On Feb 15, 11:48*pm, Mizter T wrote:
MIG wrote:
On Feb 14, 5:33pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:
Mizter T wrote:
On 14 Feb, 17:06, "Richard J." wrote:
It's been like this since at least September 2006, as that's when I
complained to LUL about the District Line diagram showing "Trains to
Heathrow" from Ealing Broadway, which is an advert for a rival
company (Heathrow Connect). I was triggered to do that by an
anxious passenger who had been advised correctly to change to the
Piccadilly at Acton Town, but then noticed the contrary advice on
the line diagram, and asked for my help in resolving his dilemma.

I think it's somewhat absurd to consider provision of such information
in terms of being an "advert for a rival company" - I'm certainly not
in favour of LU readopting their old territorial ways that they used
to have with regards to British Rail / National Rail.

However the specific point you make with regards to Ealing Broadway
being indicated as an interchange point for "Trains to Heathrow" is
one I very much agree with - on seeing the District line diagrams
which featured this the capacity for confusion that they could cause
was one of the first things that came to mind, given that most
Heathrow bound District passengers - in west London at least - will be
looking to change to the Piccadilly at some point.

Perhaps a half way house solution would be to have a box under 'Piccadilly'
at Acton Town reading 'change for Heathrow Airport' as well?

It's not just a halfway house, it's bleedin obvious consistency with
other interchanges for services to airports.

And while competition is not appropriate in an integrated network,
people would reasonably expect to see more, not less, information
about the LU system in an LU train, so the absence of it when there is
NR information implies that the LU service doesn't exist.

I absolutely agree, at least with regards to the District line.
Somehow displaying the fact that one should change to the Piccadilly
line for Heathrow at Acton Town, Hammersmith and Barons Court (given
the oh-so easy cross platform interchange there, as opposed to at
Earl's Court) should be possible - one doesn't want information
overload of course, but it can surely be done.

I do wonder whether displaying information about the Heathrow Connect
interchange opportunity on a District line is really helpful
whatsoever - are that many Tube passengers really going to head to
Ealing Broadway for the Heathrow Connect service? If they are, I would
expect that they know what they are doing - i.e. they know the HC
timetable, perhaps they work at Heathrow.

I suppose that goes somewhat against my notion of provision of
operator agnostic information, but I'm thinking about the somewhat
bemused passengers! I guess that when the Piccadilly line isn't
running to Heathrow it could prove useful, especially if HC is
accepting LU tickets.

I'm generally in favour of giving maximum information. The operators
don't really know the range of cues which seasoned and unseasoned
travellers may use in finding their way around, meeting relatives or
anything else they might be doing on the transport system, so the
default should be to give as much as possible without clutter or, in
this case, inconsistency.

(That's why I am in favour of retaining route codes and suchlike,
which tell you where a train came from and help you instantly identify
a train among many, when you know where the one you want goes.)


But I'm left wondering about how many passengers who were intending to
go on the Piccadilly when it is working ended up getting the HC in
confusion, then got hit with a penalty fare - there's no possibility
to buy on board HC, though I dunno whether the RPIs have any leniency
in the matter at all. Is there much point in trying to issue a penalty
fare (PF) to someone heading back to Malaysia after all, especially if
they're willing and able to pay the normal fare? Indeed, do the HC
RPIs have the ability to take credit or debit card payment for PFs
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