Useful customer information systems

18 August 2010

At many stations in and around London, the frequency has got so good you really do not need a timetable. So why, at places like Balham, do the customer information systems tell you negative and useless information?

The 8.36am to London Victoria is a minute late. I don’t care. All I need to know is that the next train to Victoria is in three minutes.

So, why not put in a whopping great info board that says that? Don’t measure what is happening to the bits of metal, measure what is happening or might happen to the passengers. You can sell success that way – high frequency services, just like the tube not a dribble of one minute lateness!