Great Western Coffee Shop

Not sure where to post this, but as it was at Bristol Parkway this’ll do.

It’s 18.14 - auto announcement of the cancellation of the 18.24 Plymouth train: “Passengers for Bristol Temple Meads - your next fastest direct service is the 18.46 service to Warminster. Passengers for Taunto and stations to Plymouth, your next fastest direct service is the 19.22 to…”
The first bit is downright wrong - there’s an 18.16 to Temple Meads from the opposite platform face in 2 minutes (and it hasn’t yet arrived, so there’s plenty of time). The second part, while strictly speaking true, ignores the fact that by catching the 18.16 and changing at TM onto the GW stopper, even Plymouth passengers will get home earlier than if they wait at Parkway. Taunton passengers will save something like 35 minutes. 0/10 for accuracy. What’s the point of computer announcements unless the y provide correct (and helpful) information. No human override, either, which was also poor.

The minimum change time at BPW is over 2 minutes....hence they are right to ignore the 1816

So those people already on platform 2 ignore the train that pulls into platform one 2 minutes later? We’re not talking about a connection here, but people waiting on the same platform

No, ChrisB - it is wrong to ignore a train that hasn't even arrived yet in announcements of the "next fastest direct train", especially at the very platform it's due to call at.  Once the train has arrived, passengers have left and others have started to board is the time to move that "next fastest direct train" announcement on.

Hang on a mo'....Graham you are right. However....


So, at the point that the 1824 was announced as cancelled (1814), the next fastest train was ....still the 1816, regardless of the state of the 1824 then? Or did the 1824 overtake the 1816 on a standard day? I'm confused before even trying to work out part 2.

The next fastest direct service always strikes me as barely worth announcing, especially in the context of much quicker non-direct alternatives, but it would require much more (too much?) sophistication to work out and announce alternatives with multiple changes. 

As is often the case with automated information systems, the intention is good, but the end result often confuses even more.

Is this potentially something a bit more silly? Like the next departure AFTER the 18.24 would have been the ones announced. So not the next fastest at the time of the announcement, but the next fastest after the time of the original service. Obviously not customer friendly if there's an option between the time of the announcement and the original service, but I can see why an auto announcement would work like that! (there's also the issue of advance tickets, and I believe technically they'd only be valid on services after the original time and not before).

Another example of technology not keeping up.

Today services between Swindon and Cheltenham Spa are only running between Swindon and Stroud.  Services use the up line in both directions between Kemble and Stroud as there is no crossover at the latter to cross a train over to return to Swindon.

However that has confused the departure screens at Kemble.

(https://mbob.co.uk/rforum/kemcis.png)