Today I was on a 21 in the Old Kent Road and on the approach to each
bus stop, both the display and the voice announced the same thing, eg
"Trafalgar Avenue".

But when the bus was ready to leave each stop, the display announced
"21 to Lewisham Centre" but the voice announced simply "Crystal
Palace".

This was more like the way that the next stop is announced, although
it corresponded to announcing the route and destination.

Maybe the voice says "Crystal Palace" every time it doesn't know what
to say?

It reminds me of the SWT 450s which, while the display was showing
"all seats on this service are standard class" (or something like
that), the voice ominously announced "One".

On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 09:52:38 -0700 (PDT), MIG
 wrote:

>Today I was on a 21 in the Old Kent Road and on the approach to each
>bus stop, both the display and the voice announced the same thing, eg
>"Trafalgar Avenue".
>
>But when the bus was ready to leave each stop, the display announced
>"21 to Lewisham Centre" but the voice announced simply "Crystal
>Palace".
>
>This was more like the way that the next stop is announced, although
>it corresponded to announcing the route and destination.
>
>Maybe the voice says "Crystal Palace" every time it doesn't know what
>to say?
>
>It reminds me of the SWT 450s which, while the display was showing
>"all seats on this service are standard class" (or something like
>that), the voice ominously announced "One".

I've not seen or heard anything that resembles a default message on an
I-Bus equipped vehicle.  As London Central are still mid way through
their conversion sounds to me like a system fault or more likely the
driver has input incorrect trip and destination details in the system.
-- 
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

On Aug 3, 6:57 pm, Paul Corfield  wrote:
> On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 09:52:38 -0700 (PDT), MIG
>
>
>
>
>
>  wrote:
> >Today I was on a 21 in the Old Kent Road and on the approach to each
> >bus stop, both the display and the voice announced the same thing, eg
> >"Trafalgar Avenue".
>
> >But when the bus was ready to leave each stop, the display announced
> >"21 to Lewisham Centre" but the voice announced simply "Crystal
> >Palace".
>
> >This was more like the way that the next stop is announced, although
> >it corresponded to announcing the route and destination.
>
> >Maybe the voice says "Crystal Palace" every time it doesn't know what
> >to say?
>
> >It reminds me of the SWT 450s which, while the display was showing
> >"all seats on this service are standard class" (or something like
> >that), the voice ominously announced "One".
>
> I've not seen or heard anything that resembles a default message on an
> I-Bus equipped vehicle.  As London Central are still mid way through
> their conversion sounds to me like a system fault or more likely the
> driver has input incorrect trip and destination details in the system.

Maybe, but given that the display was correct, you'd think they'd be
linked, also that incorrect details would at least be possible ones,
like "route x to y".  At first I thought it was announcing the bus
stop, but then realised where the announcement came in the sequence.

On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 15:58:12 -0700 (PDT), MIG
 wrote:

>On Aug 3, 6:57 pm, Paul Corfield  wrote:
>> On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 09:52:38 -0700 (PDT), MIG
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  wrote:
>> >Today I was on a 21 in the Old Kent Road and on the approach to each
>> >bus stop, both the display and the voice announced the same thing, eg
>> >"Trafalgar Avenue".
>>
>> >But when the bus was ready to leave each stop, the display announced
>> >"21 to Lewisham Centre" but the voice announced simply "Crystal
>> >Palace".
>>
>> >This was more like the way that the next stop is announced, although
>> >it corresponded to announcing the route and destination.
>>
>> >Maybe the voice says "Crystal Palace" every time it doesn't know what
>> >to say?
>>
>> >It reminds me of the SWT 450s which, while the display was showing
>> >"all seats on this service are standard class" (or something like
>> >that), the voice ominously announced "One".
>>
>> I've not seen or heard anything that resembles a default message on an
>> I-Bus equipped vehicle.  As London Central are still mid way through
>> their conversion sounds to me like a system fault or more likely the
>> driver has input incorrect trip and destination details in the system.
>
>Maybe, but given that the display was correct, you'd think they'd be
>linked, also that incorrect details would at least be possible ones,
>like "route x to y".  At first I thought it was announcing the bus
>stop, but then realised where the announcement came in the sequence.

I've never had the system display one thing and say another. Still I'm
sure there are fresh bugs in the system for later installations.  It
would be nice if the system at Tottenham actually worked on more than
50% of trips I take. It was the first bit of the system to go live so I
suspect it will eventually be upgraded with the final software and
firmware versions when they've debugged everywhere else.

ISTR that completely rogue destinations were displayed when London
United went live - places that a London United bus would never normally
reach but which are served by the London bus network.

-- 
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

On Aug 3, 6:57 pm, Paul Corfield  wrote:
> On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 09:52:38 -0700 (PDT), MIG
> >Maybe the voice says "Crystal Palace" every time it doesn't know what
> >to say?
>
> >It reminds me of the SWT 450s which, while the display was showing
> >"all seats on this service are standard class" (or something like
> >that), the voice ominously announced "One".
>
> I've not seen or heard anything that resembles a default message on an
> I-Bus equipped vehicle.  As London Central are still mid way through
> their conversion sounds to me like a system fault or more likely the
> driver has input incorrect trip and destination details in the system.

And AFAICT there's no stop called "Crystal Palace". The stop by the
station is "Crystal Palace Station" and the bus turning area is
"Crystal Palace Parade". So the plot thickens - it seems to have
grabbed a destination and turned it into a next stop announcement...

On 3 Aug, 17:52, MIG  wrote:
> Today I was on a 21 in the Old Kent Road and on the approach to each
> bus stop, both the display and the voice announced the same thing, eg
> "Trafalgar Avenue".
>
> But when the bus was ready to leave each stop, the display announced
> "21 to Lewisham Centre" but the voice announced simply "Crystal
> Palace".
>
> This was more like the way that the next stop is announced, although
> it corresponded to announcing the route and destination.
>
> Maybe the voice says "Crystal Palace" every time it doesn't know what
> to say?
>

I was on a 21 the other day (probably the same one!) going in the
other direction, and instead of saying '21 to Newington Green' it said
'Crystal Palace Newington Green'. Goodness knows...

I've noticed frequently that the bus stop announcements are wrong -
sometimes being out of phase with the journey by a stop or two, other
times referring to a different route entirely!  Does the driver have
any control over this, even if it's just to switch off the
announcements?  Or do they just not care?  As an aid to blind
travellers or  those unfamiliar with an area, incorrect information is
worse than no information.   The system is a good idea, but it's
clearly not yet reliable enough to be used  regularly.

Peter