Must we have these ghastly announcements?

Boulevardier

I don't see another recent thread on this, so here goes.

I am becoming increasingly annoyed by the new announcements made in English and Irish as my bus comes to each individual stop.

Some years ago there was a trial run of music and ads on Dublin Buses. Fortunately it did not last. Now, however, my peace and quiet is again being disrupted because DB feel it necessary to anounce our arrival at each and every stop, bout in English and, for legal reasons, Irish.

I have experienced this unneccessary annoyance on 2 routes, 145 and 83, but it is probably happening on other routes as well and seems likely to spread to all of them. A 145 driver I spoke to sympathised with me but said he could not switch the dam thing off.

I cannot see any need for this disruption to the relative peace and quiet of bus journeys.

ballooba

Presumably it is for visitors to our fine city. Your post reminds me of the Healy Raes...

Question 261: To ask the Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport the reason that the National Roads Authority is spending money on road signs at present; persons living on local roads pulling out onto national primary routes are now seeing signs directing them to their nearest town or village, which they are perfectly capable of finding without having the NRA putting up signs to direct them as to where they are to go; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17488/12]

http://www.kildarestreet.com/wrans/?id=2012-03-29.1354.0

the groutch

just be glad they shortened them a bit

originally it was "An Cead Stad Eile, Sraid A - Sraid B, Next Stop X Street - Y Street"

noelfirl

Boulevardier wrote: »

I have experienced this unneccessary annoyance...

One man's unnecessary annoyance is another mans useful information.

Boulevardier wrote: »

but it is probably happening on other routes as well and seems likely to spread to all of them.

Yes, it will eventually.

LXFlyer

They are very useful for anyone unsure of where they are going and anyone who is visually impaired.

As someone who has regularly visited London, I can say that you tend to blot them out after a while if you don't actually need them.

They are now being rolled out across the GT fleet.

bk

Display screens are useful for tourists, etc. these announcements aren't, they are only useful for the visually impaired.

I think a better solution would have been to use a shortwave fm transmitter to carry the announcements which visually impaired people could tune into.

Of course this all ignores how visually impaired people have been using buses for years, by simply asking the driver to give them a shout when they arrived at their stop!

AlekSmart

Boulevardier wrote: »

I don't see another recent thread on this, so here goes.

I am becoming increasingly annoyed by the new announcements made in English and Irish as my bus comes to each individual stop.

Some years ago there was a trial run of music and ads on Dublin Buses. Fortunately it did not last. Now, however, my peace and quiet is again being disrupted because DB feel it necessary to anounce our arrival at each and every stop, bout in English and, for legal reasons, Irish.

I have experienced this unneccessary annoyance on 2 routes, 145 and 83, but it is probably happening on other routes as well and seems likely to spread to all of them. A 145 driver I spoke to sympathised with me but said he could not switch the dam thing off.

I cannot see any need for this disruption to the relative peace and quiet of bus journeys.

Totally agree Boulavardier,however it is important to clarify that this is an NTA initiative,and has little to do with Dublin Bus.

Operationally it all makes for good PR,allowing NTA reps to attend conferences and the likes to pontificate on how great their new approach is for the "Disabled" etc..

In reality these announcements,along with the various exhortations to Exit via the Centre Doors,Take available seats upstairs,hold the handrails etc etc are largely ignored by the effective use of selective hearing...we hear what we want to hear...;)

However,at least the current announcements are concise,having dispensed with the "Céad Stad Eile" mallarkey.....

The late Spike Milligan was a lifelong campaigner against unnecessary background noise,as typfied by Department Store muzak.....pity poor ould Spike is'nt still around,as we could do with a spokesperson with a good sense of the ridiculous

carveone

bk wrote: »

I think a better solution would have been to use a shortwave fm transmitter to carry the announcements which visually impaired people could tune into.

Agreed. It's not as if receivers are hard to find either and the people most likely to have one are visually impaired. Plus tourists could listen to a whole interesting barrage of information as the bus travelled from stop to stop.

Of course this all ignores how visually impaired people have been using buses for years, by simply asking the driver to give them a shout when they arrived at their stop!

Or, as my gran used to do on the train - collar a fellow passenger and ask them to tell her when the stop was coming up. People are nothing if not obliging in these cases, especially as the automated announcements are sometimes so wrong I wonder how they work at all. I'd be surprised if any of the implementers of these systems took the train or bus themselves.

