Canada Line | Completed

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by David

seriously, where are we? Having a message that long would be so stupid. It would probably have to start playing as it left sea island centre and would still not be finished by the time it has reached the YVR station. people are smarter than you think, even tourists. i am pretty sure 99.9% of people who are at the airport will be able to figure out that the red maple leaf leads to canadian planes and so on

That's the first mistake that naive people who have never worked with the public before like to make!

[mr.x]

If there's sufficient and proper signage at the station, i'm sure people will be able to find their way around.

[David]

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

That's the first mistake that naive people who have never worked with the public before like to make!

And assuming that I have never worked with the public is the first mistake that people with no argument like to make!

[shaners]

the highest percenage of users will be commuters who will know where they're going, too many and too long of messages will drive the everyday user nuts. thats why tourists have maps and plenty of signage.

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by David

And assuming that I have never worked with the public is the first mistake that people with no argument like to make!

Must be very optimistic person if you still have hope for humanity, then.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by David

seriously, where are we? Having a message that long would be so stupid. It would probably have to start playing as it left sea island centre and would still not be finished by the time it has reached the YVR station. people are smarter than you think, even tourists. i am pretty sure 99.9% of people who are at the airport will be able to figure out that the red maple leaf leads to canadian planes and so on

HAHA funny story: I had to direct people to USA Connections at the Domestic terminal when they couldn't find their way even when the American sign is right in front of them. I did the same at the Int'l terminal today. People aren't as smart as they seem.

Like I said, my point was to have more wayfinding information prior to arriving at the station, especially if YVR is using this as their Airport-people mover as well.

[mr.x]

These are the onboard train announcements I would have:

Waterfront:
"The next station is, Waterfront. Terminus station, interchange point to the Expo Line, Millennium Line, Line and SeaBus ferries. Station for Canada Place and the Vancouver Convention Centre. Doors open on the right/left. Thank you for riding the Canada Line."

City Centre:
"The next station is, Vancouver City Centre. Station for the Central Business District and Pacific Centre Shopping Centre. Doors open on the left/right."

Yaletown:
"The next station is, Yaletown-Roundhouse. Doors open on the left/right."

Olympic Village:
"The next station is, Olympic Village. Interchange point for the Olympic Streetcar Line to Granville Island. Doors open on the left/right."

Broadway:
"The next station is, Broadway-City Hall. Interchange point for the Millennium Line/Evergreen Line/99 B-Line rapid bus and station for Vancouver City Hall. Doors open on the left/right."

King Edward:
"The next station is, King Edward. Interchange point for the #25 cross-town bus. Doors open on the left/right."

Oakridge:
"The next station is, Oakridge-41st Avenue. Station for Oakridge Shopping Centre and interchange point for the 91 B-Line rapid bus. Doors open on the left/right."

Langara:
"The next station is, Langara-49th Avenue. Interchange point for the #49 cross-town bus. Station for Langara College. Doors open on the left/right."

Marine Drive:
"The next station is, Marine Drive. Interchange point for the #3, _, _, and _ buses. Doors open on the left/right."

Bridgeport:
"The next station is, Bridgeport. Interchange point for south of Fraser buses and station for River Rock Casino Resort. Doors open on the left/right."

Aberdeen:
"The next station is, Aberdeen. Station for Aberdeen Shopping Centre. Doors open on the left/right."

Lansdowne:
"The next station is, Lansdowne. Station for Lansdowne Shopping Centre and interchange point for # _ bus. Doors open on the left/right."

Brighouse:
"The next station is , Brighouse-Richmond City Centre. Terminus station, interchange point for Richmond buses and station for Richmond City Centre Shopping Centre and Richmond City Hall. Doors open on the left/right."

Templeton:
"The next station is, Templeton. Station for Vancouver International Airport's Long Term Parking Facilities and Pick-Up/Drop-Off Zone. Doors open on the left/right."

Sea Island:
"The next station is, Sea Island Centre. Station for Vancouver International Airport's park-and-fly facilities. Doors open on the left/right."

YVR:
"The next station is, YVR. Terminus station and station for the Domestic, Cross-Border, and International Terminals of Vancouver International Airport. Doors open on the right. Thank you for riding the Canada Line."



And platform announcements for ALL stations:
"The Canada Line train to Waterfront Station/Brighouse-Richmond City Centre Station/Vancouver International Airport is now arriving. Please let passengers exit first."




Sweet, to the point, short yet still informative.

[SpongeG]

people are too distracted and have their minds on other things when they go to the airport they need all the help thay can be given

[squeezied]

those sound alot like the hong kong mtr annoucements. i can even picture/hear it with a british voice too lol

[shaners]

there are no right or lefts when in a train since people are sitting and standing in all directions, lol. it would make sense to me, but i've seen some people who ride transit.. they would probably stand at the wrong door waiting and waiting!

[mrjauk]

Speaking of train announcements, I'll always remember the first time I took the Boston subway system and as we were approaching our next stop on the orange line, a voice with as thick a Boston accent as you can imagine blurted out over the P.A. system, "Next stop, nian-meh-sen!"

