Or rather - some parts of StP will remain a work in progress until 2010
(namely the CTRL-DS area and the hotel). Carluccio’s itself should be
ready by Spring 2008.

"Garry Smith" wrote in message
...
"MichaelJP" wrote in message
...

BTW watching the last BBC programmes recently, to me the whole idea of
the statue being an icon for the station has failed on two counts; (1)
the tall glass screens and posts completely ruin any long distance view
of the sculpture and (2) it's not really at a focal point of the station,
as all domestic pax are routed through the undercroft retail area.

Indeed. I've been through the place three times this week, and
it was only when someone mentioned it here today that I
remembered it existed.

I haven't seen it at all - suppose I'll have to go upstairs and have
a look now!
--
Garry Smith

I like the statue; it is quite impressive, and people seem to be
photographing it, but I suppose what sticks in your throat is all the PR
guff about the statue being a place for people to meet, like Eros in
Piccadilly Circus. Those sort of places arise naturally, they're not
designed in.

Of course it would be a disaster if all passengers in and around KX/St.P
were routed through the same spot!

On 13 Dec, 15:11, Sky Rider wrote:

If you check the Live Departure Boards on the National Rail website (or
even on the home page of the FCC website) you'll find that although it
only lists EMT services under the label 'London St Pancras (Domestic)
(STP)', it has a link to the page for FCC services which are listed
under 'London St Pancras (Low Level) (SPL)'.

Maybe someone should tell FCC what station info to use then!! They've
obviously set up their own website (and PDA/WAP versions) wrong.

Jonathan

On 13 Dec, 15:21, Roland Perry wrote:

Given that it's busy all day long these people aren't commuters. I think
they must be mainly irregular passengers who are intimidated by the
machines and prefer to buy from a person.

I know plenty of people who prefer to speak so someone because they
might not know exactly what ticket to get (or if it's definitely the
best/cheapest/correct one).

Go to a ticket window and you can ask for a ticket to x, and explain
when/why you're going etc. Then, you can get the ticket and ask again
for confirmation that it's definitely the right one. That reassurance
doesn't come from a machine.

I must admit that when I was in Paris and we visited the Louvre, we
opted to go to a ticket window (with queue) instead of the many
(completely unused) credit card machines to ensure we got the right
tickets for four people. This is despite the fact that I'll nearly
always go for a machine when I see one!

Jonathan

"jonmorris" wrote in message
...
On 13 Dec, 15:21, Roland Perry wrote:

Given that it's busy all day long these people aren't commuters. I think
they must be mainly irregular passengers who are intimidated by the
machines and prefer to buy from a person.

I know plenty of people who prefer to speak so someone because they
might not know exactly what ticket to get (or if it's definitely the
best/cheapest/correct one).

Go to a ticket window and you can ask for a ticket to x, and explain
when/why you're going etc. Then, you can get the ticket and ask again
for confirmation that it's definitely the right one. That reassurance
doesn't come from a machine.

I must admit that when I was in Paris and we visited the Louvre, we
opted to go to a ticket window (with queue) instead of the many
(completely unused) credit card machines to ensure we got the right
tickets for four people. This is despite the fact that I'll nearly
always go for a machine when I see one!

Jonathan

There's a lot to be said for speaking to a human when using a route you
never have before, but I would only value it at 5 minutes of my time, not
half an hour

In message , at 15:29:50
on Thu, 13 Dec 2007, MichaelJP remarked:
I like the statue; it is quite impressive, and people seem to be
photographing it, but I suppose what sticks in your throat is all the PR
guff about the statue being a place for people to meet,

I find that the people photographing it get in the way, detracting from
any incentive to stay there. There isn't much room between the base and
the adjacent transverse glass screens for example. Although there's a
huge empty space airside of that glass screen.

like Eros in Piccadilly Circus.

And as a born and bred Londoner I've never actually regarded the Eros
statue as a place to meet. Perhaps because for much of my life it was
rather awkwardly on a traffic island in the middle of the road! In those
days you'd meet at a Lyons Corner House - so filling St Pancras with
several Bistros (and they would be today) might be a small step in the
right direction.

Those sort of places arise naturally, they're not designed in.

Exactly.
--
Roland Perry

In message
, at
07:42:47 on Thu, 13 Dec 2007, jonmorris
remarked:

I must admit that when I was in Paris and we visited the Louvre, we
opted to go to a ticket window (with queue) instead of the many
(completely unused) credit card machines to ensure we got the right
tickets for four people.

And having been nabbed by the RER grippers several years ago for
unwittingly buying the wrong ticket from a machine, I would probably
want to try to buy from a person in future (despite a very poor grasp of
foreign languages).
--
Roland Perry

"jonmorris" wrote in message
...
On 13 Dec, 15:11, Sky Rider wrote:

If you check the Live Departure Boards on the National Rail website (or
even on the home page of the FCC website) you'll find that although it
only lists EMT services under the label 'London St Pancras (Domestic)
(STP)', it has a link to the page for FCC services which are listed
under 'London St Pancras (Low Level) (SPL)'.

Maybe someone should tell FCC what station info to use then!! They've
obviously set up their own website (and PDA/WAP versions) wrong.


They have had a note on their site for a few days now explaining that there
is a problem and that LDB isn't able to access train information for SPL
directly. This is still the case as explained above. It isn't really an FCC
problem, its down to Network Rail.

Paul S

"jonmorris" wrote in message
...
On 13 Dec, 10:22, "Paul Scott" wrote:

Maybe they could be reminded zones A, B, C, D wouldn't be confusing in
that
way, especially after January...

The platforms are A and B (which in itself is rather confusing when
other St Pancras platforms are numbered) so the whole thing is a bit
of a mess. I know King's Cross TL was A and B, but what was the
reasoning for keeping that for an all-new station up the road?

Hadn't realised that, I thought they'd be 14 & 15 or so...

I hadn't thought about the possible confusion with the use of 'zone
2,3', but now I can certainly see how someone might - if only for a
short time - get confused by the meaning.

Still, while their train indicators are still showing trains in the
wrong order (and not being consistent on times at all),

IIRC that is not the fault of the new set up, the PIS on the whole route
through London Bridge and the Thameslink route has suffered from that for
ages...

the Journey
Check (Nexus Alpha) service hasn't got any FCC trains listed at all
for St Pancras International. All you get are East Midland trains! Not
very good for checking your train is running or not.

explained in other posts

Paul

On 13 Dec, 10:12, solar penguin wrote:
On 13 Dec, 09:08, "Garry Smith" wrote:

Noticed last night that the displays now say which zones of the
platform to use.

"zones 2" means a 4-car train. "zones 2,3" means 8-car.

I'm sure they didn't have that earlier in the week.

Could be lots of confusion from passengers who think it's referring to
Travelcard validity.


I absolutely agree with that point. If lettered and numbered zones are
out then the obvious replacement would be coloured zones - perhaps
they should've been used as they are elsewhere on Intercity services.