Quiet zone: NOT

[Raffles]

How many people would use a "LOUD" carriage, I wonder?

I believe, in Germany, there is such a thing where people sit there listening to their pinsets.*

 

*pinset (n): Walkman/Personal Stereo

 

 

Good grief Matt, how many have you got?.....

Just the two Gordon, one work mobile and my own.

[Trevellan]

The last "quiet" coach I travelled in (a class 444 from Waterloo to Portsmouth) in June was a complete waste of time. Two minutes after boarding I was joined by two middle-aged men with six-packs of lager which they quaffed noisily in between loud chat. And don't get me started on the two young women further down the coach who managed to chat on mobiles for most of the journey. Have these people never heard of enjoying the passing view or even reading? Oh, I see...

[trisonic]

I remember "Ladies Only" compartments because I got in one by mistake once just as the train was leaving Liverpool Street Station. It was full with hard eyed women who stared at me with malevolence until I managed to escape at Stratford.......I had to sit with a sickly grin on my face, scary.

 

Best, Pete.

[AndyB]

 

It's something to do with the psychology of not being able to hear both sides of the conversation, but I can't explain it further.

 

The explanation psychologists have offered for this is that your brain tries to "fill in" for the half of the conversation you can't hear. Subconsciously you end up playing the role of the other person in this conversation. Interestingly there were two people having a conversation (3 rows away), one barely audible and the other speaking loudly - it felt much like listening to a mobile phone conversation.

 

Living close to the end of our line it also occurs to me that as a journey progresses the likelihood of the remaining passengers alighting at my station increases. As it is a smallish community you just don't want to have a set to with someone who could easily turn out to be a "neighbour", have children at the same school, see in the village pub....

 

I guess there is an issue over which rolling stock is used, but on one TOC I use the announcements are carriage specific - "You are in carriage 7 of 8" is an example. Could they not include more often announcements telling passengers every 30 seconds that they are in a quiet zone? :/

 

I'm guessing here but there must be some kind of mesh film that could be retrofitted to the windows which would reduce the strength of mobile signal in these carriages?

 

My personal cunning plan, however is that at the end of my current contract I shall look for a job which doesn't involve me using the train to commute.

 

Andy

[gordon s]

I'm sure there was a piece of kit a few years back that would jam mobile phone signals. Seem to recall it was aimed at restauranteurs to stop mobiles whilst people were eating. The technology is probably out there somewhere.

 

Miserable old git that I am, I'd love someone to invent a portable one with a range of 50 yards or so. I'd have one like a shot, but no doubt the civil liberty brigade would be up in arms over restriction of personal freedom.

 

Used to be called anarchy in my day...

[Oldddudders]

I had to sit with a sickly grin on my face, scary.

Is that the one in your avatar, Pete?

[JZ]

We must think ourselves lucky that any rail journey in this country is relatively short.

http://www.metro.co.uk/weird/863663-train-passenger-lakeysha-beard-arrested-for-16hr-phone-conversation

[10800]

I'm guessing here but there must be some kind of mesh film that could be retrofitted to the windows which would reduce the strength of mobile signal in these carriages?

 

I'm sure there was a piece of kit a few years back that would jam mobile phone signals. Seem to recall it was aimed at restauranteurs to stop mobiles whilst people were eating. The technology is probably out there somewhere.

 

ISTR that Virgin once experimented with such a thing. I suspect the real objection here is the potential need to make emergency calls.

[Oldddudders]

ISTR that Virgin once experimented with such a thing. I suspect the real objection here is the potential need to make emergency calls.

"Hello? Emergency? I'm stuck in the Quiet Coach of a train with a bloke who won't stop talking on his poserphone - and unless someone shuts him up in the next 5 minutes, I'm gonna wring his neck!"

[AndyB]

Emergency? How did we manage before mobiles? Can nothing wait an hour these days?

 

And why do people discuss such personal matters in front of complete strangers. Seriously, turning your back on someone does not prevent them hearing your conversation. I have to say women passengers are the worst - discussing everything from their friends' fertility problems, sensitive business matters, openly discussing (and identifying) their children... all in front of complete strangers.

 

I can only think that these people genuinely don't notice or care about the existence of anyone outside their own little world.

[pete_mcfarlane]

My biggest annoyance on trains is not phones, but people who play music through the speakers on their phones. The music is invariable really bad dance music, as Chavs only listen to cheap dance remix albums they've bought/stolen from Tescos.

 

I'm in favour of Judge Dredd style summary executions for these people. Throw down your mobiles and prepare to be judged!

[Edwin_m]

IIRC Chiltern attempted to block phone signals in one coach of their 170s, and Virgin did something similar by accident in the Pendolinos and Voyagers probably because of the reflective film on the windows. However it wasn't 100% effective, it just resulted in the phone increasing its transmission power and more lost calls, shouting and "say again" type stuff. Virgin have now fitted extra kit to boost the signal inside their trains.

 

I believe landlines feed back the sound from the mouthpiece into the earpiece but mobiles don't, and I suspect this means people talk louder to compensate for not hearing their voice in that ear.

[trisonic]

Take on a train a small device which will emit an EMP. May stop the train though.....................

 

Best, Pete.

[mezzoman253]

How many people would use a "LOUD" carriage, I wonder?

