On-board announcements (and why they suck, and what I plan to do about them)

One of the many things that CityRail performs poorly in is on-board announcements. Let's take an example. (Please be aware this is my experience with Tangaras and R/S sets. I believe the Waratahs, Milleniums and OSCars have DVAs - correct me if wrong.)

What's supposed to be said:
Next stop:  Sydenham; change here for the Illawara and Eastern Suburbs lines.
What actually comes out of the speakers:
?????????????????????

Occasionally, a guard will speak very clearly, and that's great; but the problem is that from my years on CityRail I've learnt that most of the time, what passengers actually hear is completely garbled.

I have an anecdote from today, in the quote below.

This happens a LOT with CityRail. It's frustrating when you don't know the network inside-out.

So, now that I've finished whinging, I'm going to make a proposal.

Introduce a digital voice announcer system on all trains. At its most basic, it can be a cheap MP3 player hooked up to the PA, with each track manually selected by the guard (tracks organised by artist (line) and album (service). We need it, badly.

As for format, I would recommend it follow the most concise way of saying something (without becoming arcane or awkward). I draw my practices for Singapore, Hong Kong and London. For example:

Next stop: Lidcombe. Change here for the Bankstown line. This all-stops train terminates at Liverpool, via Regents Park.

Stopping patterns can be put on the passenger information display (PID) but current announcement practice regarding stopping pattern is extremely verbose and should be kept off the train DVA.

The other whinge I have is that the door closing announcement is completely wrongly done. It takes several seconds to tell everyone in English, "Doors closing - please stand clear."

It's much more efficient as well as understood by everyone if the doors simply had a shrill chime, like the one used on the Singapore MRT (which also has a short announcement before that, but that's redundant anyway).

MRT Closing Announce

By hayato1005 - watch video on YouTube

This demonstrates the doors closing announcement. Take out the English part, and you have a nice warning tone. Keep the slight delay, though, for a bit of margin. This should at least halve the door closing time.

On my train home, the guard is supposed to announce to passengers who should sit where. One of the things they are suppose to remind passengers is the short platforms. Quite a few of them I have noticed don't know all of the short platforms. Eg-"Passengers travelling to Menangle Park, Menangle, Tahmoor and Bargo should travel in the rear 2 cars as these stations don't fit all 4 cars onto the platform". They don't know that anyone jumping off the front carriage at Douglas Park, Yerrinbool or Burradoo would end up in an unauthorised area and if they were nasty enough, they could attempt to sue cityrail perhaps.

Certainly in off-peak I don't see the need for Guard On board announcements for stopping patterns. The station DVA and PIDs, cityrail website and timetable hard copy timetables all give the stopping patterns.

the problem has been fixed with the newer sets also some have the hearing loop service installed and display unit's.

we are Australian and all happy to help someone that is lost, even point someone to the rail map or station office can fix any problem.

  

we have all the audio door systems . but the best is the Doors closing - please stand clear. one as you know when the doors are closing as you race for the train and not get jammed in the doors.

I disagree. A warning tone is superior because it is understood by all and takes less time. If you insist on retaining a worded announcement, I would suggest the old line of London Underground guards: MIND THE DOORS!

But then some brainless passengers might think they are supposed to literally mind the doors. I don't see the need for any verbal announcement when the door closes, passengers on the platform will hear the whistle blow and in addition on the newer rollingstock, a warning sound made as the door closes.

They could change the doors closing DVA to:

[Warning chime] Doors Closing [Warning Chime]

or

[Warning Chime] Doors Closing

or other way round.

I do agree with Watson374 with the speed factor, although "Doors closing, please stand clear" works most effectively when the doors close as soon as the announcement is made, not after 1 second, as this will allow people to continue running into the train.

It used to be a rare thing to hear Deborah Hutton announce when someone bumps into the doors whilst they are closing something along the lines of "...The doors will now close and lock", but now I hear it all the time because of that prolonged duration after "Doors closing..." has been announced.

OK, we could replicate exactly the Singapore one? That's the old one I linked, btw. It's better.

I don't know. But I guess they are just audio files, I guess one could clip or arrange them together:

SMRT Corp might not take too kindly to us stealing their old audio LOL

I'm sure something very similar could be done here with a suitable voice and a synthesiser to make the bip^7.

