Rob Sleath, Chair of Advocates for Sight Impaired Consumers (ASIC) advises of upcoming changes in the audio transit stop announcement. Effective Monday, January 9, 2012, Coast Mountain Bus Company will replace the current Trolley Clang that sounds prior to announcing the next approaching stop with the audible words “Next Stop” followed by the location. Upon hearing this new announcement, some customers may be confused and assume the bell has been rung and the bus will be stopping at the next stop. Please note that such an announcement does not mean that the bus will necessarily stop at the announced stop unless a passenger rings the bell to indicate their desire to disembark at that particular stop.

The request to alter the trolley clang to a different alert tone was raised by a group of transit operators who found the trolley clang to be confusing and often mistaken for other audible/alert tones on-board public transit buses. Following a community survey to which many of you responded, the results were presented to TransLink and Coast Mountain Bus Company. In consultation with the Access Transit Users Advisory Committee, a compromise was reached to alter the announcements as mentioned above.

An 18 second sample of the new announcement is provided below to familiarize you with the impending change. Coast Mountain will endeavour to minimize the time gap between each word in the announcements so as to provide a smoother delivery.

Sample of new Transit “next stop” announcement