Comments on: How to find your train at Flinders Street Station https://wongm.com/2018/05/flinders-street-station-next-train-display-usability/ Marcus Wong. Gunzel. Engineering geek. History nerd. Fri, 26 Jan 2024 23:16:01 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 By: Patricia Meyer https://wongm.com/2018/05/flinders-street-station-next-train-display-usability/#comment-909779 Fri, 26 Jan 2024 23:16:01 +0000 https://wongm.com/?p=9902#comment-909779 Last year when I visited Melbourne, I had booked the Airport bus to Frankston, but there was a problem and I was put on the City bus with the information “the trains are just where you get off the bus”. Yes, there are trains just where one gets off the bus (with luggage), but they are V-Line trains.
I spent some time trying to find where to go and asked several people along the way. Finally was directed to an Information booth, where my problem was further compounded – I would require no less than 4 changes of train and bus (with luggage) to reach my destination. By the time I was given that information, I should have already been at Frankston where my daughter was to meet me.
I quit and found a cab which cost me $150.
I am hoping I may have a less stressful experience next week!

]]> By: Flinders Street Station: 30 years of change - Waking up in Geelong https://wongm.com/2018/05/flinders-street-station-next-train-display-usability/#comment-773433 Fri, 13 Aug 2021 01:22:10 +0000 https://wongm.com/?p=9902#comment-773433 […] took almost twenty years, but the colours are back – aligned to the new set of colours included on the PTV rail network […]

]]> By: Photos from ten years ago: March 2010 - Waking up in Geelong https://wongm.com/2018/05/flinders-street-station-next-train-display-usability/#comment-601646 Mon, 02 Mar 2020 20:32:57 +0000 https://wongm.com/?p=9902#comment-601646 […] were replaced by plain looking white on black LCD screens in 2011, but the use of colours was brought back in 2018, but only at Flinders Street […]

]]> By: Peter https://wongm.com/2018/05/flinders-street-station-next-train-display-usability/#comment-461959 Tue, 26 Jun 2018 09:22:17 +0000 https://wongm.com/?p=9902#comment-461959 In reply to Pierce Norman.

Hi Pierce,

If you are still looking for advice I would recommend contacting Traveller’s Aid (https://www.travellersaid.org.au/). They are a not-for-profit organisation dedicated to helping visitors with disabilities and other difficulties, and they have a facility at Flinders St.

]]> By: Marcus Wong https://wongm.com/2018/05/flinders-street-station-next-train-display-usability/#comment-461946 Tue, 26 Jun 2018 03:55:17 +0000 https://wongm.com/?p=9902#comment-461946 In reply to Pierce Norman.

I can’t imagine how a blind person would be able to successfully navigate Flinders Street Station without assistance or lots of preparation ahead of time – there is tactile paving on the concourse and Braille buttons on the lifts, but nothing else to help you find the platform you want.

Southern end of the Swanston Street concourse

As for finding which platform your train is on – trains to a given destination don’t use the same platform at Flinders Street Station 100% of the time, which makes pre-planning difficult.

There isn’t any audible way to find out once you arrive, so you’d need to resort to an app on your smartphone and hope it works with accessibility tools, or walk down to each platform, waiting for an audible announcement to play, and see if you have arrived at the right one.

For the purposes of comparison, this is a tactile map I found in Hong Kong, that have been added at many stations.

The braille text provides guidance information, while the map is three dimensional, showing the accessible routes through the station. It even plays a cute musical tune for vision impaired people can find it among the busy station!

Tactile map at Tai Wai station

They also publish a schematic diagram of every station on their network, so you can plan ahead of time what route you need to follow from street to platform.

http://www.mtr.com.hk/en/customer/services/system_map.html

]]> By: Pierce Norman https://wongm.com/2018/05/flinders-street-station-next-train-display-usability/#comment-461255 Fri, 15 Jun 2018 02:59:42 +0000 https://wongm.com/?p=9902#comment-461255 Marcus,
Would Flinders Street Station be easy to navigate for commuters who are blind and/or deaf? What advice would you give such persons?
Thanks!

]]> By: Marcus Wong https://wongm.com/2018/05/flinders-street-station-next-train-display-usability/#comment-461249 Fri, 15 Jun 2018 02:48:25 +0000 https://wongm.com/?p=9902#comment-461249 In reply to Peter.

Nice find – thanks!

]]> By: Dynamic directional signs at Melbourne railway stations - Waking up in Geelong https://wongm.com/2018/05/flinders-street-station-next-train-display-usability/#comment-460887 Mon, 11 Jun 2018 21:32:06 +0000 https://wongm.com/?p=9902#comment-460887 […] plans to make it easier for passengers to navigate through Flinders Street Station by making the wayfinding signage clearer to follow – but during my travels around Me;bourne’s rail network, I’ve spotted a different […]

]]> By: Peter https://wongm.com/2018/05/flinders-street-station-next-train-display-usability/#comment-460600 Fri, 08 Jun 2018 01:24:44 +0000 https://wongm.com/?p=9902#comment-460600 Marcus, I have discovered that the “unfamiliar users” system was in place in NSW at least 30 years ago, where it was apparently a “disaster” – not least because it had to be updated manually by an operator!

http://cdn.timetable.org.au/thetimes201612issue.pdf

The Australian Timetable Association carried the story in its December 2016 newsletter.

Hopefully a modern, automated version of the system will be a little more successful!

]]> By: Marcus Wong https://wongm.com/2018/05/flinders-street-station-next-train-display-usability/#comment-460386 Wed, 06 Jun 2018 04:12:40 +0000 https://wongm.com/?p=9902#comment-460386 In reply to Jezz Chrimes.

Good point – NSW does use colour in their GTFS feed to Google, but only orange = train and red = light rail.

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