Friday, January 28. 2005Thank you, London Transport
I had a thoroughly annoying trip home from work today. Everything went fine until I got to Waterloo where it seemed there were some delays on the Northern Line, the dot matrix display said 'check front of train for destination'. of course, since the train was already standing at the platform that little nugget of advice was already moot so I leaned into the train to listen. Since the standard announcement lists all the places you can change to before giving you the information actually relevant to the train's destination this is always slightly risky because the drivers are always keen to get the doors closed before the automatic announcement gets onto that bit. It turned out the train was destined for Edgware so I took a seat and waited for the next one to appear...
The next train was also heralded by a 'check front of train for destination' notice on the dot matrix, this time I checked, this train was also going to Edgware. I waited. There were more or less constant announcements explaining that there were delays on the Northern Line so I wasn't too surprised at a run of Edgware bound trains, but generally you're much more likely to be sitting comfortably for the whole journey if you just wait for the right train at Waterloo instead of going to Camden and remembering to get off. There were also constant announcements that there were delays elsewhere on the network, but I pretty much ignored them, as well as reminders that smoking was not allowed on London Underground property. This seemed odd at first, but a few minutes later a guy did walk past me smoking what was left of a fag, at this point they announced, once again, that smoking was not allowed on the underground, so let me pause in this tale to make an aside:
Anyway, smoking guy got on the next train, also bound for Edgware. I had the PDA out by this point and was happily playing patience while awaiting a High Barnet train. I waited. The next train also turned out to be Edgware bound. I waited some more. Another Edgware train. Some more waiting. Since about 25 minutes had elapsed since I arrived on the platform I figured it was time to cut my losses and just get on an Edgware train, and of course this is the moment the driver chooses to tell you that all trains through Waterloo are bound for Edgware this evening. Despite more or less constant use of the PA since I'd got there, nobody at Waterloo had decided to share this nugget of information, and, another note for LUL staff, you can't hear the train driver announcing stuff unless you are on or near the train - yes those people sitting down you were referring to can't hear you, much like the guy smoking the fag earlier. So thank you, London Transport, for wasting 25 minutes of my life that I will never get back... (On the plus side, the chocolate machine, which still says ** Thank You ** and shows little sign of life, did have a box of Trebor spearmints and a roll of Wine Gums sitting in it's dispenser  )
Tuesday, January 25. 2005Monday, January 24. 2005Friday, January 21. 2005Thursday, January 20. 2005Wednesday, January 19. 2005Friday, January 14. 2005Thursday, January 13. 2005The Tube Vending Machines
They must be reading the blog - someone has reset the machine
Message on display: Exact Change Only Credit in machine: 0 Chocolate available: Unable to determine (without putting money in it, anyway...) Thursday, January 13. 2005Wednesday, January 12. 2005The Tube Vending Machines
There are likely to be a lot of posts in this category in the fullness of time, I've been saving myself
I'm going to start with something that is going to become a bit of a running topic, with daily status updates. On the Northern Line, Northbound platform at Waterloo, by the entrance closest to Kennington, there is a vending machine which promises all kinds of Cadbury goodness, as well as Trebor Softmints and even cough sweets. Aside from questioning the whole point of this machine in an environment which, during the summer, has an ambient temperature in excess of 30 celsius (umm, sticky chocalate) and yet not providing a dispensing machine for bottled water (instead, you are advised to bring your own - handy when you're overcome by heat halfway through a long journey), I have a big gripe with this machine. As a web developer I often find my work being criticised on grounds of useability - people have high expectations for websites that are easy to use, transparently organised and yet allow the user to complete some complex task. What is clear to me is that no-one thought about useability when designing this vending machine. There are two key flaws: 1. The coin refund is not linked to the coin input, this means it is impossible for the machine to refund the money you have just put into it if it is out of change (and displaying the 'Exact Change Only' message). 2. There is no indication of what is in stock and out of stock, this means the only way to find out if there's anything in the machine is to put money into it and start asking for chocolate. Now, if this machine was maintained regularly there would be little chance for either of the two situations mentioned above to happen, let alone both happen together. And yet, every day this week on my way home from work I have looked at the machine and it has contained non-refundable credit and not contained any chocolate. So henceforth in my weblog I will record the state of the machine every day that I pass by: Message on display: Exact Change Only Credit in machine: £1.40 Chocolate available: None So it begins... |
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