The Edinburgh Trams Finally Arrive
One of the reasons to go to Edinburgh was to see the new trams.
The trams themselves are impressive and are the first I’ve seen with leather seats. Incidentally according to this Wikipedia article, the Edinburgh tram is a special design and unlike any others.
The trams, like many Lothian buses are being fitted with wi-fi, which is something I’d like to see on all public transport.
But I think that the design of the system shows a few shortcomings.
Edinburgh is a World Heritage Site, so why didn’t they use battery or catenary-free technology, through the historic centre, as is done in Bordeaux, Nice and Seville. Incidentally the Seville trams were built by the same manufacturer as those in Edinburgh; CAF. It therefore seems even more surprising that Edinburgh doesn’t use the same technology in the city centre, especially as in addition to not using intrusive and ugly catenary, according to some technical articles, I’ve read they are cheaper to install in heritage areas, as no posts or attachments on buildings are needed.
Even the most patriotic of Scots, will admit that it rains in their country. The ticket machines, like they are in many places I’ve been, are out in the open and buying a ticket without an umbrella wasn’t an easy process. All it needed was to make the shelters a little bit longer, as one of the pictures shows.
The ticketing is something that doesn’t take advantage of modern technology. These days, you shouldn’t need to buy a ticket, as you don’t on London’s buses, where if you haven’t got a ticket or an Oyster, you can use a contactless bank or credit card. I hope Edinburgh has plans to allow these cards, as visitors will demand this, as it gets implimemted in more places across the world.
I also felt the ticketing zones weren’t visitor friendly. You can buy one day tickets, but why don’t they do what I found in one European city and offer twenty-four hour tickets. This helps people who might fly into Edinburgh for business or a concert and then fly back out the next day. Charging people for two separate tickets will just upset visitors.
The tram also failed my map and information standards by a long way. Edinburgh has virtually no maps and surely there should be one on every tram stop.
Train Information To Be Free To Developers
The Rail Industry is going to open up its database, so that all train running and timetabling information will be available free to software developers. It is reported here on the Modern Railways web site.
This may seem quite small and technical, but it is an interesting change of philosophy by a public body.
I’ve always believed in giving access to data in a comprehensive manner, when that data is anonymous and disclosure is in the public interest.
For instance, a programme could be written, that collates and analyses some specific data on the rail network, that might be required by a local politician, who is getting complaints about the rail service.
But that is only a simple example and knowing the skill of software developers, free access to the data, will spawn some very useful applications.
The article doesn’t say if passenger journey statistics will be available, but this might be very useful to develop a system, which helped show a company, which would be the best location for their next coffee shop or office development. Or perhaps it could suggest to a coach company, which might be the best route for a new service.
A lot of these applications are speculative, but because the data is available and free, companies with a need will use it to their advantage to grow, increase profits and create jobs.
Let’s hope that this is a first small step to opening up public data,so that companies and organisations can improve their products and services, and consumers can benefit.
Maps And Information In Berlin
This is a subject that I find important and feel that if a town or city wants to be a Grade One tourist destination, then they must have good maps and information.
London has always had a street map at each Underground station and this policy has been extended to most of the proper bus shelters. It’s a policy that Londoners and tourists must like, as more and more maps and information is appearing, with yellow topped liths popping up everywhere.
Warsaw it seems has started to add liths and maps for tourists, with quite a few finger posts too.
But I only one map on the street in Berlin.
A Solitary Map
There are maps at stations, but they are not up to the detailed level, you get in other cities, including some German ones.
If You Want To Know The Time Get On A Bus
I was on three big red taxis today and they’ve had a software upgrade on the information display.
I haven’t noticed the time before, but I was away Tuesday and Wednesday and only took one bus yesterday.
Since I created this post, I’ve been on about six or so buses. All were showing the time! Even a very elderly example! I did see a New Bus for London pass and it looked like this was showing the time as well.
It will be interesting to see the indirect effects of this technology change!
Will people be on time more, as they should spot they are late, even when they’ve left their watch at home?
Will it cut watch thefts, as people might wear them less on public transport?
