Shut Sonia Up

TFL have recently introduced a system on many London buses which constantly announces the name of the route, the destination and the current location.

This information comes blaring out of the speakers with infuriating regularity, roughly every 30 seconds, in an irritating female voice. (She was christened 'Sonia' by tube drivers some time ago, because after a while she "gets on ya" nerves. Boom, and indeed, boom.)

TFL have posters up in buses asking people to be considerate with regard to personal headphones, and have also enforced an outright ban on music playing out loud from mobile phones. This system is a blatant infringement of the spirit of this much welcomed policy.

Sonia's constant barking out of where the bus is at any given time is distracting, intrusive, completely over the top and of very little practical benefit. (A tourist or someone not quite knowing where to get off can always ask the bus driver (or even - God forbid! - another passenger) to tell them when they reach a certain destination, and in my experience bus drivers are always happy to oblige.)

For the sanity of all passengers, Sonia should be silenced now.