"Timetable's changing. You can't have one."

[6Gman]

That seems to contradict itself. Unless the inference is that they have just been outright thrown away. Which does seem a bit thoughtless from Preston staff.

...As if Sir Richard Branson had been overcome with some evil plight to come and take all the timetables... (I am joking by the way).

I suppose I could have asked him to go and fetch me one from wherever they'd been "put away" but it was all starting to get a bit silly. ( I probably hadn't helped by answering his question of "where do you want to go?" with "I don't know" but that was actually an honest answer - until I knew train and journey times I didn't know where to head in the time available.)

In the end I just stayed in Preston for the afternoon.

 

[Megafuss]

My local station has just got its batch of Cross Country booklets. I have to say, I really like the refreshed cover (reminds me of Virgin Cross Country) and the summary timetables for the the Scottish and Cornish sections

 

[js1000]

We are already in a world where those without smartphones are excluded from many products and services, and that trend is only going to increase.

Northern have already tried this by pushing their app to buy tickets. It's wrong to assume all your passengers have access to, or able to use a smartphone. Not to mention, mention passengers (somewhat wisely it has to be said) prefer paper tickets in case their phone battery dies. Advertise it - but please don't force it down their necks.

 

[jon0844]

From next week, many stations on Great Northern ditch the traditional timetables on the platform and switch to A-Z listings with all the trains serving a particular station. Obviously this is easier if some trains have confusing destinations now or in the future.

I am not sure what will happen with King's Cross and St Pancras. If you wanted King's Cross, and the next train was 45 minutes but there's one to St Pancras in 10 minutes, you'd take that. I wonder if they'll tell people to check both?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Northern have already tried this by pushing their app to buy tickets. It's wrong to assume all your passengers have access to, or able to use a smartphone. Not to mention, mention passengers (somewhat wisely it has to be said) prefer paper tickets in case their phone battery dies. Advertise it - but please don't force it down their necks.

I totally agree with the sentiments made in this posting.

 

[whhistle]

It's wrong to assume all your passengers have access to, or able to use a smartphone.

In your opinion of course :P
There's many things that are similar.
Banking is another sector where unless you're internet connected, it's getting more and more difficult to bank.
At one point, analog TVs were the same - and look where we are now.

Fact is, reliance on the internet and smart phones will only increase.
If you don't "get with it" you will miss out.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

In your opinion of course :P
There's many things that are similar.
Banking is another sector where unless you're internet connected, it's getting more and more difficult to bank.
At one point, analog TVs were the same - and look where we are now.

Fact is, reliance on the internet and smart phones will only increase.
If you don't "get with it" you will miss out.

I have no difficulty whatsoever with banking without "being internet connected" to fulfil my requirements. I have said it on this website before that that the global criminal fraternity are always at least two steps ahead of the corporate banks in fraud methodology and have despite having reassurances from website members that I have only but a miniscule chance of being affected, not a month passes where the business pages of the better newspapers and the corporate news sites give details of more and more global criminality. I only use the internet in areas exterior to such functionalities, such as this website.

I have no need for what is termed a smart phone and can easily manage with a mobile phone that only makes and receives telephone calls. I appreciate that it is in the interest of those companies who market such smart phones at exhorbitally inflated retail prices to market heavily in all types of media which then bring the "package charges" for using them.

 

[BrianB]

From next week, many stations on Great Northern ditch the traditional timetables on the platform and switch to A-Z listings with all the trains serving a particular station. Obviously this is easier if some trains have confusing destinations now or in the future.

I am not sure what will happen with King's Cross and St Pancras. If you wanted King's Cross, and the next train was 45 minutes but there's one to St Pancras in 10 minutes, you'd take that. I wonder if they'll tell people to check both?

When you say many, do you know which ones? Stevenage has historically always had an A-Z poster, along with Kings Cross, Peterborough, Ely and Cambridge, but all the others have until now had the traditional table layout posters.

 

[geoffk]

I would expect printed timetables to be available a week before the change date, with the old and new issues clearly identified in the racks, but, as has been said above, the practice varies widely station by station.

