Great Western Coffee Shop

The help point displays at many stations across the GWR haven't been displaying arrival and departure information like they're supposed due (I understand) to the mobile phone networks moving on and their being less support these days for the more mature technology used to transmit the data.   Work's been going on with a fix and has indeed been tested at a couple of stations.  Once specialist bits are made and delivered, it should be an easy fix at most of the other stations.

However ... the display is a web page and also useful on your mobile. To a degree, it parallels the various apps, but why not stick a QR code on front of the boxes to get the display if the box is down?

Early testing at http://train.fyi/ and it will work directly for lots of other stations with problems too such as http://train.fyi/DCW

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/trainfyi.jpg)

 pages have been 'out there' for a while now.

QR codes great if you have a QR reader on your smartphone (and a smartphone!) so best to show URLs as well as QR Codes (which are now actually past their sell-buy date & dying out)

Agree on showing a short URL as well as QR code, and that QR codes may have peaked - but no harm in offering them as an alternative.

Apologies, QR codes dying out? but replaced with what, please?
Just as First Kernow introduces them, they're dying out everywhere else!

I have to say, I agree with ChrisB on this one. QR codes have definitely had their day (and that day was a Tuesday in 2016...)

Snap tags are purported to be the next generation (simpler to implement & much easier on the eye than QR codes), although my money's on Near Field Communication (NFC) technology being extended to "tags" rather than any replacement for QR codes emerging, since the majority of SmartPhones can already ready NFC - NFC technology is what one uses when hovering an Oyster card over a card reader at a station barrier, or when paying for a small purchase with a contactless payment card for example.

Googling Snap Tags gave me a Biochemistry essay.  What are Snap Tags in this context.

Why can't the help points themselves be programmed to display something like this in place of their usual error message?

Extremely good question!  THANK YOU.  I will pass that on.   "Add URL and QR code to built in error message"

Taking a look into snap tags; at this stage, put off from a community viewpoint by apparent cost for a community group, but only just learning about them and their use, so that's an initial reaction only.

They are apparently these: https://www.spyderlynk.com/snaptags-vs-qr-codes/

Indeed - though that page does strike me as being a little biased in the comparison. Can't imagine why  ;)

It's a shame that QR codes seem to have had their day.

It's worth pointing out though that iOS, the iPhone software, has been given support for these at long last. Albeit a bit too late.

I don't think they'll be completely dying out anytime soon though.

These early tests were superceded by the official TransWilts App project, with our web server redirecting "home page" requests to https://transwilts.org/app/ . 

With the server move and a thinning out of domain names, the old name's registration will expire next month.  The developments of the tests (they link to other live resources across the UK) remain available via http://fyi.passenger.chat and http://fyi.passenger.chat/DCW ... looking a bit old today, but still been available if you use them.   

These days, I use the http://melksh.am/trains for my local departures and pages like http://www.mrug.org.uk/bri.html for my ongoing connections (visit the Bristol page and you can pull down to 20 or so other key stations ... also selecting your final destination and telling you which is you next fastest train, including platform and final destination of that train.  Works nicely from Bristol for trains to places like Taunton, Cheltenham Spa and Bath Spa with lots of possible destinations, and times when you don't want to get on the next departure because it's going to get overtaken.