" I'm going to make a proposal.
Introduce a digital voice announcer system on all trains. At its most basic, it can be a cheap MP3 player hooked up to the PA, with each track manually selected by the guard (tracks organised by artist (line) and album (service). We need it, badly..."

A good concept and idea.  The shortfall in your plan is that the problem is often due to the hardware/intercom/PA system used in the trains.  So you can have the best pre-recorded announcements in the world on your MP3 player, but it will all turn to dust when the PA system is faulty and fails announce it through the entire length of the train - what often happens now.  The cost of re-fitting a superior form of PA system to existing silver and Tangara trains in the fleet will be far more than either the govt or railcorp are prepared to spend.
I find it a bit harsh to criticise guards whole for their announcements, because a vast majority of them take pride in their job, and make all the announcements required of them.  If they have 1 or 2 carriages in the 8 car train that are not broadcasting the announcements clearly or at all due to hardware faults/failures, then they look bad despite having done everything by the book.   Then there are those who do not have English as their primary language, thus the the clarity of their message can be hard to understand due to the thickness of their accents.

Buzzer or chimes as a door warning vs DVA. for doors. - Note, Mills, Tangaras and Oscars have a beeping alarm which goes off whilst the doors are closing.  IF you want to replace the "Stand Clear, doors closing" with beeping or chimes are Fine by me. 

Guards are audited on their announcements fairly regularly, so they have incentive to do the right thing.  My experience is a vast majority of guards do make  the required announcements with a small few who let the side down.

I'm not sure - when the announcement is made well, it sounds pretty good. But perhaps. Oh well.

They make them properly. That's not the problem. But the ????? that comes out of the bloody speakers half the time is. I was hoping to reduce this by using a DVA.

And yes; I realise that - I saw an Asian guard the other day. The funny thing is my dad complains the white guards are the hardest to understand...

Correct. I wish to dispense with verbose English in that exact manner.

I suppose to PA screws up, like you say. Oh well.

Basically, once the S sets are retired, that will mean a vast majority of silver sets will have been reduced, and then the majority of the suburban fleet will have Computerised DVA.  That said, the computerised DVAs aren't infallible and don't always cope with altered running due to trackwork or operational incedents.  Sometimes the DVAs fail altogether. So keep in mind no system is infallible.  If you knew how often trains were deemed unfit to enter service due to faulty PA systems, so it is an issue with older trains.  And of course a few slack guards too.

Keep in mind intercity guards are a different story.  In the early mornings, when commuters are trying to sleep, most "old Hand" guards won't start making announcements until arriving into the suburban area, and even then keeping them brief - often just naming the station.  IF they do make announcements on these services, they often receive a torrent of abuse from the "regular" commuters for disturbing their sleep.  So they're damned if they do, damned if they don't.  Keep in mind, MOST intercity users at early hours of the morning are regulars who catch the same train daily and know all the stations.  Technically these guards are keeping the majority of their passengers happy, but upsetting an occasional minority and technically contrary to official procedures.  Outside these pre-dawn hours, the intercity guards usually make the standard announcements.  Bottom line is you can't please everyone.

People that say that it is the old PA systems in the older trains, from my experience it is not.  Often on my way to the city the guard is changed and all of a sudden the messages go from "pphhssss..f.fff" to "Next stop Blacktown, alight here for Penrith and Blue Mountains lines".  That's not to say none of them are faulty, just not as many as you might think.

I must say my experience is vastly different.

I would say that guards make announcements for delays of 2 minutes or more maybe 10% of the time if they're lucky. Interchange announcements are made maybe a third of the time.

Overall announcement performance from guards leaves a lot to be desired (especially for delays).

As a visitor to Sydney, I find the newer trains, with recorded announcements and illuminated signage about the next station, to be very good.
The older trains, which rely on an announcement only, make me wonder whether I should have studied Swahili or Urdu, because the announcement sure doesn't sound like English. A Cityrail map is essential. It should be a simple matter to train people to speak slowly and clearly into a microphone; it's not rocket science.

If the guards announced in Swahili or Urdu, people would wonder if it's English.

