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Post by rmz19 on Sept 17, 2016 23:18:20 GMT
Thanks for sharing. They sound very amateurish, certainly not done by a professional. What's the bet that someone in back office drew the short straw! I think the purpose of updating the announcements was so that passengers actually notice - the hoping being that it is a different voice it will be noticed whatever message is trying to be communicated. An example of when Contactless first came to NR, Southern stations had a very animated voice on the tannoy saying about card clash, but because of the different voice it was more noticeable I agree, sounds very amateurish and certainly does not sound as professional as Emma Hignett's announcements. Not really iBus related, but this situation is similar to the recent announcements on the Northern Line, particularly for interchanges. The new voice sounds very lethargic and does not sound anywhere near as professional, pleasant nor eloquent as the voice in the original announcements. TFL should've just kept it the way it is.
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Post by snoggle on Sept 17, 2016 23:59:29 GMT
Thanks for sharing. They sound very amateurish, certainly not done by a professional. What's the bet that someone in back office drew the short straw! That's pretty much my sense of it. With due apologies to anyone who works in a call centre but it just sounds like one of those monotonous but initally pleasant sounding voices you get when ringing a customer services centre. It's only after about 3 minutes of listening to them that you want to go "loco" or bash your head against the wall. Clearly TfL have decided to tweak / clarify some of the standard messages and that's fine. I just don't think *that* voice helps. For an organisation so concerned about appearances and consistency it seems to be doing a lot recently to head in completely the opposite direction. Totally off topic but I once had a desk near the boss's secretary's desk. While she was fine as a person she had this terrible squawky essex voice that could cut glass at 10 paces. I can still hear her going "Mr Cantwell's Office" - arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
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Post by Eastlondoner62 on Sept 19, 2016 19:35:21 GMT
On an EL1 today the driver was having a hard time dealing with the crowds, this being school time the bus was slightly noisier than usual. The announcements to get people moving down the bus and upstairs were almost impossible to hear, whereas the voice of Emma could be heard very well.
I'm not having a go at the woman who has done these new announcements, but TfL should at least adjust the sound on the announcements to make the audible. If they're doing something unnecessary, then they might as well do it properly.
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Post by capitalomnibus on Sept 19, 2016 22:02:41 GMT
That sounds like the original announcement has returned. All the driver presets have a new voice with some being worded slightly different. The only downside is the voice is weaker compared to Emmas. Yes they have been changed all of them. This was also down to drivers feedback. They are now not as formal, the voice isn't as loud and it is more of a "youthful" voice.
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Post by vjaska on Sept 19, 2016 22:11:15 GMT
On an EL1 today the driver was having a hard time dealing with the crowds, this being school time the bus was slightly noisier than usual. The announcements to get people moving down the bus and upstairs were almost impossible to hear, whereas the voice of Emma could be heard very well. I'm not having a go at the woman who has done these new announcements, but TfL should at least adjust the sound on the announcements to make the audible. If they're doing something unnecessary, then they might as well do it properly. A lot of people have been complaining about this so I wonder if TfL will do a rethink on this and sort the volume of the voice out to make it more audible. Admittedly, I've only heard it once and that was on the 350 on Saturday and I heard quite well TBH but the hybrid motor wasn't on full pelt so probably made it easier to hear
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Post by snoggle on Sept 19, 2016 22:17:38 GMT
All the driver presets have a new voice with some being worded slightly different. The only downside is the voice is weaker compared to Emmas. Yes they have been changed all of them. This was also down to drivers feedback. They are now not as formal, the voice isn't as loud and it is more of a "youthful" voice. From what's been reported the messages that have been changed are those giving instructions to passengers. Why on earth would you make those messages quieter, softer spoken and less formal? People will certainly take no notice of them *at all*. You really need a Sergeant Major voice on those announcements. "OI U 'ORRIBLE PEOPLE. MOVE DOWN THE BUS" "GET OUT OF THE WHEELCHAIR SPACE *NOW*" "YOU'RE ONLY GETTING ON IF YOU GO UPSTAIRS AND SIT IN THE SPARE SEATS" "ONLY TWO, YES TWO NOT THREE NOT FOUR, BUGGIES ALLOWED IN THE WHEELCHAIR AREA"
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Post by M1104 on Sept 19, 2016 22:43:16 GMT
" drivers will change at next bus stop.....and this may take a loooooooooooooooooooooong time"
Lil miss Jocelyn ibus
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Post by snoggle on Sept 20, 2016 8:38:26 GMT
Just seen a tweet from Emma Hignett that says that the "new voice" is a bus driver. Someone tweeted about a "non Emma" voice being used and that was her reply.
