Disruptions Board?

[whole diary]

[bobm]

Is there merit in having a Disruptions Board?

It is sometimes something of a lottery where to put details of a line problem.  For example an incident at Southall - should it go in London to Reading because that is where it happened but then will it be missed by those travelling beyond Reading to the West, South Wales or the Coltswolds?

Or are we in danger of trying to duplicate what FGW^▸ (First Great Western) provide on their website and it is more of a historical record and therefore the posting location is not so important?

[lordgoata]

I actually really like that idea! Seems to make a lot of sense to collate them in one location and would make it much easier to spot them. Whether or not it duplicates the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) offering is somewhat irrelevant in my opinion, simply as this is a discussion board so will allow more feedback on each disruption, rather than a simple overview.

Gets my vote anyway

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm.

I do have some reservations as to whether a 'Disruptions Board' on this forum would be appropriate.

Commenting as just one of the members here who posts fairly often about disruptions: I tend to select the most relevant area for my post, with a view to it becoming an historic record only, within a fairly short space of time (hopefully!).

While I acknowledge that it's sometimes difficult to decide where best to post such items, I tend to try to keep it specific to the local line on which the incident occurs, where possible.  After all, there is always the option to resort to posting in 'across the west', if the particular incident is of such wider impact that it merits that much publicity!

The official FGW^▸ (First Great Western) JourneyCheck page provides real-time information updates on all major incidents, and is freely available to all.  My purpose in highlighting certain travel disruptions here is more to record them for future reference, on the relevant local topic - simply because the information on JourneyCheck is cleared soon after any particular incident is resolved.

However, I'm not ruling the idea out at all: what do others think?

[John R]

If I recall correctly (though it is a long time ago now) in the early days for a short time we had a couple of posters who would post just about every cancellation shown on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) site.  It didn't appear to add any value and thankfully the practice died out. Unless the disruption is notable and worth alerting people about (such as the two incidents yesterday at Bridgwater and Southall), I wouldn't want to see a return to it, which could happen with a board purely for disruptions.

[grahame]

I'm inclined to leave it as it is - with significant disruptions posted within the most appropriate line board.  The little diagram at the top left of every page is supposed to show you where there are problems at the moment and the "_" to the right of "Current Running" takes you straight to Journey Check (perhaps I should update the text for that link?)

There is - always - scope for improvement, but sometimes an improvement in one direction is a disprovement in another.  I'm very much aware that our line by line / area by area division has cross-border issues (the bane of the life of those in local authorities who work with public transport), and there are a couple of minor adjustments I'm sure I would make in the splitting of services and journeys if I was setting the board up again. But that could mean major issues in accessing historic data / transferring it to the right place.

With a "disruptions board", I fear that we might end up with dilution - a lot of quiet boards (hope so - really don't want disruption!) with people having to look at multiple places to find out what was going on.  If an incident was disruptive, look under disruptions.  If it wasn't, look under the line.   Hmmm - not keen.   If our posting volume was an order of magnitude higher, maybe.

And a further option for readers - the recent posts button will find you what people are saying about disruptions as they're ongoing, no matter where they're posted. See
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?action=recent

[ellendune]

The little diagram at the top left of every page is supposed to show you where there are problems at the moment and the "_" to the right of "Current Running" takes you straight to Journey Check (perhaps I should update the text for that link?)

The link from the "_" to the right of current running is a new one on me.  The text is a bit too subtle for my brain.  I think an update to the text would be helpful to those who are similarly challenged.

[BerkshireBugsy]

For my 2c I'm not sure of the benefit of having a disruptions area on th forum. But maybe I am misunderstanding what is being suggested. If the intention is to advise readers of the facts regarding disruptions (I e there are currently delays between x and y) rather options relating to this I would respectfully say that my primary source of information would be my smart phone app which hooks into the real time data. Ths may raise te comment "that not everyone has smartphones" this is obviously true but what mechanism would a reader use to access the forum ?

Rambling a bit (sorry,a lot) but just me 2c. This forum is a really good source of factual information, discussions do leave it as it is.

[grahame]

The link from the "_" to the right of current running is a new one on me.  The text is a bit too subtle for my brain.  I think an update to the text would be helpful to those who are similarly challenged.

Yeah .. that was a secret test I did that remained rather too secret 

Fresh coat of paint applied to that top link line ...



"_" has moved to "Current Train Running"

"Current Running" which is now mostly road stuff has become "Road Report"

A redundant page has been removed

Station Comparator has been updated to add the station usage figures up to and including those released last month. I am aware I need to change some Train Operating Companies listed against certain stations!

[ellendune]

The link from the "_" to the right of current running is a new one on me.  The text is a bit too subtle for my brain.  I think an update to the text would be helpful to those who are similarly challenged.

Yeah .. that was a secret test I did that remained rather too secret 
Fresh coat of paint applied to that top link line ...
"_" has moved to "Current Train Running"
"Current Running" which is now mostly road stuff has become "Road Report"

Thank you