I thought, "wtf?" So I looked at the map above the doors and sure enough the next stop was "New England Medical Center." The announcer's ability to fit that into three syllables was a linguistic feat of prowess that I have yet to see (hear, I guess) duplicated.

[mr.x]

^ there are lefts and rights, it's determined by the direction the train is heading. For instance, Commercial Station is a centre platform. A westbound train arriving at that station would have its left doors open.

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by mrjauk

Speaking of train announcements, I'll always remember the first time I took the Boston subway system and as we were approaching our next stop on the orange line, a voice with as thick a Boston accent as you can imagine blurted out over the P.A. system, "Next stop, nian-meh-sen!"

I thought, "wtf?" So I looked at the map above the doors and sure enough the next stop was "New England Medical Center." The announcer's ability to fit that into three syllables was a linguistic feat of prowess that I have yet to see (hear, I guess) duplicated.

Hahaha, I do love the Boston accent. Boston is one of my favorite cities, so I know exactly what you're talking about

I can understand thick Chinese accents, Indian accents, but never have I been so dumb and had to ask "What?" more times than in Boston.

Checking out of my hotel I had to ask the front desk woman about 5 times to repeat herself, before I just nodded and walked away... turns out she was just asking if I had a nice stay.

Then to complete the idiocy, she said "Have a nice flight!" and I responded "You too!... oh..."

[mrjauk]

Originally Posted by shaners

there are no right or lefts when in a train since people are sitting and standing in all directions, lol. it would make sense to me, but i've seen some people who ride transit.. they would probably stand at the wrong door waiting and waiting!

That's technically not true; direction is always in relation to the direction of movement.

You reminded me of a great article I read recently on the effect of language on thought. In the article there was a vignetter on the manner in which an Aussie aboriginal group (I guess we'd call them a nation here in Canada) talked about direction. It's really fascinating. Here's a quick excerpt:

"Follow me to Pormpuraaw, a small Aboriginal community on the western edge of Cape York, in northern Australia. I came here because of the way the locals, the Kuuk Thaayorre, talk about space. Instead of words like 'right,' 'left,' 'forward,' and 'back,' which, as commonly used in English, define space relative to an observer, the Kuuk Thaayorre, like many other Aboriginal groups, use cardinal-direction terms — north, south, east, and west — to define space. This is done at all scales, which means you have to say things like 'There's an ant on your southeast leg' or 'Move the cup to the north northwest a little bit.' One obvious consequence of speaking such a language is that you have to stay oriented at all times, or else you cannot speak properly. The normal greeting in Kuuk Thaayorre is 'Where are you going?' and the answer should be something like 'Southsoutheast, in the middle distance.' If you don't know which way you're facing, you can't even get past 'Hello.'"

Imagine if this were true of Canadian-English as well and the implications for instructions on the Expo line. If you were riding the Expo line in the direction of Waterfront Station and were disembarking at Burrard Station, you'd be instructed to exit using the "Southwest doors" whereas if hou carried on into Waterfront Station you'd be told to disembark using the "Northeast doors!"

By the way, here's the link to the article.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by mr.x

These are the onboard train announcements I would have:

...

Sweet, to the point, short yet still informative.

Apparently, "interchange" point is too British for Vancouver so we decided to use "transfer" point instead which does make sense. Now... add these to the existing SkyTrain and bus systems and we have a winner =)

[mr.x]

Too British??? Pffft....for a country founded by the British? And a province named BRITISH Columbia? What a load of.

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by mr.x

Too British??? Pffft....for a country founded by the British? And a province named BRITISH Columbia? What a load of.

Cheerio mate, top of the morning! I agree that is bollocks! Keep your pecker (I'll just clarify that means head) up!

[nova9]

my two cents. i don't care what the message is, as long as we hire the women who did the MTR ones, I'd be in heaven!!! Haha.

I like the suggestions above, they are logical and succinct. Passengers don't need to know every detail about their location. It's called 'cognitive overload' - if you're already feeling stressed from being in an unfamiliar locale, extra information only adds to the confusion.

Personally, I think the audio cues HAVE to go hand-in-hand with visual cues. Already, we are seeing inconsistencies in signage.

[SpongeG]

we were on the BART and the messages were like this mwah wah we wah woo wh herr jar eht we did not understand one single one - it was a computer voice that was all choppy and completely incoherant - they sounded like the teacher used to on the peanuts - charlie brown specials

on the muni the driver or someone on the train would make announcements and for the most part they were really quick and extremely quiet and completely useless - would announce the next stop but when there was a problem - like on one ride there was a fight at the station ahead so the driver couldn't pull in so he just sat there and said we have to fight clear - lol and at another point he talked back to some passenger who had yelled out that he missed his stop but never got off at the next one... it was kinda funny

[ambiguoustraveller]

I love the announcements on the London underground. Simple, clear, and yet enough to detail to help out those not familiar with the system. For example "Temple Station, alight for Somerset House". Obviously Canadians aren't as familiar with the term alight, but something simple like that could be good. Six words, not confusing. You get the name of the station and the name of the nearest attraction.