Timetables - An outdated relic unfit for the modern world

[sharksmith]

Here's what I know will be an unpopular opinion based on other threads but to me bus timetables are of no use at all in the year 2024 and there are now much better alternatives for the public which I think make them obsolete.

There is much criticism of how bus operators, First mainly, produce timetables but surely what they are trying to achieve here is a timetable which uses a happy average between the best and worst day on each individual journey. However they timetable their services it's always going to be a work of fiction.

The nostalgic view of clock face timetables on a piece of paper with buses leaving stops at the same times every hour is just not realistic in this century and nothing annoys passengers more than a late bus. On the flip side how often do you hear passengers moaning on a warm August day at buses waiting time at timing points when all the school traffic is missing?

I work in Leeds and have driven into work since Covid as I'm only in the office one day a week. Leaving work in my car on the same day, at the same time, using the same route, with no passengers to collect it seems that people would expect me to arrive home 9 miles later at the same exact time every week. No, there can easily be up to 15 minutes difference.

Leave work an hour later, and my journey times are extended further. School hols can mean I'm home earlier unless its sunny and everyone is enjoying day trips. The slightest bit of rain in the winter and the journey time is extended. What is the point of a timetable when these are only a small percentage of the full lust of variables.

It's OK my bus supposedly leaving at .22 and .52 all day long but how often does the bus arrive at this time in reality.

I love a paper bus timetable, I do, but I collect them and stuff them into a drawer to add to my collection. When it comes to catch my own bus I know one route is every 15 minutes and the other is every 20, with one more hourly.

That's all the information I need as a passenger along with maybe first and last bus times each way and approximate journey times. Obviously privately the operator will need something for running boards but these don't need to be public facing documents, the majority of my family and friends don't even know how to read one!

As for myself, before I leave the house do I run upstairs to check the timetable...no I open my app, look at where the bus is on the map and set off when it's half a mile away. It's not foolproof but it's a lot more reliable than the humble old bus timetable.


Discuss....

[pricel]

Mar 7, 2024 14:38:27 GMT 1 sharksmith said:

Here's what I know will be an unpopular opinion based on other threads but to me bus timetables are of no use at all in the year 2024 and there are now much better alternatives for the public which I think make them obsolete.

There is much criticism of how bus operators, First mainly, produce timetables but surely what they are trying to achieve here is a timetable which uses a happy average between the best and worst day on each individual journey. However they timetable their services it's always going to be a work of fiction.

The nostalgic view of clock face timetables on a piece of paper with buses leaving stops at the same times every hour is just not realistic in this century and nothing annoys passengers more than a late bus. On the flip side how often do you hear passengers moaning on a warm August day at buses waiting time at timing points when all the school traffic is missing?

I work in Leeds and have driven into work since Covid as I'm only in the office one day a week. Leaving work in my car on the same day, at the same time, using the same route, with no passengers to collect it seems that people would expect me to arrive home 9 miles later at the same exact time every week. No, there can easily be up to 15 minutes difference.

Leave work an hour later, and my journey times are extended further. School hols can mean I'm home earlier unless its sunny and everyone is enjoying day trips. The slightest bit of rain in the winter and the journey time is extended. What is the point of a timetable when these are only a small percentage of the full lust of variables.

It's OK my bus supposedly leaving at .22 and .52 all day long but how often does the bus arrive at this time in reality.

I love a paper bus timetable, I do, but I collect them and stuff them into a drawer to add to my collection. When it comes to catch my own bus I know one route is every 15 minutes and the other is every 20, with one more hourly.

That's all the information I need as a passenger along with maybe first and last bus times each way and approximate journey times. Obviously privately the operator will need something for running boards but these don't need to be public facing documents, the majority of my family and friends don't even know how to read one!

As for myself, before I leave the house do I run upstairs to check the timetable...no I open my app, look at where the bus is on the map and set off when it's half a mile away. It's not foolproof but it's a lot more reliable than the humble old bus timetable.


