Re: trial CityRail signage and info systems

[Eddie Oliver <eddie.oliver@efs.mq.edu.au>]

jdennis@acslink.net.au wrote:
> 
> And in a corresponding query, why in Sydney do they make announcements such
> as the one I heard at North Sydney, in a Hornsby via Strathfield train.  This
> announcement went through "Milsons Point, Wynyard, Town Hall, Central,
> Redfern, then Burwood, Strathfield", then the next half a dozen station to
> somewhere north of Strathfield, and finished with "and all stations to
> Hornsby".  Why not say "all stations to Hornsby" after Strathfield and skip
> the half-dozen names mentioned? --

The commonest practices seem to be

(a) to try to break it up into smaller "snatches" so that people don't
have to place their own station in the midst of too wide an area (e.g.
breaking Strathfield to Hornsby into Strathfield - Epping - Hornsby
means that people have a smaller range in which to identify their own
station)

(b) to list closer stations separately, but more distant ones in a group
(presumably on the theory that there will be plenty of later
announcements in which the individual listings occur) - for instance
some Illawarra announcements say things like "Redfern, Sydenham, Tempe,
Arncliffe, Banksia, Rockdale, Kogarah then all stations to Sutherland"
which is logically just "Redfern, Sydenham then all stations to
Sutherland".

There could be quite a game in identifying the most bizarre programming
mistakes. Stations out of proper sequence, for instance, and one at Town
Hall which says "First stop then Wynyard".

Eddie Oliver