, and if so what would happen wrt. reporting delays on the every-fifteen-minutes ELL service north from New Cross-not-Gate?