TfL welcomes the apology, notes that the Central line is still suspended and the apology changes nothing
By Fiona MacLeod | Travel writer. Has been stranded between stations on four separate occasions and has made peace with all of them.
Sources: Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat
The Apology Has Been Issued
Following the landmark development reported by Bohiney this week — that AI can now apologise without meaning it — I am pleased to report that this technology has enormous potential applications for London’s transport network, which apologises constantly and also without meaning it.
“We are sorry for any inconvenience caused.” You will hear this phrase, or its equivalent, approximately forty times on any London journey of more than three stops. The voice is apologetic. The delays are real. The apology changes nothing but it is, somehow, comforting. We are a nation that finds comfort in being told it was not our fault, even when no fault has been assigned and the train is simply sitting between Elephant and Castle and Borough for reasons that will not be explained.
A Travel Tip Framed as Social Commentary
For the visitor: download the TfL Go app. Enable notifications. When the notification says “Good service on all lines,” do not fully believe it. When it says “Minor delays,” assume moderate delays. When it says “Severe delays,” plan your afternoon around the assumption that the Tube has simply stopped engaging with the concept of time for a while and you should find a good coffee shop and wait.
The TfL status page provides live updates that are accurate approximately eighty percent of the time, which is, for a system of this age and complexity, genuinely impressive. The other twenty percent involves the words “signal failure” and a map update that comes after the event it is describing.
The Bigger Picture for the Traveller
All of this — the apologies, the delays, the stoic acceptance — is part of the London experience. Do not fight it. As AI changes the world around us, London’s Tube remains magnificently, irreducibly itself: old, complicated, occasionally maddening, and still, most days, getting most people most of the way there. Like London itself. Like Britain. Muddling through with a certain grace. And apologising for the inconvenience.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com/ai-now-capable-of-saying-sorry-without-meaning-it/
Transport satire at NewsThump
