The Impersonal Voice of the LTC
So. The bus that I transferred to at Dundas/Adelaide this afternoon (after it finally arrived) had the much-anticipated “automatic in vehicle voice announcements” 01 in operation.
I’m hoping that the LTC listens to the feedback from it’s users for a change. Because, even though I fully support the concept of calling out stops, the implementation that I witnessed today could stand some improvement.
In the first place, why did they choose this particular voice? The woman sounds as if she’s totally bored, and I’m quite sure that having to listen to her drone on stop after stop on an extended trip will soon become extremely annoying. Surely there must be announcers with some personality in their voice?
More importantly, it was my impression that the approaching stops weren’t being announced soon enough. That’s certain to be problematic at the busiest (most crowded) times of the day for those vision-impaired individuals who would like to be able to to rely on the technology.
Time will tell.
Sources:
01. 2008/05/17 – LTC
© Fowler Media
I think the idea is to be as generic as possible in voices for transit.
Generic is bland and boring. And I hate missing my bus stop because I’ve nodded off.
As for the stops being called out in time, I think they are working out the kins because they still arent calling out all of the stops (or the major ones for that). Its a learning process and as with most things in London we are the so called “Short Bus” as usual thanks to our leadership (or lack there of).
I try not to fall alseep on the bus lest I wake up on the other side of town with genitals drawn on my face.
Here’s an article with some information on the voice of the LTC:
http://blogs.voices.com/voxdaily/2008/05/voice_of_london_transit_liz_r aphael_helgesen.html
John, I don’t think I’m going to be in any danger of nodding off on the bus for a while. Thanks for painting that picture in my mind.
And thanks for the link, Erica.
I have been following this a lot, of late.
Grab a “Transit Times” and read about how it doesn’t cost us anything, since Feds and Province are picking up the tab.
In reality, there are good things … London was one of the few places I have been where stops weren’t called out by the operators. It WILL be good for those who are blind, or at least legally blind. It will also help people new to the city, to some degree.
HOWEVER…lol
Being government sponsored, “Emily” as she has been called (after the Emily of Bell Canada IVR fame) is required to speak in both languages. The timing has to be fixed – as we all know, announcing the NEXT stop is more important that announcing the one you’ve just passed. Oh…and maybe call it “The VMP” since the stop is LONG gone by the time she gets out “Next stop, Admiral at Veterens Memorial Parkway”.