Anyway, Northern leaflets for the new timetable have started to appear, despite being told June 1st before they are available. So far, no. 36 (Calder Valley) has been spotted at my local station, Littleborough, and at Todmorden. Tomorrow I shall go into Manchester and attempt to collect the remainder. I already have those for Virgin West Coast and TPE, also the Cross Country, Arriva Trains Wales and East Midlands Trains booklets relevant to Manchester. Stockport station had them all in the racks last Sunday while at Piccadilly they were just getting round to putting them out. A trip to Leeds will follow to collect the West Yorkshire ones. I sometimes manage to get the full set for Northern, but no. 1 (Chathill) and 31 (Barton-on-Humber) are the most difficult. Writing and checking (bus) timetables was always part of my job so it's just what I'm used to.

You will gather than I'm very much a printed timetable person but I also use RTT on my desktop to check my train before I leave home and of course rely on the CIS at stations. I need RTT for freights and steam specials. I've been thinking about getting a smartphone but it will not be a substitute for a printed timetable.

After all that, it seems that Northern leaflet 36 is the only one around. Manchester stations still have notices saying no timetable leaflets until 1st June and the ticket office at Bradford had not seen any.

 

[Bromley boy]

I have no need for what is termed a smart phone and can easily manage with a mobile phone that only makes and receives telephone calls. I appreciate that it is in the interest of those companies who market such smart phones at exhorbitally inflated retail prices to market heavily in all types of media which then bring the "package charges" for using them.

But how do you cope without the ability to browse the forum whilst “out and about”?!

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

But how do you cope without the ability to browse the forum whilst “out and about”?!

The plain and simple answer to that query is that once we leave home, the internet is forgotten completely. My trusty HP Pavilion desktop supercomputer performs all forum tasks (as it is now doing at the time of composing this posting) whilst in my study at home and being a retired person of some 73 years of age, I spend much of my time in there.

There is life to be enjoyed away from any form of computer and Patricia and I use our life membership of the National Trust and our three-year Senior Citizens Railcards regularly.

 

[Bromley boy]

There is life to be enjoyed away from any form of computer and Patricia and I use our life membership of the National Trust and our three-year Senior Citizens Railcards regularly.

That’s a fair point.

There’s much to be said for engaging with the world around you rather than walking about, zombie-like, eyes glued to a screen (much as I’m guilty of doing so myself).

 

[Warwick]

I collected the new timetable from the ticket office in Penzance this morning. Perusing it I discovered what appears to be a rather rum train. 17.49 Lostwithiel to Plymouth continuing on to Glasgow.

 

[BrianB]

I collected the new timetable from the ticket office in Penzance this morning. Perusing it I discovered what appears to be a rather rum train. 17.49 Lostwithiel to Plymouth continuing on to Glasgow.

You mean the 1749 Liskeard to Gunnislake

 

[Emblematic]

There is life to be enjoyed away from any form of computer and Patricia and I use our life membership of the National Trust and our three-year Senior Citizens Railcards regularly.

Interestingly one of the most requested enhancements for the National Trust app is the ability to have a digital, rather than physical, membership card. Railcards are already available in digital-only form, which many of us find more convenient. Even for those who are addicted the online/virtual world, the smartphone at least means they might leave the house occasionally

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Interestingly one of the most requested enhancements for the National Trust app is the ability to have a digital, rather than physical, membership card. Railcards are already available in digital-only form, which many of us find more convenient. Even for those who are addicted the online/virtual world, the smartphone at least means they might leave the house occasionally

I am not disputing your personal preferences in these matters. Indeed it would be somewhat churlish of me to do so. But you should also respect those preferences of my good lady wife (76) and I (73) to have the two annually issued National Trust cards that we keep in our wallets/purses together with the plastic three-year Senior Citizen Railcards. I can assure you having these in this format causes us no difficulty whatsoever.

 

[route101]

New timetables out at Queen St and most at Edinburgh Waverley .

 

[Emblematic]

I am not disputing your personal preferences in these matters. Indeed it would be somewhat churlish of me to do so. But you should also respect those preferences of my good lady wife (76) and I (73) to have the two annually issued National Trust cards that we keep in our wallets/purses together with the plastic three-year Senior Citizen Railcards. I can assure you having these in this format causes us no difficulty whatsoever.

I don't disagree that you are free to use all of these services you use in the manner you choose, and if you don't see the benefits of smartphones, internet banking etc. as relevant to yourself then you are not compelled to have them. I just found it interesting that the two examples you gave were organisations which cater to the smartphone market (although there's no avoiding the NT membership card yet!)
The more relevant point to the thread is that, as people move increasingly to online sources for information, printed sources become less and less viable. Yellow pages in paper form is about to disappear for good, and maybe the paper timetable is slowly heading the same way. I wonder if they would exist now if they were charged for at cost?

