New (?) 'welcome aboard' signage for TfL Buses

[ServerKing]

Aug 31, 2022 13:45:32 GMT thelondonthing said:

Aug 31, 2022 10:51:23 GMT WH241 said:

I didn’t ask you and I did ask you to keep out of my way but here we are again. It’s going to get very boring like it did with another member!

Costs might be minimal but they soon add up! Just because a fancy 63 bus becomes a TikTok hit doesn’t mean a thing with a buses sits a stop for ten minutes so that an operator gets its bonus! I’m looking at you GoAhead! This is not about fitting any argument as you put it.

I'm struggling to understand how going viral after specifying new buses with USB charging ports and glass roof panels can have any material impact on how long a bus waits at a stop.

The costs of introducing such signage would indeed be marginal, potentially nominal, within the broader scale of TfL's production of other signage and notices across its bus, tube, rail, river and other transport networks. And I would think that the purpose of the signage is obvious: to make bus journeys just a teeny, tiny bit more pleasant. Seeing it won't make your day, or put a big beaming smile on your face, but it might be a nice touch for visitors, or even for the kind of occasional travellers that TfL is hoping will use the bus network a bit more often as it seeks to boost post-pandemic numbers. As part of a wider range of improvements to buses over the coming years - such as more zero-emissions vehicles, and broader implementation of the Future Bus spec - I'm sure it's hoped that all of these small enhancements will combine into a greater public sense that buses aren't completely terrible.

A sticker on its own is obviously not going to transform anything, and I think we all know that, so let's not be silly about it. But it might just make things feel at least a tiny bit more... pleasant for some bus passengers at least; and with the minimal cost involved, it's a no-brainer to give it a try. 

And yes, even minimal costs do add up - for signs, USB ports, and everything else - but some money is worth spending, as it adds value (or 'pleasantness') to the passenger experience, making bus travel a little bit more appealing (or a little bit less sh!t, if you prefer). Operators have to improve the passenger experience from time to time, if only to justify the steady and inevitable increase in ticket prices. That's why provincial and even independent operators across the UK have been introducing features like Wi-Fi, leather seats, and even mood lighting on services for years - they understand that the quality of the onboard experience matters if you want people to use your bus services, and that often means introducing non-essential features and elements that simply make everything feel a bit nicer.

Making such improvements to the vehicle specification has no relation to the running or reliability of the service (unless, of course, these features somehow directly cause a bus to be withdrawn from service). But if your bus arrives 10 minutes late because the service has been regulated, it's not because the operator specified a sunroof for the bus, or because there's a 'welcome aboard' sign by the driver. These things are completely disconnected, so I don't understand why you're equating the two. Indeed, it sounds like you have a separate grievance with the quality of service provided by a particular operator, which doesn't really belong in this discussion.

Some of the latest additions to TfL's bus spec, such as USB ports - and even relatively trivial additions like 'welcome aboard' signage - may seem like frivolous, wasteful spending in lean times to those who can't understand that the passenger experience has to continue evolving, as well as to the embittered few who curse the spending of all public money on anything but the most austere and joyless essentials. 

But while some new features may not meet with everyone's approval, the fact is that new buses need to be ordered anyway, and the costs of adding such new features to bulk fleet orders is relatively small. And many of these costs are continuing to fall as operators in the UK and around the world make such features standard across their fleet renewals in growing numbers, facilitating greater economies of scale and increased savings.

As any bus operator will tell you, spending a little bit extra here and there can go a long way to making passengers happy, and to attracting new ones - and in the long term, that's money well spent.

London is years behind everyone else in creature comforts. I don't care for laminate flooring or part leather seats, I want the bus to turn up and quickly take me to my destination. I don't want to be admiring the bus interior because I am stuck in traffic, or crawling at 20 miles an hour.

They want to make things even more dull with revisions to livery, a hint of colour through 80% red needs to come back

[thelondonthing]

Sept 3, 2022 16:44:57 GMT ServerKing said:

Aug 31, 2022 13:45:32 GMT thelondonthing said:

I'm struggling to understand how going viral after specifying new buses with USB charging ports and glass roof panels can have any material impact on how long a bus waits at a stop.