Exit via the Centre Doors

That's a laugh. For years tourists, having read the sign to exit via the centre doors would, oddly enough, stand at the centre doors waiting for them to open. Until the driver drove off again.

PS: I've heard that Fingal (?) are raring to put up automated announcement systems on common walkways so they can, on detection of movement, blast you with announcements about litter and dog poo. Like there isn't enough noise in the world.

Banjoxed

Its pure nonsense at the taxpayer's expense, at best it's a bit of fluffing of the Irish language lobby, at worst it is aural pollution.

I would be fully with Spike Milligan on this.

LXFlyer

I'll just reiterate that these have been employed on the buses in London for several years now, and I have to say that after a while you do tend to get used to them and block them out (unless you're listening out for a stop).

Aard

Perhaps these announcements would be less annoying and more useful if the stop spacing wasn't so short. Sometimes you have less than 200m between stops.

KD345

I agree with lxflyer, you really do stop noticing them after a while. If you're intentionally listening out for the stops you will hear them, otherwise they just become background noise.

As already mentioned, they have been revised since first launched and now only announce the road or location. The announcement is not as long as those on Luas, which include "Next Stop".

etchyed

Having not actually been on a Dublin bus in quite a while, I'm delighted to hear that the rollout of these announcements is being persevered with, along with the dropping of the unnecessary "an chéad stad eile" and "next stop". Next stop announcements are commonplace on buses all over the world, not just in London (which inevitably and understandably always gets mentioned here, as it's so close by).

They are of tremendous help not just to tourists, but to people on unfamiliar routes, or using the bus having not done so in a while. They are invaluable in making buses seem more approachable and user-friendly, an area in which Dublin Bus needs all the help it can get.

jahalpin

These announcements wouldn't be so annoying if they got rid of the Irish part

Announcements like these should be as short as possible and preferably in one language only

Aard

I'd hate to see this turn into an Irish-bashing thread; it's been done to death before.

Heard the announcement today on the 145. Is it me or is it unnecessarily loud?

coylemj

Aard wrote: »

Heard the announcement today on the 145. Is it me or is it unnecessarily loud?

Do you think they've lowered the entrance age for the Gardai?

Aard

coylemj wrote: »

Do you think they've lowered the entrance age for the Gardai?

I don't understand what you mean.

coylemj

Aard wrote: »

I don't understand what you mean.

You said....

Aard wrote: »

Heard the announcement today on the 145. Is it me or is it unnecessarily loud?

I was in a roundabout way suggesting that it might be a sign of getting old, same as when you reckon the cops are getting younger every day

jahalpin

While the announcements in Irish are very annoying, the high-pitched sirens on the newest buses when the door is open are even worse

I don't know how the bus drivers can tolerate these sirens for any length of time

StreetLight

The siren wouldn't sound if the driver had the handbrake on .....

AlekSmart

StreetLight wrote: »

The siren wouldn't sound if the driver had the handbrake on .....

Except in the case of the GT Centre Door,which has an independent warning of it's operation in order to prevent the anihilation of vast numbers of our population......:rolleyes:

There is also a Wrights mod programme in effect to lessen the duration of this dreadful (and largely unnecessary) phenomonon,something which is not Dublin specific.

Mind you,most of these Audio announcements and Warning Sounds are TOTALLY superfluous as a significant number of the general population now spend their entire walking-about time with headphones of some sort,either in or over ear,in place.

ANY attempt to break through this reality barrier will require hand signals,and perhaps raising one's voice significantly to achieve success.....something which leads other observers to make allegations of the Driver being "Aggressive","Shouting" and or being "Abusive".

Perhaps its our National psyche at the moment,but many people seek to shut-out the reality of the world...guess it makes it easier to say..."Well Joe,Nobody told me"....!

carveone

jahalpin wrote: »

These announcements wouldn't be so annoying if they got rid of the Irish part

Announcements like these should be as short as possible and preferably in one language only

There must be a happy medium somewhere. Short, quiet (and in a woman's voice). If in Irish, use the weather girl from TG4. That way it doesn't sound completely mangled (and the accompanying mental image works for me!)

