19 Sep 2016, 4:53 pm
#360
(19 Sep 2016, 4:19 pm)GuyParkRoyal Seen your post about the Angel next stop announcements so I decided to go out and give them a try on a Chester le Street to Durham (and return) journey this afternoon.
Everything was perfect for me:
Volume was fine, announcements were clear and concise. The on screen information was good and the blue customer contact page along with the red wifi page was a nice refresh from looking at a green screen.
I liked the audio reminders of the service (route) details and the availability of wifi.
There was a minor issue on my outward journey but it was not replicated on the return so it looked like a vehicle specific rather than the system problem. The minor issue was, as the driver closed the doors the announcement said “This is, next stop is (followed by name of next stop).” I can’t remember the fleet number of the bus but it was about 14.35 on a Chester le Street to Durham. My return bus was 6066 and that was perfect it even announced St Leonards School which sometimes did not always happen with the old announcements.
Good stuff - pleased you liked them!
We're using the TFT monitors now more than we ever have done before, and it's all about making the buses as accessible as possible. The occasional audio reminders of the service number and terminus point gives partially sighted passengers that added confidence that they're on the correct service, heading to the right place.
The inclusion of the red Wi-Fi and green 'talking bus' slides, showing the roundrels, adds to the synergy of the brand. The roundrels are being shown on all marketing materials now - whether it be vinyls on the bus, Social Media advertising, or the printed timetables on the buses. I quite like those pages, and we're trying out a few others too. It was difficult to include them on the Angel as there's not many stops where there's a large-ish distance - but I think they'll definitely work a lot better on the likes of the TEN and Red Arrows.
The Red Arrows already has some advertising slides, but they were rather text-heavy and remained in the same style as the normal Next Stop announcement screens, so weren't particularly eye-catching. The new style will be rolled out to the Red Arrows and Connections4 once other outstanding brands have been completed.
