http://www.fadetoplay.com/2006/12/24/a-new-voice-for-the-toronto-subway/ Phillip Jeffrey is a UBC PhD student (MAGIC), HCT lab member, Gamer, and Photographer. He is exploring how social technologies (games & new media) can be platforms for changing the world. Blogging about new media since 2005. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 08:09:07 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 http://www.fadetoplay.com/2006/12/24/a-new-voice-for-the-toronto-subway/comment-page-1/#comment-2765 meg Wed, 27 Dec 2006 14:44:19 +0000 http://www.fadetoplay.com/2006/12/24/a-new-voice-for-the-toronto-subway/#comment-2765 They use prerecorded stop announcements in Japan on the trains, subways, and buses but the conductors/drivers can override it and make the announcements themselves - something that is often done. Either that or they repeat the stop though I can't tell you if they do it with humor or not. Stop announcements is maybe an enjoyable part of the job and perhaps they will continue to make them even with the automated system. One upside to the automated system is that some drivers mutter or do not say anything - people might be less likely to miss stops. A downside is that once automated voice playing is in place, it becomes easier to start using it for advertisements. Even if the advertisements are useful location-based information, they can get on your nerves after a while. Of course it may be less likely for a company in Canada to do this as the auditory channel is not as favorable for information delivery as it is in Japan. They use prerecorded stop announcements in Japan on the trains, subways, and buses but the conductors/drivers can override it and make the announcements themselves – something that is often done. Either that or they repeat the stop though I can’t tell you if they do it with humor or not. Stop announcements is maybe an enjoyable part of the job and perhaps they will continue to make them even with the automated system.
One upside to the automated system is that some drivers mutter or do not say anything – people might be less likely to miss stops. A downside is that once automated voice playing is in place, it becomes easier to start using it for advertisements. Even if the advertisements are useful location-based information, they can get on your nerves after a while. Of course it may be less likely for a company in Canada to do this as the auditory channel is not as favorable for information delivery as it is in Japan.

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