Reconnections’ Transport Miscellany – May 2021

Tube Map Footnote Symbol Hierarchy

Where footnotes are required, the hierarchy is in descending order as follows:

† – dagger

‡ – double dagger

§ – section mark

|| – parallels

# – number or pound sign

This list then continues by restarting the sequence with double symbols – for example, ††, ‡‡, §§, &c.

Mythical, and actual, beasts and dieties

CYCLOPS – Cycle Optimised Protected Signals, Manchester’s pioneering redesigned junction which allows cyclists ride seamlessly around the external orbital cycle route separate from pedestrians, who cross cycle lanes and traffic islands, and in sync with motor vehicle traffic.

EROS – Emergency Restriction Of Speed. The opposite of Mercury.

LABRADOR – Low Adhesion Braking Dynamic Optimisation for Rolling Stock Simulation Model, specialist tool for assessing the performance of rolling stock.

ORCATS – The beast that is Operational Resarch Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services, Great Britain rail industry’s system to allocate revenues from rail tickets to train operating companies. Has offspring who conduct ORCATS raids wherein different operators run services on the same or part of the same route to gain a share of the revenue.

ZEBRA – Zero Emissions Buses Regional Area scheme, under which £120m is being made available from the government to deliver up to 500 such buses.

German transport planning proverb

Organization before Electronics before Concrete. Or In the original German, Organisation vor Elektronik vor Beton. The principle is that changing the organization of an enterprise to improve transport is relatively cheap, installing electronics is more expensive, and large infrastructure projects are the most expensive.

Bercownian doublets

Thanks to Ben Schott for compiling this list of the former Speaker’s eloquence.

• benefit or purpose
• manifest and incontrovertible
• shyness and reticence
• adroitness and dexterity
• cajole or exhort
• encouragement or comfort
• foxed and befuddled
• fastidious and precise

Air Passenger Version of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) of Personality

• E/L – early/late arrival at airport
• A/W – aisle/window
• R/N – recline/no recline
• C/O – check-in/carry-on

Rail Passenger Version of the Myers-Brigg Type PERSONALITY Indicator

• Q/T – quiet car/talking car
• W/S – walk left/stand right
• E/N – earphones/no earphones
• S/P – season or monthly pass holder/pay as you go

All Connections Matter.