Irish Rail is beyond obnoxious. The Drogheda service bellows in your ear as loud as the speakers will go. The DART is all over the place but year on year was getting slowly better until recently it got worse again. The West bound services will not shut up:

Ladies and gentlemen, Iarnród Éireann welcomes you on board. This is the 15 hundred hours service from Sligo to Connolly station calling at c, d, e, f, g, h. Your attention is drawn to the safety and evacuation notices. Please do not occupy prebooked seats. This is non smoking service. We thank you for your attention and hope you have a pleasant and comfortable journey. Please do not put your feet on the seats.

Then again in Irish. On every station. Which, if they put an intercity train on, say, Connolly to Maynooth, means the announcements are almost going continuously. Coming into Connolly they go on forever about bringing your ticket with you and not forgetting it and you need your ticket to exit the station and did we mention about your ticket again?...

I always wonder would automated alarm systems (eg: backing up trucks) drown out, say, shouts of "look out"!. I was a passenger in a Merc once which had an earsplitting alarm go off when you went into reverse. I thought that was quite dangerous...

coylemj

carveone wrote: »

Irish Rail is beyond obnoxious. The Drogheda service bellows in your ear as loud as the speakers will go. The DART is all over the place but year on year was getting slowly better until recently it got worse again. The West bound services will not shut up:

Ladies and gentlemen, Iarnród Éireann welcomes you on board. This is the 15 hundred hours service from Sligo to Connolly station calling at c, d, e, f, g, h. Your attention is drawn to the safety and evacuation notices. Please do not occupy prebooked seats. This is non smoking service. We thank you for your attention and hope you have a pleasant and comfortable journey. Please do not put your feet on the seats.

Then again in Irish. On every station. Which, if they put an intercity train on, say, Connolly to Maynooth, means the announcements are almost going continuously. Coming into Connolly they go on forever about bringing your ticket with you and not forgetting it and you need your ticket to exit the station and did we mention about your ticket again?...

All those irritating announcements plus the tossers who insist on playing music from a phone with no headphones means I hardly ever travel on mainline rail even though for certain journeys down the country it would be the more convenient option.

When the train stops in the middle of nowhere and you really do need some real information, that's when the announcements usually stop and you're in an information black hole.

bk

Some people here aren't going to like what I'm about to say, but this is one of the biggest advantages of taking the express bus services to Cork over the train.

Last night I got the 11pm Aircoach from Cork. I slept almost the entire way!

Peace and quiet, not a single announcement and all lights turned off so pitch black. Much more comfortable then Irish Rail where there dazzling bright lights and constant annoying announcements.

Even Ryanair has realised how annoying it is and they are reducing the number of announcements and turning lights off at night, as part of their new more customer focused policy. Irish Rail and DB could learn from this.

For those who say London Bus does it, two points:

1) bus stops are far less frequent in London
2) each announcement in Ireland takes twice as long due to the need for both English and a stupid need for Irish *

This means the announcements on DB are almost constant and thus much more annoying.

* yes the Irish in this context is stupid and simply reduces usability of public transport. We should follow the approach of Belgium, they use the primary language of the area they are in. So for us, Irish in Gaeltacht areas, English everywhere else, simple.

Alex, yes I'm one of those people who use headphones on public transport. The reason I do is because using public transport has become increasingly audibly annoying. The constant annoying announcements and idiots playing music * from their phones speakers makes me want to block all that rubbish out.

And yes unfortunately that means I may miss an important and actually relevant announcement from the driver. It is a downside of all these automated announcements.

One thing I will say, is that the next stop signs on DB aren't very usable, due to two languages again and the frequency of stops here. I've seen much better screens abroad, for instance in Amsterdam, where they use full LCD screens, which display the next 4 upcoming stops on the screen at the same time. This gives you far greater time to prepare for your stop. Ironically such screens are more useful here in Ireland where we use double deckers and only crappy single door buses, versus Amsterdam with their triple door single deckers! Just goes to show how far we still have to go.

* the playing music is very annoying and it really needs to be clamped down on. Two weeks ago I saw a fight nearly break out on a DB bus, when one brave and courageous passenger asked the scum to turn off their music, that the rest of us didn't want to hear it. Cue scumbags threatening to murder and cut the honest passenger.

Interestingly it was lucky for the scumbags that they never stood up to challenge him, as looking around the bus, I could see at least half a dozen passengers (myself included) who were watching and getting ready to jump up to his defence.

The scumbags quickly scurried off the bus at the next stop.