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

The more relevant point to the thread is that, as people move increasingly to online sources for information, printed sources become less and less viable. Yellow pages in paper form is about to disappear for good, and maybe the paper timetable is slowly heading the same way. I wonder if they would exist now if they were charged for at cost?

It was once said that books would eventually succumb to electronic book reading media.

 

[Emblematic]

It was once said that books would eventually succumb to electronic book reading media.

I'm with you on that one, but my elderly mother, who can only manage large print, is a complete e-book convert. She has two large tablets alternating on charge, so she is never without
However, books are rarely updated, only reference and textbooks are revised to any extent. Directories, catalogues, timetables are all more ephemeral, and it seems wasteful to keep reprinting them. Having said that, there seems to be no sign of catalogues disappearing any time soon. I'm always surprised at the companies that send me catalogues in the post, when I've only ever ordered from them online. Needless to say, these go directly in the recycling.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I'm with you on that one, but my elderly mother, who can only manage large print, is a complete e-book convert. She has two large tablets alternating on charge, so she is never without
However, books are rarely updated, only reference and textbooks are revised to any extent. Directories, catalogues, timetables are all more ephemeral, and it seems wasteful to keep reprinting them. Having said that, there seems to be no sign of catalogues disappearing any time soon. I'm always surprised at the companies that send me catalogues in the post, when I've only ever ordered from them online. Needless to say, these go directly in the recycling.

It is always a pleasure to see the younger of the grandchildren being enthralled by the large coloured drawings in the large scale books for very young children.

 

[Emblematic]

It is always a pleasure to see the younger of the grandchildren being enthralled by the large coloured drawings in the large scale books for very young children.

There is something strangely tactile and attractive about books, it starts with picture books when young and (for many of us) never really goes away. I think that's the problem with e-readers, and reading books on computers or tablets - there's just something missing that makes it harder to become involved with the content.
The only time I used an e-reader regularly was when I was posted abroad, and I could get the daily paper on subscription.

 

[whhistle]

I have no need for what is termed a smart phone and can easily manage with a mobile phone that only makes and receives telephone calls.

People in the olden days probably didn't see a "need" for a TV set.
Didn't someone a couple of years ago suggest having a TV had become a human right? How things change!

Unless you try one for 6 months, I don't think it's wise to say you don't need it.
I thought I didn't need cruise control on my car. Now I use it all the time on the motorway.
I mean, most people don't need much. I don't need a smartphone, but it enhances my life in so many good ways.
It's like saying you don't need to eat bread, ever again, as you can get nutrients from other things. But people do eat bread because they like it/want it. I hope that explains my point about need vs want. You may not need a smart phone but I bet it would make your life better - no matter how much you deny it :P

[I guess though, you're over 40? - I see it's a yes :P
I don't see many people under 30 these days without a phone (note, people don't even call them smart phones anymore because all new phones are smart and have been for best part of 10 years now).

There is life to be enjoyed away from any form of computer and Patricia and I use our life membership of the National Trust and our three-year Senior Citizens Railcards regularly.

Completely agree.

But there is a wide scale too.

When I'm out and about, I rarely look at my phone unless I need to use it to find something.

It seems many think you either don't use a smart device, or are glued to it.
When I get home, mine sits on the table outside streaming music to a portable speaker while I'm digging, planting, whatever needs doing.

Others come home from work and sit for a few hours browsing, scrolling... it's the latter which is the path to addiction and especially with facebook, comparison with your life and others <-- not a fantastic way to live.

It was once said that books would eventually succumb to electronic book reading media.

Paper will eventually disappear - but I suspect it'll take 50-100 years - a darn sight longer than many other things.

But as others have said, books (like vinyl records), have a speciality about them.
Train timetables do not :P

Another good example is ticket offices.
Give it 10-15 years and I should think most will have closed, replaced by machines.

Supermarkets is another good example.
My local Asda seems to trade a staffed checkout for a self-checkout with conveyor belt every 3/4 months. When I first moved to the area there was about 20 checkouts. Now there's less than 10.

 

[The_Engineer]

(note, people don't even call them smart phones anymore because all new phones are smart and have been for best part of 10 years now).

