Electronic bus destination blinds

Mrs Redboots wrote:
> The other day, I was in a car being driven northbound past Euston
> station, and happened to catch sight of a bus whose destination
> blind read "Short journey; ask driver!"
>
> We pondered this for awhile and assumed it would mean that the bus
> in question was stopping somewhere its destination blind didn't
> say, which is fair enough. But this sparked a discussion as to why
> modern buses don't have electronic destination blinds. I know the
> system was tried - I used to see the odd 35 with them - but
> presumably it was too prone to failure? On the other hand, if they
> can have electronic destination blinds on trains (which they not
> only can, but do), why don't they have them on buses?

I have yet to see an electronic destination indicator on the front of a
bus or train with the same legibility as London bus blinds (Johnston Bus
or Underground typeface, yellow on black).
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

Richard J. wrote:

> I have yet to see an electronic destination indicator on the front of a
> bus or train with the same legibility as London bus blinds (Johnston Bus
> or Underground typeface, yellow on black).

I personally find the very new high-intensity amber LED displays to be far
more readable from a distance - but only those, not any other kind of
electronic display, and certainly not any of the front-illuminated kind of
mechanical dot matrix displays which are awful.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To reply use neil at the above domain.

"Alan (in Brussels)" <alanfree@planetinternet.vermifuge.be> wrote in message
news:kdednfjI9rli3g7cRVnyvA@scarlet.biz...
> In the message news:4WmFeeGHCjkBFwpe@amsmyth....

> Indeed, I recently travelled on (London) route 390 in a bus with such a
> screen in the centre of the upper-deck windscreen, and was similarly
> disappointed to see that none of the above-mentioned information (apart
> from
> generic TfL messages and advertising) was displayed. But AFAIK this is par
> for the course in today's narrowly commercially-oriented world; even the
> idea that the advertising would be more effective if it alternated with
> information of real value to passengers (the more specific the better, eg
> real-time details of alterations to the services...) has obviously not
> crossed the minds of those concerned.

To do so would require a realtime link to pick up this information whereas
the present system can be updated at depots. I'm sure your idea has crossed
the minds of those concerned but perhaps their investigations showed that
the present control-to-bus link was not up to the job and upgrading it just
for this not cost effective.

Dave

"Tim Scott" <timscott@> wrote in message news:<41925c60_4@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com>...
> I recall there were a couple of T's (Titan's) as you mention trialed on the
> 35 and 45??
>
> Some of the former London Buses sent off to sister companies such as
> Stagecoach etc converted their London style blinds to the electronic style
> ones.
>
> Examples:
>
> DMS/NV's from London General/Central going to Go Ahead North East
> Various Stagecoach vehicles including the earlier discarded TA's (Tridents)
> going to Stagecoach Hull, Cambridge. Southcoast and Manchester, Devon kept
> the London style blinds;
> VA's from London United/VN's going to First Leeds (though Potteries have not
> gone electronic)
>
> As mentioned Oxford, some First buses in Edinburgh/Glasgow have the
> electronic displays

And Stageecoach in Cambridge. The blinds tend to alternate
automatically between 'Citi [route no.], then 'City Centre' and '&
[destination]'.

David Bradley wrote:

> The information, to which reference has been made, that would be
> really useful is what is happening to any further transport system
> that passengers intend to change into next. Thus a display on a bus on
> an appropriate route for what is happening for example on main line
> rail at Euston ,or the Northern Line at Oval, or Croydon Tramlink at
> Addington Village or even another bus route at Camberwell Green would
> be very useful to passengers who intended to continue their journeys
> via one of those modes.

Perhaps. On smaller networks, though, it strikes me that the easy solution
to bringing disruptions to passenger attention has been missed. Many buses
are fitted with radio equipment, which could be hooked up to a PA system on
the bus for very little money. Announcements regarding service disruption
and similar news could easily be transmitted to the whole network for no
greater cost than it can at present be transmitted to the driver only.

Hamburg's U-Bahn system has such an "on-board long-line PA" facility, which
is quite well-used to broadcast disruption information to passengers on its
trains. I'm surprised I've never seen it applied to buses - certainly in
London, where "connection" isn't a dirty word like it is in so many other
places.

Neil
--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
To reply use neil at the above domain.

In article <9bab4539.0411110449.30162033@com >,
dr_sunil060902.uk (Dr. Sunil) wrote:

> "Tim Scott" <timscott@> wrote in message
> > news:<41925c60_4@mk-nntp-2.news.uk.tiscali.com>...
> > I recall there were a couple of T's (Titan's) as you mention trialed
> > on the 35 and 45??
> >
> > Some of the former London Buses sent off to sister companies such as
> > Stagecoach etc converted their London style blinds to the electronic
> > style ones.
> >
> > Examples:
> >
> > DMS/NV's from London General/Central going to Go Ahead North East
> > Various Stagecoach vehicles including the earlier discarded TA's
> > (Tridents) going to Stagecoach Hull, Cambridge. Southcoast and
> > Manchester, Devon kept the London style blinds; VA's from London
> > United/VN's going to First Leeds (though Potteries have not gone
> > electronic)
> >
> > As mentioned Oxford, some First buses in Edinburgh/Glasgow have the
> > electronic displays
>
> And Stageecoach in Cambridge. The blinds tend to alternate
> automatically between 'Citi [route no.], then 'City Centre' and '&
> [destination]'.

And First in York, where they cycle through three sets of info, route
number and colour, destination, and "PARK & RIDE" where relevant.

--
Colin Rosenstiel