Will there be a clamour for more clocks on the Underground, the Overground and trains?
Searching For George Stephenson’s Bridge
One of the major components of the Northern Hub is the Ordsall Chord. This is so important it has its own web site.
Would you believe that where logically the curve should go, there is a Grade One listed bridge put up by George Stephenson?
The various heritage sites are shown here on the Ordsall Chord web site.
So I went to take some pictures of the area.
There are several bridges there and quite frankly none appears to have much elegance.
The solitary Salford lith was useless, as it only gave details about Salford. I was virtually outside Manchester Victoria station and that wasn’t shown.
Salford and Manchester may be two separate cities, but the rest of the world sees them as one and they should act as such, otherwise visitors will come back with tales of this impenetrable city and discourage their friends from coming.
This Is Becoming A Habit
I had another letter in The Times yesterday under the heading of Bus Information
The rest of the country is lagging far behind London for maps and timetables — could rivalry be to blame?
Sir, Roger Sexton (letter, Apr 4) says that there are no controls on commercial bus fares outside London.
As a senior citizen living in a Tube-free London borough, I use buses a great deal and I travel a lot around the UK. Outside the capital, I find that buses run in an information-free zone, with no maps and unworkable text systems to check arrivals. As London’s excellent system is software based, surely, it could be applied countrywide. Or perhaps cities like Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh are saying that they don’t want any system that has been proven in London.
I doubt that information will improve, although a friend told how there was an item on bus regulation in Newcastle on Radio 4 yesterday.
Lost In Millwall
I usually like going to the New Den to see a football match, as to get from Dalston Junction station to the ground is simple and it is a stadium with good viewing.
I knew that going yesterday wasn’t going to be easy, as South Bermondsey station, which is connected to the ground by a walkway was closed due to engineering works.
So I went the way I usually go, which is to take the Overground to Canada Water station and then get one of the single-decker buses to a stop named Millwall FC.
The bus was full, but the usually-friendly Millwall supporters were not bothering me. Sometimes, I think that their reputation is worse than the reality. But I arrived at the ground, as I intended, a few minutes before kick-off.
It should be said, that London’s talking buses make it easy to find your way in strange parts of London. Other cities should follow the example.
The match was probably Ipswich’s worst display of the season, with the spark of the previous Championship encounter against QPR completely missing. The only positive thing to say, is that Millwall played well enough to stay up, so that should be another easy away game to get to, next season.
After the match, my normal route home via South Bermondsey and London Bridge stations was not on, so I decided to walk to TfL’s recommended alternative of Surrey Quays station.
I got lost, as there were no maps in this part of London. Where I live in Hackney, there are liths and maps all over the place.
So in the end I got to the station by walking in a great circle.
As I suspect the works at South Bermondsey will be going for some time, something needs to be done.
Bilbao’s Heritage Signs
I would assume that this is a sign, which gives information about Bilbao’s heritage.
I can make a guess at reading Spanish, although the only thing I can read here, is that it is about a convent from the seventeenth century.
But then if Bilbao wants to attract more visitors, it really must improve its maps and information.
I know it’s all very political, but how many foreign visitors to the area, can speak the local language?
A Phallic Lith
Is there any other way to describe this lith at the Emirates Air-Line?
A Phallic Lith
London doesn’t appear to be too dictatorial about the liths, as some like this one seem to go their own way.
Walking Around Glasgow City Centre
I had an hour or so before I needed to get to Glasgow Central station, so as it was fine, I walked around looking at the buildings.
Glasgow is easy to navigate, as it has lots of wayfinding liths, just like London.
As you can see, some are megaliths and have a lot more than just a simple map and a few words.
Without doubt liths are the way to go.
This was illustrated, when I came across a group of students and a local, who were discussing in detail, the direction the students needed to go.
In my view, Glasgow’s liths may only have one problem, except for the misplaced Tourist Office.
And that is on Friday, with all the rain, they didn’t stand out, as the colours were too subtle. Perhaps, that is why London’s liths have yellow tops.
The Anonymous Widower 