Discuss....

I think off peak hours, clock face timetables work however during the peak hours it's not needed. This is not a discussion if I don't mention the 586 as an example lol but the 586 has a patchy timetable. When they moved it to every 2 hours they didn't take the 07:57 and 09:57 from Commons and 15:20 and 17:20 from Halifax in consideration. They didn't look at traffic levels hence why the buses are always running late. Same for the 587 until it was recently tweaked.

[Father Dougal McGuire]

I agree in Cities though - like Bradford, Leeds & Sheffield. But in towns and services along trunk roads then decent timetables are a must.

[jc]

Mar 7, 2024 14:38:27 GMT 1 sharksmith said:

Here's what I know will be an unpopular opinion based on other threads but to me bus timetables are of no use at all in the year 2024 and there are now much better alternatives for the public which I think make them obsolete.

There is much criticism of how bus operators, First mainly, produce timetables but surely what they are trying to achieve here is a timetable which uses a happy average between the best and worst day on each individual journey. However they timetable their services it's always going to be a work of fiction.

The nostalgic view of clock face timetables on a piece of paper with buses leaving stops at the same times every hour is just not realistic in this century and nothing annoys passengers more than a late bus. On the flip side how often do you hear passengers moaning on a warm August day at buses waiting time at timing points when all the school traffic is missing?

I work in Leeds and have driven into work since Covid as I'm only in the office one day a week. Leaving work in my car on the same day, at the same time, using the same route, with no passengers to collect it seems that people would expect me to arrive home 9 miles later at the same exact time every week. No, there can easily be up to 15 minutes difference.

The chicken and egg situation. Every bus lane in the country exists to try and mitigate this and encourage people not to drive into town. But I get the point on journey time, if I'm trying to get to an appointment I'm mentally budgeting an extra 15 minutes in case of bad traffic then another 15 in case of a missing bus. The other option is a taxi.

But you still need a point of reference to work backwards from, be that something published or generated on demand.

I'm also able to work from home part time but sympathise with those who can't. I don't buy into the argument that you need to be present in the office for 'collaboration' that could be done with a quick teams call but that's another story.

Leave work an hour later, and my journey times are extended further. School hols can mean I'm home earlier unless its sunny and everyone is enjoying day trips. The slightest bit of rain in the winter and the journey time is extended. What is the point of a timetable when these are only a small percentage of the full lust of variables.

It's OK my bus supposedly leaving at .22 and .52 all day long but how often does the bus arrive at this time in reality.

I love a paper bus timetable, I do, but I collect them and stuff them into a drawer to add to my collection. When it comes to catch my own bus I know one route is every 15 minutes and the other is every 20, with one more hourly.

That's all the information I need as a passenger along with maybe first and last bus times each way and approximate journey times. Obviously privately the operator will need something for running boards but these don't need to be public facing documents, the majority of my family and friends don't even know how to read one!

As for myself, before I leave the house do I run upstairs to check the timetable...no I open my app, look at where the bus is on the map and set off when it's half a mile away. It's not foolproof but it's a lot more reliable than the humble old bus timetable.

Here's the rub for me, assuming we're talking about the First Bus app. If you live a few minutes up the route from the terminus, you need to have set off for your stop at the point it pops into existence on the map. Or the GPS might not be active. Or you lose connection.

You need confidence.

[joseph]

A few things to consider are firstly those that don't have a smart phone (I don't need one so won't have one and have survived all this time without one and they irritate me too much trying to use them lol) as well as considering people who simply don't want yet another app on their phone taking up valuable data etc. Then for those that do have the app, does it track buses that are just starting their first journey of the day before it reaches the start point? Service 1/1B has a number of these journeys during the morning peak which is a vital time to travel whereby people need to know what time the bus will come and what time it will get them to town, on an infrequent route like service 1/1B (it's every 30 mins til half 7 before a patchy frequency starts) you really could do with an actual timetable.