A couple of years ago the displays for train times and platforms at Waterloo Station (London) where changed from, let's call them 'Clatterboards' for want of the proper name, to the current set of 40 or so flat-panel computer displays. Now I've used Waterloo as a commuter daily for the past five years and I'm still questioning whether the implementation of these displays couldn't be done better.

Being in the IT business myself I'm not adverse to the march of change from analogue to digital systems and I can see the benefits of the current display; for example they allow combinations of routes that may not have been possible with the predefined set of boards on the Clatterboards. However when designing a replacement system I would argue that it at least needs to incorporate all of the benefits of the previous system from the perspective of all users. From the perspective of a regular commuter they fall somewhat short and their potential for improvement has not, in my mind, been fully exploited.

The advantages of the Clatterboard system were:

• The details for each train generally stayed in the same position.
• There was an audible clatter when platforms were announced that meant you didn't have to be looking at the boards all the time; you could read a paper and only glance up each time the boards were changed.
• The size and position of the boards meant that everyone had to stand back leaving room near the platforms for other people to move round freely. You could also see the boards from quite a distance which meant that the crowd was rather dispersed over a larger area.

Compare this with the current screens system.

• The details of each train now move. The trains are ordered chronologically with the next to leave are nearer the platforms. As each train leaves the details are shifted along one. This has two side effects:
  1. If you take your eyes off the screens the train you were looking at may have moved and you loose it.
  2. Crowds tend to bunch nearer the platforms (especially because the screens are difficult to see from any great distance). This crowding causes problems for people trying to get to their platform. Surely this could have been anticipated with a bit of simple egress analysis.
• There is no audible indication that the screens have changed. I now find myself using the surge of the crowd to work out that a platform has been announced.

There's no point ranting about this without suggesting some improvements. Now I'm not advocating going back to the Clatterboards but I am suggesting there may be alternative ways to use the screens to overcome these problems. So here goes:

Don't move the stuff on the screens

Either don't move the details of a train once it has been placed on the screen or, my preference, really use the power of the screens and provide an A-Z system where train destinations are listed alphabetically from one side of the bank of screens to the other.

With the current system being a regular commuter I know there are certain trains going to certain destinations that I can catch so I look for these but people who use Waterloo only occasionally don't have this advantage. They need to scan the entire set of screens (which are changing as they do this) to find a train going to the destination they want. With an A-Z system this is made much easier and if the next train to a particular destination isn't the fastest option, then why not display the next and fastest train for that destination.

Spreading the times out over all screens should thin the crowd and move them away from the platforms to allow easier access. This brings me onto the next point.

Re-orient the screens

Shortly after they were installed the bank of screens near platform 19 proved too problematic in their original location; they faced the exit from the tube and crowds would build as they hovered to see where their train was leaving from and this would cause people behind problems as they attempted to get off the escalators. To overcome this the bank of screens were changed to face away from the platforms. This quite successfully has created a clear area free from people near the to exit the tube and has cleared a pathway for people to get to the lower-numbered platforms. Why not do the same with the other banks of screens?

Clatter, clatter

Finally, provide an audible noise that indicates when platforms have been changed on the screens, other than the announcer of course.

Anyone got any other ideas?