I mean, the best manual announcements I've had are all on L/R/S sets, and the worst on T/G sets, so I think there are other factors at work (T/Gs are never than the L/R/S).

No, I meant with CityRail's audio, of course. They have a warning chime sound and just clip Doors closing
,Please Stand Clear.

Would you prefer a male or female voice for that? I know most places go for female, but London Underground's original DVA for the Piccadilly line trains (1973 stock) was done by a driver of the very same line. (Unfortunately, it wasn't a very good implementation - the announcements were fine but each one had to be manually activated by punching in a code, which wasn't very handy when driving a train (OPO, remember) and so many driver simply grabbed the PA and did it themselves... back to square one.)

Does it matter? CityRail has all the resources that it needs. All they now need is a plan to effectively deliver these at a near 100% rate, I'd think making sure announcements are played is much easier than managing the actual train service itself.

As for the older trains, there is no need to install DVAs on them as they are getting thrown out "soon". In the mean time manual announcements should and must be fine tuned as they will have to be made if the DVA does not work.

Firstly, Announcements should be standardised

-by set phrases AND situation

-manner of deliverance ie. ideal speed and manner of articulation.

-initially maintained by passengers with a campaign to provide feedback/ dob in.

Set Phrases

This will ensure that every event that is announced is uniform and consistent, thus give passengers an idea of what to expect well in advance before the whole announcement is even finished, as well as provide information when a certain situation arises. That is, for every designated situation that occurs, it SHOULD and MUST be announced unless there are exceptional things hindering the guard in preventing them to do it.

Some ideas include:

Next Stop, [Interchange Station Name x2] passengers can change here for [1st Line... Last Line]

eg1. Next Stop, Strathfield, passengers can change here for Nothern, Western, Inner West and South Line services.

eg2. Next Stop, Glenfield, passengers can change here for South Line services.

CityRail Apologises for the Delay due to a(n) [Passenger Disturbance, Emegency Trackwork etc] at [Station]. [Delays, Major Delays] (up to [No.] minutes) expected

CityRail Apologises for the Delay. We are currently awaiting for further information.

CityRail Aplogises for the brief Delay as we are awaiting for signals ahead.

eg1. CityRail Apologises for the Delay due to a passenger disturbance at Central. Delays of up to 5 minutes expected.

eg2. CityRail Apologises for the Delay due to emergency trackwork at Auburn. Major Delays expected*

*The guard should regularly, at a determined frequency to repeat the set phrase to keep people up to date and to give additional information (if available) with a corresponding set phrase.

This train will terminate here (due to [Reason]) Could all passengers please alight from the train. (A [Bus, Train, etc] (on Platform [No.]) will be provided to convey passengers to [Station])

Manner of deliverance

Accents are normal for people speaking a foreign language. Although they can and should be trained to model and articulate to a target that is deemed acceptable. The only reason why I could not understand a person is because of background noise, faulty speakers or their utterance was too soft/quick.

I am not an expert.

Strictly speaking, yes; psychologists have apparently determined that people listen better to male instructions and female information.

OK, fair enough.

I agree. I believe I outlined my opinions regarding this somewhere on RP.

I agree. We can even print such a book.

Your suggested announcements are a bit verbose, tho; 'change here for X' is more concise and retains meaning.

Unfortunately, that happens a lot. 

I forgot to add in, that repeating the main points where a given situation deems it necessary, should do so.

Eg.

Next Stop, Strathfield. Strathfield (Slower), Next Stop.

CityRail Apologises for the Delay due to a passenger disturbance at Central. Delays of up to 5 minutes expected. 5 minute expected (due to passenger disturbance (at Central))

The ones that get me putting the ipod on is the guards who like to announce all the stops of the service twice between stations.

No. I would do it more like:

[Leaving Marrickville]
Next stop: Sydenham. Change here for the Illawarra and Eastern Suburbs lines. This all-stops train terminates at Town Hall via Museum.

[approaching Sydenham]
Sydnenham. Change here for the Illawarra and Eastern Suburbs lines. Sydenham. Please mind the gap.

i understand the problem but with all the old sets about to be replaced by the waratahs I think the money is better spent elsewhere. I understand that one man is supposedly taking cityrail to court over this issue.

What a pointless lawsuit. Rant about it on RPA but seriously?