talking buses

[danny]

Hii their has been some talk of talking buses in the last few months, will the introduction of this system be similar to London where it would announce the route, terminus and next stop, I remember well the 404 merc when new used to call the next stop although very faintly.

[richie]

up to 40 buses need to be fitted with them on routes in brierley hill as part of the better bus area fund.

[jnl1984]

This is already in place on the 22/23 with the voice of Phil Upton. I think it sounds quite smart and is very efficient with the information.

[Ash]

The talking announcements are still on the mercs that were branded for the 404 along with some unbranded ones 1524/5/6/7/33 and 1658 these announcements were useful and may be the system could be taken from these mercs and used on the scania's currently on the 404. I know there are only 15 of these ex 404 voice announcements but diamond (petes travel then) also had 8 darts with the same system for the 404E

[danny]

I never noticed it on the hybrid routes and I comute on them every so often to bartley, is it same  as 404 with just the stop name

[Stu]

I can remember catching a 404 once before many years ago, with the 'talking' feature, as well as the internal LED display showing the next stop.

It works on buses in London, I found it very useful, though if you catch the same bus every day, it might grate after a while. Still it beats listening to crappy music coming out of mobile phones!  ;D

"This is a.. 37.. service to.. Solihull Station. Next stop.. Acocks Green Village." Though I can't stand Phil Upton's voice!  :o

[Ash]

The voice on the 404 was a lady although some of the buses only had the display screen and not the speakers and also showed a digital clock aswell

[danny]

That sounds really good Ill listen out for it next time I'm on 22

[4006]

Never needed them before!!!

[4504]

Can't the talking Mercs by programmed for PE/WB routes, that would be useful

[Badger]

How does it work, is it only on limited stop services or does it only mention some stops? A lot of routes around here  there wouldn't be time to play the message between stops.

[Ash]

The ones on the merc said each stop it was like a beep noise then said for example tame bridge parkway it never said next stop tame bridge parkway and only sounded once

[4504]

If it's available on trains (classes 172 and 350, just to name a few) then I don't see why it can't be done with other routes, main stops or fair stages should be mentioned

[jnl1984]

Yeah, the 22/23 have every stop mentioned... the information is also displayed on the TV's. This feature to my knowledge has only been in place a little over a week.

[Nathan4775]

Yeah, the 22/23 have every stop mentioned... the information is also displayed on the TV's. This feature to my knowledge has only been in place a little over a week.

Ive noticed the TV's on some B5L'S show a WHITE SCREEN then you got the L.E.D underneath displaying the Information  8)