I think drivers should really take a zero tolerance approach to this, stop the bus and announce to the bus that he isn't going anywhere until they turn off the music. This sort of carry on would never be tolerated in any Central or Eastern European country I've been in.

Terrontress

I wouldn't have thought bus stops along a route in London are less frequent than in Dublin.

The whole integration of bus stop names in to route planners in London is fantastic. You are told to get on at stop V in Trafalgar Square and get off at Tower Hill stop. If you spend 2 minutes researching your journey, it is nearly impossible for get lost.

The constant repetition of the route number and destination is a bit much but it blends in to the background eventually.

The system also has good announcements "Please move down inside the bus" "Seats are available on the upper deck".

LXFlyer

Bus stops are not less frequent in London than in Dublin - this seems to be a common misconception here.

The distances are comparable.

AlekSmart

Terrontress wrote: »

I wouldn't have thought bus stops along a route in London are less frequent than in Dublin.

The whole integration of bus stop names in to route planners in London is fantastic. You are told to get on at stop V in Trafalgar Square and get off at Tower Hill stop. If you spend 2 minutes researching your journey, it is nearly impossible for get lost.

The constant repetition of the route number and destination is a bit much but it blends in to the background eventually.

The system also has good announcements "Please move down inside the bus" "Seats are available on the upper deck".

These "Canned" announcements are now available on Dublin Bus's system,however there is little point in them being used as it would be difficult to find anybody who'll even admit to hearing them,let alone heeding them.

devnull

I don't see a problem with announcing purely the stop name as you are approaching it, but I agree that the Irish Rail one is completely over the top.

Lxflyer - in some cases that is true, but there are some routes on Dublin Bus where stops are crazy close together, the 17A section on Cappagh Road I think it's called, that leads on the road to Cappagh Hospital towards Blanchardstown, has three stops the length of that road - that is overkill

carlmango11

bk wrote: »

I think drivers should really take a zero tolerance approach to this, stop the bus and announce to the bus that he isn't going anywhere until they turn off the music. This sort of carry on would never be tolerated in any Central or Eastern European country I've been in.

Totally agree. Same with smoking. If the drivers implement such a policy and actually follow through on it every time then they'll quickly learn that smoking/playing music on a bus will get them nowhere.

I'd even go as far to say the driver should drive to the nearest Garda station in the case of people smoking. Yes, it would delay the other passengers for a while but eventually scumbags would just have to stop doing it. But tbh I don't really think DB care enough to actually bother with this.

TheBandicoot

carveone wrote: »

Irish Rail is beyond obnoxious. The Drogheda service bellows in your ear as loud as the speakers will go. The DART is all over the place but year on year was getting slowly better until recently it got worse again. The West bound services will not shut up:

Ladies and gentlemen, Iarnród Éireann welcomes you on board. This is the 15 hundred hours service from Sligo to Connolly station calling at c, d, e, f, g, h. Your attention is drawn to the safety and evacuation notices. Please do not occupy prebooked seats. This is non smoking service. We thank you for your attention and hope you have a pleasant and comfortable journey. Please do not put your feet on the seats.

Then again in Irish. On every station. Which, if they put an intercity train on, say, Connolly to Maynooth, means the announcements are almost going continuously.

it's even worse on trains to M3 Parkway, if this clip is any indication http://railusers.ie/forum/showthread.php?t=14951

LXFlyer

devnull wrote: »

I don't see a problem with announcing purely the stop name as you are approaching it, but I agree that the Irish Rail one is completely over the top.

Lxflyer - in some cases that is true, but there are some routes on Dublin Bus where stops are crazy close together, the 17A section on Cappagh Road I think it's called, that leads on the road to Cappagh Hospital towards Blanchardstown, has three stops the length of that road - that is overkill

Of course you're going to get the odd exception to the rule, and generally there would be a reason why, but I'd still maintain that in general, bus stops in Dublin are no more frequent than in London.

People seem to forget that buses are supposed to be usable by everyone - that means that the maximum distance between stops should be no more than around 400m (per TfL design guidance on this subject).

SpaceTime

It seems to be a trend everywhere to go completely over the top with announcements.

The SNCF in France is gone nuts with them too!