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Post by john on Sept 20, 2016 9:16:54 GMT
Just seen a tweet from Emma Hignett that says that the "new voice" is a bus driver. Someone tweeted about a "non Emma" voice being used and that was her reply. It's POSSIBLY due to the "Hello London" programme, trying to get passengers more connected to drivers. I actually like them as a driver, I've seen people take alot more notice of them too, especially the next stop is closed message. Tbh, it's a shame they don't do it with a male voice for service alterations at stations, such as last weekends TfL Rail closure
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Post by ibus246 on Sept 20, 2016 10:49:58 GMT
Just seen a tweet from Emma Hignett that says that the "new voice" is a bus driver. Someone tweeted about a "non Emma" voice being used and that was her reply. It's POSSIBLY due to the "Hello London" programme, trying to get passengers more connected to drivers. I actually like them as a driver, I've seen people take alot more notice of them too, especially the next stop is closed message. Tbh, it's a shame they don't do it with a male voice for service alterations at stations, such as last weekends TfL Rail closure Talking of the "hello London" programme a new big red book will be released in Spring next year reflecting on that.
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Post by snoggle on Sept 20, 2016 12:31:45 GMT
Just seen a tweet from Emma Hignett that says that the "new voice" is a bus driver. Someone tweeted about a "non Emma" voice being used and that was her reply. It's POSSIBLY due to the "Hello London" programme, trying to get passengers more connected to drivers. I actually like them as a driver, I've seen people take alot more notice of them too, especially the next stop is closed message. Tbh, it's a shame they don't do it with a male voice for service alterations at stations, such as last weekends TfL Rail closure I've now had a reply from Emma. She says she is still doing the messages but supplemented by some done by bus driver s. I wonder if different drivers are doing messages in different parts of the network?
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Post by jacques on Oct 11, 2016 19:34:14 GMT
Ewww, sounds too common for my liking... bring back the other lady! (Emma?) Completely agree. The new voice is way too common, the original lady had a voice that was very easy on the ears.
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Post by john on Oct 12, 2016 17:00:58 GMT
Ewww, sounds too common for my liking... bring back the other lady! (Emma?) Completely agree. The new voice is way too common, the original lady had a voice that was very easy on the ears. It's too common because the new announcements are doing by a driver. From a drivers perspective I like them, it's different so makes people take note, especially the next stop closed message. That one I absolutely love!!
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Post by routew15 on Oct 12, 2016 19:04:16 GMT
Completely agree. The new voice is way too common, the original lady had a voice that was very easy on the ears. It's too common because the new announcements are doing by a driver. From a drivers perspective I like them, it's different so makes people take note, especially the next stop closed message. That one I absolutely love!! These announcements are definately a good compliment to those of Emma Hignett. In my opinion if the announcer strikes a right balance of sounding 'common' then it can only be seen as a good thing as some passengers may see it as someone real giving beneficial advice, rather than a computer giving irrating instructions (a few times I've heard people say is "she a robot" in reference to the i-"Bus Lady"). If this is how the driver announcements sound then I think we should have more driver pre-recorded announcements. Might still be a bit too early to say "Emma who?"
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