 

Best, Pete.

Reverse pschycology, I like it.

 

A carriage for loud conversations, and one for mobiles, maybe two for that, there's a lot around.

 

Rob

[coachmann]

The first nuisance on public transport I remember was the transistor radio in the early 1960s, until they were banned. I used to think things would get better.......... Our grandfather and great grandfathers thought that way; however, facts have arrived to precisely demonstrate the opposite of this. Currently we get Lady Gaga down the phone while waiting to get through to the surgery.

[Webbo]

A few years ago I had to travel to Bristol for a meeting, caught the plastic train at Sheffield. Because I had to "gen up" I chose the quiet coach, there were only 5 other people in the coach, after I got seated a woman boarded and sat in front of me. I had already started reading my paperwork before the train departed. When we were about 5 mins out of the station she phoned someone and the conversation was loud, after passing Chesterfield she was still on the phone. I gave my paperwork up as a bad job and got my cd player out, put in a deep purple cd turned the vol to max left the earpieces out and started to play. Guess who was the only one to complain, saying she couldn't hear her conversation, I pointed out that she had been on the phone loudly since leaving Sheffield and this was the quiet coach, I would turn off if she would, this was met by a mans voice saying "nice one mate", she realised why I had done it and apologised, after that it was a pleasantly quiet journey, and I finished my genning up.

webbo

[John M Upton]

I am still trying to work out who provides this wonderful 100% signal coverage to those either Eastern European or Indian guys who manage to board a train at London Victoria talking loudly and very rapidly non stop on their mobile and do not stop speaking at all for the next two plus hours all the way to Bognor or Portsmouth despite the numerous tunnels and other dead spots (a.k.a. the Arun Valley, the Sussex Witchcraft Belt where no communication ever escapes!) on the way that seems to kill the mobile signal on everyone else's mobile!!

 

Better still are the numpties who are paying bills or shopping over the phone on their mobile. On one packed commuter train, one of these numpties called out loudly her entire credit card details including the CVV number not once but twice to which one smartly dressed commuter turned to his wife afterwards and said 'Fancy dinner tonight dear, she's paying'.

[Edwin_m]

Maybe if they're talking so much they don't realise the other guy has been cut off... or hung up... or maybe never existed in the first place?

[AndyB]

Take on a train a small device which will emit an EMP. May stop the train though.....................

 

Best, Pete.

 

Trust someone from Manhattan to recommend Project(ing) an EMP.

[Oldddudders]

I'm pleased to admit I had to Google EMP, but its suggestion by a record industry insider does smack of turning the music up LOUD!

[45156]

UGH - repeat after me "I'M ON THE TRAIN"

 

I'm going on a trip on a charter on Saturday, and intend to NOT use my mobile at all during the 5.5 hour journey - I think I'll live for not having to call anybody for that time - but the need to continually be "in touch" is worrying and disturbing, and I have to say that when I got my first mobile (company brick - Motorola 8000) they then insisted that I keep it on all day - they even supplied extra batteries as they only had a standby of about three hours or about an hours talk time. It gave me great pleasure to switch the phone off, then plead that the batteries had all gone flat - easy to do when on a fifteen hour day, with only an average of around 6 hours mobile use available - and it was an analogue network, so there were loads of dead spots - and no boosters in road tunnels and the like - amazing how many of these I used as excuses.

[big jim]

My biggest annoyance on trains is not phones, but people who play music through the speakers on their phones. The music is invariable really bad dance music, as Chavs only listen to cheap dance remix albums they've bought/stolen from Tescos.

 

I'm in favour of Judge Dredd style summary executions for these people. Throw down your mobiles and prepare to be judged!

 

i know exactly where you are coming from on that one, thats my biggest annoyance too, must admit whenever i travel as a passenger i put my headphones in, got myself a cracking set of sennheiser noise cancelling earbud type so i cant hear anyone else and they cant hear me

 

i have in the past when ive stopped a train in a station asked people making a noise behind the cab to keep it down, i normally add "im trying to sleep in there" if they are just having a bit of a laugh

 

although this morning on my way home from work i got particularly annoyed by the young girl who got on at wolverhampton and started clipping her hooves.....sorry, toenails with a clipper, click, click, click, click all the way not to mention the toenails flying everywhere!!

[EddieB]

UGH - repeat after me "I'M ON THE TRAIN"

 

 

Yes, the old Dom Joly Routine.

 

Diddle-ee-dee-diddle-ee-dee-diddle-ee-dee-dee

 

"HELLO, YES I'M ON THE TRAIN"

 

"NO, THE QUIET CARRIAGE, BUT EVERYONE'S SHOUTING INTO THEIR MOBILES"

 

Nothing like a subtle hint.

[trisonic]

I'm pleased to admit I had to Google EMP, but its suggestion by a record industry insider does smack of turning the music up LOUD!

 

When discussing EMP you can get quite outrageously into original "Star Trek" script areas, with phrases like: ".....explosively pumped flux compression generator..."

 

best, Pete.

[multiprinter]

We must think ourselves lucky that any rail journey in this country is relatively short.

http://www.metro.co....ne-conversation

 

Which is just as well as I cannot imagine the police turning up let alone removing these anti-social saddos misguided people from the train in this country.