Mindblowing real reason time screens are on train platforms says Rory Sutherland

They’ve become part of the furniture – literally – on train station and tube platforms across the UK and London.

In fact, their popularity on transport networks has become so ubiquitous that they can even be found in bus stops and tram stops in many major UK cities too.

But there’s actually a less obvious reason that dot matrix displays, to give them their technical name, are so popular on train platforms according to TikTok sensation Rory Sutherland.

Dot matrix screens were first introduced to the London Underground by Transport for London in 1983, and now, advertising executive and unlikely TikTok star Rory Sutherland has revealed why they’re subconsciously beloved by train companies and passengers alike.

In a video shared to his TikTok, Rory Sutherland said: “One of the things that we don’t seem to be trying to do is to solve problems psychologically rather than technologically.

“Famously, I think the best thing that Transport for London did to improve passenger satisfaction was dot matrix displays

“And it’s a purely psychological phenomenon. The dot matrix displays don’t make the trains any faster or more capacious. They don’t make them arrive any sooner.

“But we’re simply much, much happier waiting for a train when we know the train’s going to come in eight minutes and it’s only one minute late, then we aren’t waiting for a train in a state of uncertainty.

“But we’re absolutely fixated on optimising things we can measure, and yet of course we don’t measure, we don’t have metrics for, the things that generally matter to people in everyday life.”

Rory Sutherland is a British advertising executive who became famous overnight after going viral on TikTok for his insights into human behaviour in everyday life.

The Cambridge graduate, 58, has amassed more than 2.4M likes and 600,000 views.

He told the Guardian: “It’s a reminder of the potency of digital and social media. I’d have to appear in Big Brother or Strictly to achieve a commensurate amount of fame that quickly.”

On why he shares his tips, he added: “It occurs to me that there’s a lot of knowledge in ad agencies or the marketing departments of Unilever, or whatever. Knowledge which … if every small business, if every cafe in Britain, got just a little better at understanding the stuff then you could put a percentage point or two on GDP.”