Try this out : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kv4SYg2nOXo

MrDerp

Drove me spare when I used to take a weekly Cork - Dublin train. I'd be trying to read a book and the announcements every 5 minutes would break my concentration. If I switched to music and closed my eyes, it'd interrupt that too since I'd be listening at a respectful volume.

Cienciano

I'm with the general consensis here. Announcements are good, but keep them to a minimun. I don't use the bus often, but last time I did, I didn't know the route, it was dark out, the windows were fogged up cos of rain and the bus was full so I was standing. I had no idea where I was!
But messages like Irish Rail do after each station are completely over the top. Same with the irish language announcements. Brilliant and simple idea from bk to have them in irish language areas only.

LXFlyer

Cienciano wrote: »

I'm with the general consensis here. Announcements are good, but keep them to a minimun. I don't use the bus often, but last time I did, I didn't know the route, it was dark out, the windows were fogged up cos of rain and the bus was full so I was standing. I had no idea where I was!
But messages like Irish Rail do after each station are completely over the top. Same with the irish language announcements. Brilliant and simple idea from bk to have them in irish language areas only.

There is one problem with that - it is not in line with the law. The law of the land is (in the form of the Official Languages Act) that the Irish language be given equal prominence as English throughout the country, with the stated aim of increasing its day to day use. Restricting Irish to Gaeltacht areas would not really help in trying to achieve the latter aim.

There's no point in suggesting other options such as the above, as none of the political parties are likely to change their stance on that - it's one of the few issues that all of the political parties do actually agree on. I just cannot see that changing anytime soon, so any solution has to take the equal status of Irish as a given.

I don't personally speak Irish on a daily basis, but I do value the fact that it is part of our national identity. I think some of the views expressed here about it are rather sad (particularly the description of the Irish language as "stupid") - some people don't seem to put any value on retaining our native culture whatsoever, except in Gaeltacht areas, and apparently seem quite happy for much of Ireland to become a clone of GB.

I personally think that the announcements as now being rolled out on the bus are a good compromise - English first, Irish second, and only one line of the stop name, meaning that they're short enough to fit in between each stop. The original announcements were too long, and having Irish first mean sometimes the English was cut off, which made them rather pointless. The revised form is a definite improvement.

AlekSmart

lxflyer wrote: »

There is one problem with that - it is not in line with the law. The law of the land is (in the form of the Official Languages Act) that the Irish language be given equal prominence as English throughout the country, with the stated aim of increasing its day to day use. Restricting Irish to Gaeltacht areas would not really help in trying to achieve the latter aim.

There's no point in suggesting other options such as the above, as none of the political parties are likely to change their stance on that - it's one of the few issues that all of the political parties do actually agree on. I just cannot see that changing anytime soon, so any solution has to take the equal status of Irish as a given.

I don't personally speak Irish on a daily basis, but I do value the fact that it is part of our national identity. I think some of the views expressed here about it are rather sad (particularly the description of the Irish language as "stupid") - some people don't seem to put any value on retaining our native culture whatsoever, except in Gaeltacht areas, and apparently seem quite happy for much of Ireland to become a clone of GB.

I personally think that the announcements as now being rolled out on the bus are a good compromise - English first, Irish second, and only one line of the stop name, meaning that they're short enough to fit in between each stop. The original announcements were too long, and having Irish first mean sometimes the English was cut off, which made them rather pointless. The revised form is a definite improvement.

Well belatedly,at least,one of the (well remunerated) leading lights behind all this craic,recently decided to dún the doras behind him....

http://www.thejournal.ie/teanga-commissioner-1206950-Dec2013/

It appears that in 2012 Mr O Cuirreáin had 2 complaints every day to deal with,doubtless made by highly motivated individuals in a search for some linguistic nirvana.

With any luck this gentlemans post will be declared superfluous and the savings used to purchase an extra bus/es for the general public..or employ an extra couple of Nurses/Doctors,in fact anything which was'nt simply pandering to an imagined public desire.

Cienciano

lxflyer wrote: »

There is one problem with that - it is not in line with the law. The law of the land is (in the form of the Official Languages Act) that the Irish language be given equal prominence as English throughout the country, with the stated aim of increasing its day to day use. Restricting Irish to Gaeltacht areas would not really help in trying to achieve the latter aim.

There's no point in suggesting other options such as the above, as none of the political parties are likely to change their stance on that - it's one of the few issues that all of the political parties do actually agree on. I just cannot see that changing anytime soon, so any solution has to take the equal status of Irish as a given.

