(25 Jun 2013, 6:35 pm)aureolin wrote(24 Jun 2013, 6:38 pm)Daniel wrote(24 Jun 2013, 6:29 pm)CatsFast101 wrote(24 Jun 2013, 6:19 pm)Michael wrote(24 Jun 2013, 6:13 pm)CatsFast101 wrote Do we know if these new Ciatro's/Streetlites will be fitted with wifi and next stopping announcements?
God i hope not for the announcements, they were annoying as out on the 36 when they had them on the Versa's.
I hope for the WIFI, think this will be popular but they always having problems with it on the TEN/Tyne Tees Xpress, that could be a downfall.
I can see them having both, just hope the announcements aren't as loud as the ones on the Angel..
Yeah I like the next stop announcements but they can get irrating if they are too loud. I hope they do get wifi but as you say they do have a problems with it. But they didn't have the next stop announcements on last week when I was on the X1.
I think the announcements on the X1 are somewhat belittling. Announced upon arrival at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital are instructions on how to alight the bus. While this information is good and true, just about every Tom, Dick and Harry know how to alight a bus - and if they decided to follow the instructions given to us by the cheesy radio people rather than their own knowledge, chances are the bus would take off before they managed to get to the bottom step if they were originally sat in the upper saloon.
The hundredth anniversary Versa still has all the kit to make the announcements regarding next stops etc, and indeed still manages to play odd little sounds every now and again. Had a ride of her on the 135 the other day, and I found the random noises rather irritating indeed.
I reckon these new buses will all be fitted with the kit to announce next stops etc - not sure about WiFi though.
Wi-Fi is a very popular feature I'd imagine, but really, the infrastructure in the North East simply can't cope. Data networks are already congested - where you can get it. It struggles quite a bit of the route on the 21 for sure, and I can imagine similar problems exist whilst on the A19 for the X9/X10. Hopefully if enough money is poured in to the 4G rollout, it'll improve the reliability of the onboard Wi-Fi.
As for the next stop screens. They're completely over the top in my opinion. Absolutely no need to have a screen dedicated to them. Something similar to what the Metro have, or the TFL buses have would be more than ideal. Plus the TFL announcements are direct and straight to the point. None of this faffing around about how to sit on a seat, and not to pick your nose, etc.
One ex-Red Arrows Citaro which is now branded as "Silver Arrows" has one of those Metro screens (5327 rings a bell?). Not a clue why as it's useless - whether it was a trial or not, I do not know, but it's not programmed correctly so it's useless.
"2A SUNDERLAND" is displayed twice, with the text overlapping each other on the bottom/top of the text so it's almost illegible. When someone presses the bell, "BUS STOPPING" is displayed in large text.