Chris M
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Post by Chris M on Jul 7, 2024 0:21:29 GMT
The S stock trains will definitely not get replacement displays "in the near future" unless someone comes up with a large amount of money. The earliest it will happen is at a major refurbishment that's unlikely to happen before the nominal mid-life point. I can't remember and can't immediately find what the design life for S stock is, but I think it was 40 or 50 years, which would put the earliest start of the mid-life refurbishment program around 2028-2033 for the S8s.
I don't know how well they are faring mechanically, but from the perspective of an occasional traveller they could do with new seat coverings but otherwise seem in very good nick so if TfL's budget situation is similar at that point to how it is now and there are no major legislative changes regarding passenger information I don't forecast a major upgrade being high priority.
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Post by jimbo on Jul 7, 2024 2:55:33 GMT
I think the S8 fleet is currently undergoing its first heavy overhaul, with the S7 fleet to follow.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 7, 2024 14:04:27 GMT
It can work on north/south diagrams. The Victoria line used to have different diagrams on either side of the cars so direction of travel was there to be seen. Back in the 80s I tried the same for D stock trains and there were numerous complaints because in people's minds it didn't align with the Tube map etc. I was called an idiot by somebody who got through to me on the phone. Chris, sorry to learn about that idiot name-calling - its appalling. I like the concept of having maps turned round on one side of the train to accurately show the direction of travel however, whilst the concept is sound it would work best if it were possible to be consistent and do this throughout the system. Unfortunately some lines having loops prevents this. A far simpler way to show the direction of travel is either illuminated arrows or a dot light next to the appropriate arrow printed on the paper map. |
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class411
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Post by class411 on Jul 7, 2024 16:38:28 GMT
With LCD screens, rather than simple dot matrix (yes, I know that, technically, an LCD screen is a dot matrix), there are all sorts of ways to present the information clearly and unambiguously.
But, as Simon says, there's a very easy way to make a paper (or enamel) diagram unambiguous.
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Post by Chris L on Jul 9, 2024 6:55:56 GMT
All enamel diagrams produced over many years have only been north/south aligned. I can only think of some old Met ones that weren't.
The problem with the paper diagrams is that visitors/strangers only focus on "their" part of the diagram. They look for the station where they want to get off and never see the headers on the S7 diagrams. So would they spot an arrow.
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Post by spsmiler on Jul 9, 2024 22:21:24 GMT
They might if it has a flashing light next to it!
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Post by Chris L on Jul 10, 2024 6:09:58 GMT
Very expensive to install and maintain.
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class411
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Post by class411 on Jul 10, 2024 10:31:38 GMT
This is the problem with any retro-fit, isn't it?
In this case the amount of planning and work required for something so inherently simple would be immense.
And even if you had a platonically perfect system, it's easily thwarted by someone standing between the observer and the sign!
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