I don't personally speak Irish on a daily basis, but I do value the fact that it is part of our national identity. I think some of the views expressed here about it are rather sad (particularly the description of the Irish language as "stupid") - some people don't seem to put any value on retaining our native culture whatsoever, except in Gaeltacht areas, and apparently seem quite happy for much of Ireland to become a clone of GB.

I personally think that the announcements as now being rolled out on the bus are a good compromise - English first, Irish second, and only one line of the stop name, meaning that they're short enough to fit in between each stop. The original announcements were too long, and having Irish first mean sometimes the English was cut off, which made them rather pointless. The revised form is a definite improvement.

Just because it's law, doesn't mean I have to agree with it. Forget the irish language law for a moment and focus purely on running public transport. I think it would be far more simple and clear for the passenger to have one language. It benefits virtually no one on a practical level.
Now, the law is in place, but the merits of that are for another thread/forum.

SpaceTime

I think it's one of those issues of 'because we can'.

The technology to make very complicated and verbose announcements automatically now exists so it's being used to excess to cover everything.

I found this in France you now have (as per the video above)

"Your attention please Platform 4 : Due to signalling problems, the TGV number : XXXXX from Strasbourg destined for Lille Europe is now arriving at platform 4 . It had a departure initially planned for 20:12 is now being announced with a delay of around 5 minutes. Thank you for your understanding!"

The TGV number XXXXXX from Strasburg destined for Lille Europe -- scheduled for 20:12 is now entering the station on platform 4 .. it will serve XXXX... XXXX and XXXXX ... For your security you're reminded that your baggage must be labelled so that we can identify your baggage during your journey! ... This is Lauren TGV .. This is Lauen TGV .. Please make sure you did not leave anything behind you on the train! Remember, anyone accompany passengers should not enter the train! "

"Attention Platform 4! the TGV XXXXX from Strasburg destined for Lille Europe is about to depart! Please be careful of the automatic doors as they close!! Warning! The train is departing!"

(loose translation as it's not quite literal)
Long winded seems to be the new thing!

LXFlyer

Cienciano wrote: »

Just because it's law, doesn't mean I have to agree with it. Forget the irish language law for a moment and focus purely on running public transport. I think it would be far more simple and clear for the passenger to have one language. It benefits virtually no one on a practical level.
Now, the law is in place, but the merits of that are for another thread/forum.

I'm putting the situation into context - the merits or Irish or not is another issue, but the operator has to work around that requirement.

The compromise I would suggest is the best achievable in the circumstances and the announcements are perfectly clear.

telecinesk

My experience is in Prague on local busses you get "the next stop is...." etc in Czech language naturally,we luckily dont have to struggle with a second language like in Ireland.
On the Eurocity & Intercty trains you get a mix of czech/german/english/slovak(depends which side of border your in) announcements on average 3 languages announcements. It dosent bother me however. But I get the Irish/English thing,its pointless time wasting and only there for "legal" reasons.

LeinsterDub

What ever about useful stop information it's this one that get me "Dublin Bus would like to pay lip service to the fact buses are non smoking by announcing it every 10 minutes if you are currently smoking we will do nothing about it but we are happy to annoy everyone else with this message"

SpaceTime

You should try Belgium!
The announcements and signage is strictly in the language of the technical language region that you're in.
The result is that the announcements can suddenly switch from Flemish to French or visa versa and a good % of people do not necessarily understand them!

In general, I think language announcements and signage should be about practicality not about stamping national / regional identities on things.

I don't mind the bilingual announcements on Irish Rail, but I wish they'd just make the whole lot of them a little more 'to the point'. They're far too verbose.

They could mix it up a bit between male and female voices too just to keep things interesting!

Aard

SpaceTime wrote: »

They could mix it up a bit between male and female voices too just to keep things interesting!

I can't remember if this is exactly right, but I think it's on the Moscow Metro that the announcements inbound are delivered by a man, and outbound by a woman.

SpaceTime

I actually think a male voice is probably not the greatest for audibility over a din of engine noise anyway as the lower frequencies tend to be drowned out.

A female voice can usually cut through that.

TheBandicoot

Was on a 39a(VT class) the other day that had the announcements. TBH didn't annoy me nearly as much as I expected.

cdebru

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Was on a 39a(VT class) the other day that had the announcements. TBH didn't annoy me nearly as much as I expected.