No - there are several companies who produce new models of non-smart phones, including ones with larger buttons for those with stiff fingers or sight problems. I know because I have bought a couple myself within the last 10 years. There is still a good choice of non-smart phones on the market, you probably don't see them because you don't look for them!!

Many of us resist smart phones exactly because we see people who just can't put them down - they carry them everywhere. You even see couples eating out at restaurants both looking at their own phones and not talking to each other. I can do all I need on-line when I am at home using my laptop and desk-top computers.

 

[Emblematic]

No - there are several companies who produce new models of non-smart phones, including ones with larger buttons for those with stiff fingers or sight problems. I know because I have bought a couple myself within the last 10 years. There is still a good choice of non-smart phones on the market, you probably don't see them because you don't look for them!!

Many of us resist smart phones exactly because we see people who just can't put them down - they carry them everywhere. You even see couples eating out at restaurants both looking at their own phones and not talking to each other. I can do all I need on-line when I am at home using my laptop and desk-top computers.

That's a strange argument. Just because some people are glued to their phones, you feel the need not to get one? Bear in mind the rest of us, who are not glued to their phones, will mostly have smartphones now, they are just tucked away in pockets, bags or wherever until we want to use them. It's true that there are still basic mobiles on the market, and they will remain whilst there is still a market for them. However they are relatively expensive for what they are - entry level smartphones similarly priced to non-smart models.

 

[Robsignals]

I trust those advocating mandatory smartphone use will lobby government to increase Benefit rates to include a smartphone contract.

 

[whhistle]

No - there are several companies who produce new models of non-smart phones.

Sorry, yes - you're right.
I just discount relatively unknown makes as I never trust something that isn't at least "well" known.

 

[The_Engineer]

Sorry, yes - you're right.
I just discount relatively unknown makes as I never trust something that isn't at least "well" known.

Mine's a Nokia!! Model 105, goes a week between charges.....

 

[Calthrop]

On the "head" of less-than-optimal interactions with rail staff concerning paper timetables -- rather than that of "electronic versus paper": I (a technophobic paper-timetables kind of guy) went to Birmingham Moor Street station the other day, hoping -- in connection with a planned outing later this summer -- that it might be possible to pick up a timetable leaflet for train services between Marylebone / Aylesbury / Aylesbury Vale Parkway. The racks of leaflets on the concourse, featured only services at the "Midlands" end of the routes out of Marylebone. Which was fair enough: I went to one of the ticket windows, in the faint hope that the employee there might have leaflets re services between Marylebone and "the Aylesburys", one of which might be given to me. On my expressing this wish / hope, the clerk said, in a bored / sour tone, "We've only got the booklets".

It took me a moment to parse as best possible, this rather gnomic statement. I tried to clarify -- "so you haven't any leaflet about the Marylebone -- Aylesbury service, which you could let me have?" She reiterated in a robotic way, in exactly the same tone, "We've only got the booklets". Deducible that she meant that the only "take-away" paper timetables on the station, were those on the racks, which I had already gone through: but I feel that she could have expressed that in more lucid terms. I said "OK, no worries", and went on my way. (Had a considerable preference for a paper timetable, giving a day's range of options which could be considered at leisure.) I have no quarrel with Moor Street station having no paper timetables to hand out, for stuff happening seventy-plus miles away -- but feel that someone more articulate, and with a pleasanter and less terse manner in dealing with the public, would have been a better fit for the job concerned; than the lady with whom I had speech.

 

[duffield]

In your opinion of course :P
...
Banking is another sector where unless you're internet connected, it's getting more and more difficult to bank.
...

I have a smartphone, a tablet, a Chromebook, a desktop PC, a work laptop and work desktop. I've worked in IT for 33 years and I had one of the first 'Microcomputers' as they were know (a TRS-80 FWIW).
And I still don't have any need for Internet banking. My bank account pretty much runs itself, money goes in from my employer and out via direct debit or debit card. On just two occasions in the last five years have I needed to visit a branch to perform a bank transfer. Those two occasions in no way justify the security risk of online banking.

If you're frequently transferring money between accounts etc., yes, internet banking is useful. If you don't have a money 'cushion' and are often in danger of going overdrawn, I guess it's useful (although I can get my balance at the ATM). If you use your bank account like I do, it's pretty much pointless and an unnecessary risk..