Signage in the subway at Bristol Temple Meads

[whole diary]

[grahame]

I am totally in support of alerting people to look out for and help vulnerable children



But I wonder if advertising it on just about every poster board in the subway at Temple Meads (16 of them?) is a tiny bit over the top



I guess the fact I've mentioned it here means the large number of posters does mean it's more noticed than normal.

Since I was last at Temple Meads and noticed, the advertising / information boards - the "A to Z" - has gone from the subway. They were on these pillars



Perhaps not too many people use the "A to Z" these days, but from Temple Meads to Melksham they were fantastically useful, telling us whether to travel via Chippenham or via Trowbridge at any particular time of day.

For the record, from http://www.mrug.org.uk/bristolfares.html

On Monday to Friday ... catch trains from Bristol Temple Meads at 05:30, 05:44, 06:48, 08:30, 09:07, 10:30, 10:47, 11:22, 12:30, 13:00, 13:22, 15:00, 15:22, 17:00, 17:49, 18:30, 18:51 or 19:30. Journey time between 45 minutes and 1 hour and 15 minutes. All of these trains except the 05:44 also call at Bath Spa 12 to 15 minutes later.

On Saturday ... catch trains frm Bristol Temple Meads at 06:49, 07:30, 08:51, 09:30, 10:49, 11:30, 12:51, 14:30, 15:51, 17:30, 17:49, 19:30 or 20:40. All of these trains also call at Bath Spa 12 to 15 minutes later.

On Sunday ... catch trains from Bristol Temple Meads at 08:53, 09:25, 10:53, 11:10, 13:25, 14:53, 16:15, 17:25, 18:10, 18:45 or 19:25. All of these trains also call at Bath Spa 12 to 15 minutes later.

[eightonedee]

Quite apart from the loss of the useful "A to Z"s - two other questions occur to me-

1 - Why are they using a cartoon Stephen Fry in this campaign?

2 - How does this match up with the never-ending series of GW^▸ (Great Western) posters about five unaccompanied children running riot around their area?

[johnneyw]

I noticed the A-Z was missing too. That was last week, Thurs or Fri. I only noticed because I wanted to check if the Severn Beach train was stopping at Lidl, sorry, Lawrence Hill Station. No idea if they will be back. Perhaps the station's management did not want to encourage people standing in the concourse?

[Bmblbzzz]

1 - Why are they using a cartoon Stephen Fry in this campaign?

I was thinking "I haven't noticed these posters" but then this comment reminded me that I have, and had the exact same thought. However, I definitely hadn't noticed that they were everywhere! (Was last there Saturday and in a bit of a hurry though.) I do remember noticing last summer (I think it was) all the adverts above the urinals in the subway toilets were an anti-FGM campaign. Perhaps it's the best/only way to get public information campaigns noticed above the noise of commercial advertising?

[Merthyr Imp]

Quite apart from the loss of the useful "A to Z"s - two other questions occur to me-

1 - Why are they using a cartoon Stephen Fry in this campaign?

He's the patron of a relevant charity:

https://www.missingpeople.org.uk/latest-news/706-stephen-fry-leads-campaign-to-make-every-second-count-when-a-child-is-reported-missing.html

[Phantom]

As a daily commuter through Temple Meads, I am still trying to figure out what the ad is actually promoting
It mentions sending a text "To bring a child home", but I have no idea how or what this process is?

I thought this thread was going to be about the new signage that has popped up in the subway.
Have a look out for the new "Lost Property" sign next to WH Smith in the subway, whoever designed that has clearly done it off measurements and never looked at the space as the text is hidden by the frontage of WHS

[grahame]

As a daily commuter through Temple Meads, I am still trying to figure out what the ad is actually promoting
It mentions sending a text "To bring a child home", but I have no idea how or what this process is?

Not exactly clear to me either.  From one of the links above, I explored and found this from 2016:

Stephen Fry is urging members of the public to help save the lives of high risk missing children as part of a two-week long national campaign launching today. People are asked to register for free Child Rescue Alerts, activated when a child has gone missing and police believe their life is in imminent danger.

So ... you register your phone, a child goes missing in your area and you and everyone else registered gets an alert to keep an eye out.  Rather like Dog Lost - http://www.doglost.co.uk - but I suspect that the Children site can't be as open with the data because of privacy.

[grahame]

I thought this thread was going to be about the new signage that has popped up in the subway.
Have a look out for the new "Lost Property" sign next to WH Smith in the subway, whoever designed that has clearly done it off measurements and never looked at the space as the text is hidden by the frontage of WHS

Pinging that back up as I'm conscious I only addressed half of your post.  I passed very quickly though part of the Subway Monday and didn't notice / look at other signage changes.  Over to others to comment.

[Phantom]

On the way through the subway this morning I noticed each pillar now has a 6 foot high electronic advertising screen added to it, looks a mess before they are even turned on

[grahame]

On the way through the subway this morning I noticed each pillar now has a 6 foot high electronic advertising screen added to it, looks a mess before they are even turned on

Are you sure they are all going to be advertising screens? Would it not make sense to have touch screen enquiry boards - sort of A to Z replacement.

Tap in your destination station ... and the train services to there are displayed.   An easy way to find out "what is the next train to Lawrence Hill" or "where do I change for Melksham".  Tied in to a real time database, such a facility would help at times of disruption and during engineering works.  ...  Or is there such a system somewhere else at Temple Meads??

[Phantom]

I would be surprised if they were any kind of information point, they are the same design as the electronic advertising you see at bus stops

[Red Squirrel]

Planning application 17/01320/LA (search for it by reference at https://www.bristol.gov.uk/planning-and-building-regulations/look-at-and-track-planning-applications ) covers this. It is part of an overall strategy to improve wayfinding and generally tidy up advertising at Temple Meads. One thing I don't recognise is the 'A-Z' features that grahame mentions.

[grahame]

I have gone to that planning application and found before picture showing the A to Z and after picture showing what looks like a pure advert panel in the same place.  My suggestion than just one of the panels should be a next Interactive train with input technology system (Nitwits) was tongue in cheek; perfectly possible with the technology that's available, but I suspect the jingle of pennies from the advertising revenue outweighed the provision of an equivalent to the very useful information that was there.

[Bmblbzzz]

I don't recall the A-Z being in the subway either. There used to be one in the main entrance hall area, near the screens; not sure if it's still there.

[johnneyw]

I don't recall the A-Z being in the subway either. There used to be one in the main entrance hall area, near the screens; not sure if it's still there.

There was definitely one in the subway which I would sometimes refer to. I remember it as being occasionally  unreliable/out of date for some of the local services so I started to use it less.