I agree just people enjoy moaning, I think they are fine you only notice them if you want to concentrate on them, people should remember 2 things a serious number of people traveling on DB are not familiar with the area they are traveling to, secondly this is Ireland it is one of the national languages get over it.


It just goes to show no matter what you do the moaning Minnie's will complain if DB skipped announcing stops the exact same moaners would be here complaining that it is how it is done everywhere and DB haven't a clue etc etc.

VG31

jahalpin wrote: »

While the announcements in Irish are very annoying, the high-pitched sirens on the newest buses when the door is open are even worse

I don't know how the bus drivers can tolerate these sirens for any length of time

StreetLight wrote: »

The siren wouldn't sound if the driver had the handbrake on .....

If anyone thinks the annoucements are bad you should hear the door siren noise every morning for a week. Most of the time I just hear this noise when only one person is getting off but there are some drivers who just seem to be too stubborn to put the handbrake on. I can't understand how it doesn't drive the driver mad as well. I was on a GT before stopped at a busy stop and the siren was on for the entire time the bus was at the stop (over 3 minutes).
I have noticed this noise as well (similar anyway) on VT58, which also had annoucements but no stop displays. You do eventually forget the annoucements. At least they got rid of the "The next stop is" and the "An chead stáid eile" bit.
I do agree with the suggestion that the Irish bit should be removed as well.
"The exit bus by centre doors" annoucement is pointless at the current time with the centre doors not being used much.

jackofalltrades

The automated announcements have crept in on the DB routes that I take. Advising passengers to use the middle doors, when they never open, is just going to turn the public away from using them even more. And who honestly needs to be reminded to use the handrails.

There are three stops that are quite close together on my route. So between the unnecessary bi-lingual location announcements and the no smoking announcement played right after it, it felt like that damn voice was never going to stop this morning.

Although I was getting the bus home this afternoon. And it was one of the older AX models on the route. I have to say the peace and quiet was very refreshing and sorely missed.

That username is already in use.

bk wrote: »

* yes the Irish in this context is stupid and simply reduces usability of public transport. We should follow the approach of Belgium, they use the primary language of the area they are in. So for us, Irish in Gaeltacht areas, English everywhere else, simple. .

That's never going to happen in your lifetime. You'll just have to deal with it like everyone else.

etchyed

TheBandicoot wrote: »

Was on a 39a(VT class) the other day that had the announcements. TBH didn't annoy me nearly as much as I expected.

VT class? Interesting. I thought this was just going to be a very gradual rollout on new buses only, but this would suggest retrofitting to older ones. Anyone heard announcements/seen display screens on other Dublin Bus classes?

etchyed

bk wrote: »

* yes the Irish in this context is stupid and simply reduces usability of public transport. We should follow the approach of Belgium, they use the primary language of the area they are in. So for us, Irish in Gaeltacht areas, English everywhere else, simple.

It's very frustrating to read you writing stuff like this bk, as in other subject areas I have found you to be an intelligent poster who understands the nuance of an issue. That is not on display here.

Comparing Belgian language policy and Irish language policy is like apples with oranges. In fact, comparing basically anything with Belgium is ridiculous. It's a strange, thrown-together country and its policies and compromises reflect that. The numbers of Flemish and French speakers are comparable, and the speakers of each of these languages have a separate cultural (and to an extent, national, identity). Its policy of having only one language in any given area serves the aim of allowing each of these groups to exist in a context where their native language is dominant.

Irish language policy is entirely different. Its purpose is to revive a language that most of our great-great-grandparents spoke, in what was (and, notwithstanding recent immigration) still is a largely monocultural nation. We have a single national identity, not a fractured one like Belgium, and the idea is that those who were born into native Irish speaking families, or who choose to use Irish in their everyday lives, have the right to have all their dealings with the state carried out through Irish. And yes, that extends to hearing announcements in Irish on buses in the capital city, even though 99.9% of the population is listening to the English.

Now, whether or not you agree with this premise for Irish language policy (which - cards on the table - I do), the fact of its existence makes your comparison with Belgium facetious. And I think you know that.

So argue all you want against the revival of Irish. Dead language, waste of time and money and all that jazz. But to just wander in and say we should follow Belgium's example on public transport announcement ignores a whole heap of background detail.