http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3686593.stm

Rail firm's 'one' confusing name

Is it the '1:41 train' or the '1:40 One train' ...?
East Anglia's latest train service franchise is re-thinking its name.
One, run by National Express, is dropping branding in station
announcements because passengers associate numbers with train times.

Jonathan Denby, of One Railways, said: "Inevitably, when you put
something into practice, you pick up things which perhaps don't work
quite as well."

I think Mr Denby's statement somewhat understates the extent of the cock
up.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Paul Corfield wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3686593.stm

Rail firm's 'one' confusing name

Is it the '1:41 train' or the '1:40 One train' ...?
East Anglia's latest train service franchise is re-thinking its
name. One, run by National Express, is dropping branding in station
announcements because passengers associate numbers with train times.

Jonathan Denby, of One Railways, said: "Inevitably, when you put
something into practice, you pick up things which perhaps don't work
quite as well."

I think Mr Denby's statement somewhat understates the extent of the
cock up.

Indeed. And here's another gem: "It was difficult to tell exactly how
it would work out in the field."

Difficult? Blindingly obvious, I would have thought.

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

"Richard J." wrote in message
...
Indeed. And here's another gem: "It was difficult to tell exactly how
it would work out in the field."

Difficult? Blindingly obvious, I would have thought.

That's right, and what's he on about, it doesn't look good on paper, they
should take a look at what South Central are doing and try to find a nice
traditional railway name (Southern) and base themselves on that kind of
thing, not some daft names in a horrible 1990s font.

I personally quite like their official company name, London Eastern Railway
they could use that or something like Eastern Railways, Greater Eastern
Railways and so on.

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3686593.stm

Rail firm's 'one' confusing name

Is it the '1:41 train' or the '1:40 One train' ...?
East Anglia's latest train service franchise is re-thinking its name.
One, run by National Express, is dropping branding in station
announcements because passengers associate numbers with train times.

Jonathan Denby, of One Railways, said: "Inevitably, when you put
something into practice, you pick up things which perhaps don't work
quite as well."

I think Mr Denby's statement somewhat understates the extent of the cock
up.

Any company name has the potential to cause confusion in an indistinct
station announcement.

When I was waiting at Leeds for a train to Harrogate, I heard announcements
for "the 12:10 Jinny Arse service to London". Jinny Arse service? Finally it
dawned on me: what the announcer was saying was "GNER service"!

In message , Paul Corfield
writes

Jonathan Denby, of One Railways, said: "Inevitably, when you put
something into practice, you pick up things which perhaps don't work
quite as well."

If he had thought a bit harder Jonathan Denby (One Railway's spokesman)
may have realised that his own job description doesn't sound all that
wonderful either - although I guess one railway is as good as another!

--
Paul Terry

Even if nobody at National Express was bright enough to see it coming, the
writing was on the wall for "One" on the day of its official launch.

Reporting on the departure of the first of the newly liveried trains from
Liverpool Street, Susanna Mendonca of BBC Essex said: "well, the one train
has just left the station ...... "

I guess there won't be another till tomorrow then?!

In article , Darren
] writes
I personally quite like their official company name, London Eastern Railway
they could use that or something like Eastern Railways, Greater Eastern
Railways and so on.

Well, they almost exactly duplicate the Great Eastern Railway (or at
least, those bits that haven't been dug up), so that would do.

--
Clive D.W. Feather, writing for himself | Home:
Tel: +44 20 8495 6138 (work) | Web: http://www.davros.org
Fax: +44 870 051 9937 | Work:
Written on my laptop; please observe the Reply-To address

On Wed, 5 May 2004 19:44:39 +0100, "Clive D. W. Feather"
wrote:

In article , Darren
] writes
I personally quite like their official company name, London Eastern Railway
they could use that or something like Eastern Railways, Greater Eastern
Railways and so on.

Well, they almost exactly duplicate the Great Eastern Railway (or at
least, those bits that haven't been dug up), so that would do.

Is there a risk of running out of sensible names at some point?
Assuming companies have to use names which haven't been used before
(do they?), many of the London & X Railway, Great X Railway and XY&Z
Railway names will have gone. Then there is the franchise (eg Greater
Anglia), the bidding company (London Eastern), and the operating name
(One) which all need names. Even the X Railway/X Trains options could
run out (eg the two different Chilterns).

If a franchise goes wrong (Connex SE/SC) the company which takes over
might want a different name to make a point. c2c, Northern Spirit and
One aren't likely to be used again by another railway company, but if
Connex SC had called itself SC or Southern, then GoVia might have had
trouble thinking of a new name when it took over.

A TOC might also need something where Chester-le-namebuyer hasn't
beaten them to the website...

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK

On Wed, 05 May 2004 16:47:58 GMT, "Richard J."
wrote:

Paul Corfield wrote:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3686593.stm

Rail firm's 'one' confusing name

Is it the '1:41 train' or the '1:40 One train' ...?
East Anglia's latest train service franchise is re-thinking its
name. One, run by National Express, is dropping branding in station
announcements because passengers associate numbers with train times.

Jonathan Denby, of One Railways, said: "Inevitably, when you put
something into practice, you pick up things which perhaps don't work
quite as well."

I think Mr Denby's statement somewhat understates the extent of the
cock up.

Indeed. And here's another gem: "It was difficult to tell exactly how
it would work out in the field."

Difficult? Blindingly obvious, I would have thought.

Well exactly. And here is another example of something "not working out
in the field".

I have just been doing some research on how to get to a village in
Essex. I think I know why people buy cars.

Traveline - only took about 6 attempts to get it to accept the
destination (Rettendon). It then carefully brings up various journey
options including some that make no sense whatsoever.

For the more sensible options it won't provide the detailed timetables.
I then resort to First Essex Buses who I know run the bus service. The
Traveline timetables are only correct for Sundays. There is a different
service number for M-S but traveline doesn't know this. The times for
M-S in Traveline are not those on the First Essex site thereby
invalidating all the journey search information as the buses run earlier
than the times the train arrives.

There is no information about Bus add on tickets on Traveline or on
First Essex Buses - presumably because First no longer run the train
service! First certainly used to advertise their add on ticket options.

So I head off to the National Rail website and find Bus Plus which does
tell me that a suitable ticket is available and the price. I then try to
find out if I can order a through rail and bus ticket via QJump or the
National Rail journey planner - the answer would be no then because Bus
Plus is not a recognised destination even though the Bus Plus scheme
describes its tickets in relation to the main railway station within the
bus travel zone.

I then thought I'd look at the "One" website - I eventually find this
via a link on the National Express website. However I then find that the
One website is actually 4 websites! - so much for integration and One
(!) network.

There is no reference to Bus Plus add on tickets on the One Great
Eastern website. Even more bizarrely the list of return fares bares no
resemblance whatsoever to those listed by National Rail or Q Jump - all
more expensive.

And I wonder why I don't use main line trains very much these days. The
average person in the street who does not have my knowledge of the
railways, buses and ticketing options would have given up after about
two clicks - we have such a long way to go to deliver integrated
transport in this country.

The only saving grace is that there is a bus service, it's pretty
frequent and the add on ticket looks good value. I just doubt that
Stratford station can sell me the ticket I need!
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...

I think Mr Denby's statement somewhat
understates the extent of the cock up.

There's another company in the rail industry with an ill-thought-out
bull**** name... "ForgeTrack". I saw their stand at a show a few years ago,
and the capital T had accidentally made lower case, so I pronounced it as
"forget-rack".

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes