I was travelling home on the 173 tonight, and I knoticed a major change to the destination. This is the first time I have encountered a serious modification.
The terminus used to read, "173 . . to . . Goodmayes, King George Hospital". The name was so long that it used to drift across the display at the front.
However, tonight I got on the bus and the display and announcement read: "173 . . to . . King George Hospital". Im sure Emma Hignett has re-recorded that, as it seemed different to the way she used to announce it before after the Goodmayes.
This also allows for the display to stay on the screen and not scroll across as it is not so long.
TfL must monitor passenger responses to this, and that destination being repeated time and again must have been the reason for that modification.
The 173 has a few problems with i-bus. Bus X532GGO announces stops too early, I think the tracker is not allogned properly. Sometimes, the bus is approaching Wood Lane/ Morrisons, and i-bus is announcing "James Avenue", which is the next stop! If the stops are close together, it makes it worse.
Bus X529GGO has no announcements, they totally dont work as I travelled on it a number of times and only the display works.
Theres another bus that has only the voice, as the screen no longer works. Will there be people that fix i-bus once all buses have been installed? - Gareth.