The costs of introducing such signage would indeed be marginal, potentially nominal, within the broader scale of TfL's production of other signage and notices across its bus, tube, rail, river and other transport networks. And I would think that the purpose of the signage is obvious: to make bus journeys just a teeny, tiny bit more pleasant. Seeing it won't make your day, or put a big beaming smile on your face, but it might be a nice touch for visitors, or even for the kind of occasional travellers that TfL is hoping will use the bus network a bit more often as it seeks to boost post-pandemic numbers. As part of a wider range of improvements to buses over the coming years - such as more zero-emissions vehicles, and broader implementation of the Future Bus spec - I'm sure it's hoped that all of these small enhancements will combine into a greater public sense that buses aren't completely terrible.

A sticker on its own is obviously not going to transform anything, and I think we all know that, so let's not be silly about it. But it might just make things feel at least a tiny bit more... pleasant for some bus passengers at least; and with the minimal cost involved, it's a no-brainer to give it a try. 

And yes, even minimal costs do add up - for signs, USB ports, and everything else - but some money is worth spending, as it adds value (or 'pleasantness') to the passenger experience, making bus travel a little bit more appealing (or a little bit less sh!t, if you prefer). Operators have to improve the passenger experience from time to time, if only to justify the steady and inevitable increase in ticket prices. That's why provincial and even independent operators across the UK have been introducing features like Wi-Fi, leather seats, and even mood lighting on services for years - they understand that the quality of the onboard experience matters if you want people to use your bus services, and that often means introducing non-essential features and elements that simply make everything feel a bit nicer.

Making such improvements to the vehicle specification has no relation to the running or reliability of the service (unless, of course, these features somehow directly cause a bus to be withdrawn from service). But if your bus arrives 10 minutes late because the service has been regulated, it's not because the operator specified a sunroof for the bus, or because there's a 'welcome aboard' sign by the driver. These things are completely disconnected, so I don't understand why you're equating the two. Indeed, it sounds like you have a separate grievance with the quality of service provided by a particular operator, which doesn't really belong in this discussion.

Some of the latest additions to TfL's bus spec, such as USB ports - and even relatively trivial additions like 'welcome aboard' signage - may seem like frivolous, wasteful spending in lean times to those who can't understand that the passenger experience has to continue evolving, as well as to the embittered few who curse the spending of all public money on anything but the most austere and joyless essentials. 

But while some new features may not meet with everyone's approval, the fact is that new buses need to be ordered anyway, and the costs of adding such new features to bulk fleet orders is relatively small. And many of these costs are continuing to fall as operators in the UK and around the world make such features standard across their fleet renewals in growing numbers, facilitating greater economies of scale and increased savings.

As any bus operator will tell you, spending a little bit extra here and there can go a long way to making passengers happy, and to attracting new ones - and in the long term, that's money well spent.

London is years behind everyone else in creature comforts. I don't care for laminate flooring or part leather seats, I want the bus to turn up and quickly take me to my destination. I don't want to be admiring the bus interior because I am stuck in traffic, or crawling at 20 miles an hour.

They want to make things even more dull with revisions to livery, a hint of colour through 80% red needs to come back

I still don't understand this belief held by some people that it's not possible to run a reliable and timely bus service at the same time as improving the quality of the passenger experience.

I'm fortunate enough to have four bus routes operating next to where I live, and another four within walking distance. Over the years, I've witnessed huge improvements, in the buses themselves, in their frequency, in the comfort they offer, and in the features that are available on board. Regardless of operator, all of the buses that serve my area continue to operate to a generally good standard, and I remain very satisfied with the service that they offer - yet at the same time, over the years, new buses have been introduced, with low-floor accessibility, with comfortable interiors that don't leak, and CCTV, and onboard announcements, and digital information displays, and electric propulsion.

Bus services haven't become catastrophically worse as a result of the introduction of new fleets and new features in the past, so why are some people determined to believe that if new buses now have a sunroof and USB charging ports, they'll suddenly be less capable of running a reliable service?

And given that TfL can't magically make traffic disappear, perhaps if more people used buses, then there would be be fewer cars on the roads... Wait, WAIT... Could that be the whole point of spending money on trying to make buses more appealing to the travelling public...? Like... if you don't have a magic wand to make cars vanish from the roads to let buses through, then why not encourage more people to use buses? And in the meantime, if buses do end up stuck in traffic, wouldn't it be nicer for passengers to be stuck on a bus with a comfortable, attractive and thoughtfully designed interior?