Carriage labling

[whole diary]

[tramway]

Thinking about it, even NOT travelling on a train in FGW^▸ (First Great Western) territory is a nightmare.

[smokey]

Well if there first train journey is with FGW^▸ (First Great Western) between Bristol and Southampton, can't see them EVER coming back for a second dose of expensive standing on a crowded train!!!!!!

[Mookiemoo]

I know just what IanL means - quite often, as HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) carriages have been inserted in the train slightly out of sequence, there are temporary 'Carriage D' labels stuck on the outside of the carriage, but inexperienced passengers then get on and are completely confused when their seat reservation for 'D40', for example, doesn't exist and someone is already sitting in 'C40' and they're not sure whether to challenge them or not ... !   

You see I use the survival of the fittest - if they cant apply brain or are so backward they wont challenge.....they are not going to survive in the dog eat dog world of 2008

 

What if somebody had NEVER travelled on a train before???

Steep learning curve

[IanL]

Steep learning curve

I think thats a little hard.....what about the coach with a different letter at each entry door and different latters above the seat.....yes it does happen!

P1 "this is my seat I am in coach D and this is seat 50"
P2 "no, it is coach B"
P3 (seated) well hardluck cos I'm sitting in C50 (checks seat label)"

I know it is only a detail compared to the usual level of incompetence but details do matter.

[Jim]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) made the mistake of placing the carrige letter next to the seat number on the overhead racks, which is quite a flaw! As half the time the carriges are swapped, so if a B is pretending to be a C, it may have C on the outside, but inside, the seats will all be labled B!!!!!

[Conner]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) made the mistake of placing the carrige letter next to the seat number on the overhead racks, which is quite a flaw! As half the time the carriges are swapped, so if a B is pretending to be a C, it may have C on the outside, but inside, the seats will all be labled B!!!!!

I witnessed a problem even with the carriages in correct formation due to seat letters. One person had seat BxxA(Airline) But they got soooooo confused as they supposedly had two carriage letters. ven though their reservation label was in the seat they didn't sit their.

[Mookiemoo]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) made the mistake of placing the carrige letter next to the seat number on the overhead racks, which is quite a flaw! As half the time the carriges are swapped, so if a B is pretending to be a C, it may have C on the outside, but inside, the seats will all be labled B!!!!!

I witnessed a problem even with the carriages in correct formation due to seat letters. One person had seat BxxA(Airline) But they got soooooo confused as they supposedly had two carriage letters. ven though their reservation label was in the seat they didn't sit their.

Do they need help tying their shoe laces then?

[Conner]

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) made the mistake of placing the carrige letter next to the seat number on the overhead racks, which is quite a flaw! As half the time the carriges are swapped, so if a B is pretending to be a C, it may have C on the outside, but inside, the seats will all be labled B!!!!!

I witnessed a problem even with the carriages in correct formation due to seat letters. One person had seat BxxA(Airline) But they got soooooo confused as they supposedly had two carriage letters. ven though their reservation label was in the seat they didn't sit their.

Do they need help tying their shoe laces then?

Probably.

[swlines]

Sorry, but having CxxA or BxxA does get quite confusing, rather than B or F which there was before the units came into play on the NRS.

[IanL]

Well, it is all very confusing to infrequent FGW^▸ (First Great Western) passengers of which there are many on a typical friday, joined train tonight at Oxford, coach C (both carriage doors) but seats labeled E inside.

Just before Hanborough, the first short platform guard makes usual announcement reminding disembarking passengers to exit form coaches A,B or C. Several passengers look up, check the seat labels and panic, gathering bags, coats to rush another two carriages up the train. Had to reassure a less mobile lady that she didnt need to move and that this coach would in fact be on the platform.

After 7 years of this journey I am happy to ignore announcements, labeling etc but to unsure passengers, incorrect information is worse than no information at all.

[dog box]

youre happy to ignore announcements then? ....what happens then if the train is involved in a safety situation and the announcements are relevant to passenger safety??

[Chris from Nailsea]

Same with me, IanL: when I catch the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) 1822 BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI) but BTM is a commonly used alternative)) to Nailsea, I often find myself having to reassure slightly panicking less seasoned travellers that the carriage we are in will certainly be 'platformed' at Nailsea - despite the TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context)'s announcement implying that it won't, because the seat letters don't match the carriage letters ...  

[Ollie]

In all fairness most tickets should show:

Coach:            Seat:
   B                  23A

I agree inside the carriages they should have just put a number.

[swlines]

IMHO^▸ ('in my humble opinion') with the advent of the new seating layouts, with each seat having a unique identifiable number (except for the 175s, I seem to remember having a reservation for B/F on those...) they should just remove the A.

[Chris from Nailsea]

I agree: why not remove the coach letter prefix from all the seats, allowing more flexibility if coaches are out of alphabetical order for whatever reason, and also remove the A suffix, on the basis that most of the seats are Airline style anyway.

That way you get into, say, Coach B and know that there will be one seat, clearly marked '23', for example, which matches your ticket reservation!