Best at Stop Bus Timetable Information

[burns20]

Looking at local bus stop timetable cases, made me wonder what is best practice/the best ones you've seen.

Is the best just departure times or;

The full timetable but shown from that exact stop onwards;

The full timetable with your stop highlighted

 

[bobslack1982]

Not my image but Nexus bus stops are great. They show everything.

https://thebeautyoftransport.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/33013818744_031937c626_z.jpg

 

[Citistar]

There is no "one size fits all" answer to this. Our local (rural) bus stops are laid out in a format designed for the Bristol urban area and the amount of useful information on them is negligible, but at least passengers are warned that their weekly shopping buses might be running short journeys and to check the RTI which isn't installed anywhere nearby

 

[L401CJF]

Not UK, but BVG in Berlin seem the best for me.

All stops show route number and destination of routes that stop there on the flag/sign.

All timetable displays show an individual route map of each route above its time, showing all stops forward of that point, approx time in minutes it'll take to reach each stop, and which other bus/tram/rail/underground connections (including route/line numbers) call at each stop.

Really good. A lot of stops have accurate real time too.

 

[APT618S]

Not my image but Nexus bus stops are great. They show everything.

https://thebeautyoftransport.files.wordpress.com/2017/03/33013818744_031937c626_z.jpg

I also agree that for me Nexus are one the best and I have travelled over a lot of the UK.

The info I like to see:
1. Times of every individual bus. None of this every 10 mins or less.
2. An rough idea of the route the bus takes.
3. The approx time it takes to various points on the route.
4. The name of the bus company operating the route.
5. In addition to the timetable info they generally have route numbers on the flag pole.

Lots of places lack one or more of the above.

 

[Flange Squeal]

Bus stops in Surrey are quite good. They are looked after by Surrey County Council and a typical set-up is a flag with - from top to bottom - bus logo (and in Woking an orange band where the 'Woking Travelwide' product is valid), the name of the stop, location(s) buses head towards, and a list of the route number(s) served by it. Where buses also stop on the other side of the road when travelling in the other direction but there is no flag/post, the 'towards...' section is replaced by a bright yellow section indicating "Buses also stop opposite".

The timetable case will traditionally have a full route timetable (and if it's only one route, the remaining space will usually have some sort of council publicity, be it bus ticketing or other council functions). More frequent routes are increasingly receiving more brief variations though, but still listing each departure and approximate journey time (although in peaks the journey time can be quite a bit more on routes like Arriva 34/35).

Where a bus stop is out of use for roadworks etc, they are also pretty good at labelling them up accordingly.

In the interests of fairness, not all bus stops have been treated in this way. Some lesser frequent routes do still have the older and much simpler set-up, although I think there is usually (but not always) still a timetable case.

(Bits in bold above are links to photographic examples on Flickr, taken by a local enthusiast who has documented the changing scene well over the years which is great for reference times like this!)

Across the border in Hampshire, bus stops are largely the responsibility of the operator and quality is often somewhat lacking in places. Good for the enthusiast though, as you get "classics" like this! Another example of Stagecoach stripes still survives on what was a 30min frequency pre-Covid, however all other stops along the road either side of it received red Stagecoach beachball ones which makes me wonder if whoever was doing them wanted to leave it be for posterity as it had survived well in the shade under a tree. There are numerous other 'Tillingbourne' examples (an independent that ceased in 2001), however most are now quite faded and indistinguishable.

 

[Andyh82]

I also agree that for me Nexus are one the best and I have travelled over a lot of the UK.

The info I like to see:
1. Times of every individual bus. None of this every 10 mins or less.
2. An rough idea of the route the bus takes.
3. The approx time it takes to various points on the route.
4. The name of the bus company operating the route.
5. In addition to the timetable info they generally have route numbers on the flag pole.

Lots of places lack one or more of the above.

One down side with listing exact times is that people don’t realise that they are computer generated based on the last timing point

So your stop says the bus is at 7:53 when in fact it actually leaves the previous timing point at 7:46 and the computer predicts it takes 7 minutes to get there.

When it sails past at 7:51 people then take to twitter saying the bus has run early...

 

[Megafuss]

Personally not a fan of the NEXUS ones. I have seen some terrible examples first hand of displays with 2 sets of times for the same route but on separate tables as evening trips are operated by somebody different to the daytime, even though they go the same way.

I accept that is probably down to whoever set the templates up. But it's confusing to the customer.

I really like the TfL style timetable displays. I find them easy to read, although the estimated times on the map are complete fiction.

Outside of London I think Trent Barton displays and some of the OmniSTOP generated displays look very professional also

 

[Jordan Adam]

Quite a number of Papercast E-Paper displays are being installed in Aberdeen. I quite like them, a huge improvement over the bus stop timetables which are often outdated and far clearer and simpler than the overhead Realtime displays.

Photo of a E-Paper display in Aberdeen:

 

[Bletchleyite]

Problem with that is that it's a departure board - it doesn't tell you when the last bus is, or what the frequency is or anything like that.

Not UK, but BVG in Berlin seem the best for me.

All stops show route number and destination of routes that stop there on the flag/sign.

All timetable displays show an individual route map of each route above its time, showing all stops forward of that point, approx time in minutes it'll take to reach each stop, and which other bus/tram/rail/underground connections (including route/line numbers) call at each stop.

Really good. A lot of stops have accurate real time too.

I don't recall the BVG ones but I do know the Hamburg ones are good in similar ways. Knowing Germany they are probably the same.

 

[Ant158]

Lancashire bus stop display example.

Lancashire County Council seem to favour this approach. It shows the route/s operated from the stop then a list of all the times, not by service number first but by time of day. It doesn’t tell you when you will arrive at anywhere or what time the bus set off from it’s origin. If like the example above all the buses are heading towards the same destination it isn’t quite useful to know the estimated next bus.

 

[Bletchleyite]

One down side with listing exact times is that people don’t realise that they are computer generated based on the last timing point

So your stop says the bus is at 7:53 when in fact it actually leaves the previous timing point at 7:46 and the computer predicts it takes 7 minutes to get there.

When it sails past at 7:51 people then take to twitter saying the bus has run early...

I've long felt that they shouldn't use interpolated times on bus stops, but simply the departure time of the previous timing point, so by reading the time on the stop you won't miss the bus even if you will be standing round for a couple of minutes. As per the old adage, running late can be excused, running early is never acceptable. OK, it's not *actually* running early, but it de-facto is from a passenger's point of view and just makes the operator look silly.

 

[L401CJF]

Lancashire bus stop display example.

Lancashire County Council seem to favour this approach. It shows the route/s operated from the stop then a list of all the times, not by service number first but by time of day. It doesn’t tell you when you will arrive at anywhere or what time the bus set off from it’s origin. If like the example above all the buses are heading towards the same destination it isn’t quite useful to know the estimated next bus.

Cheshire Wests are fairly similar but not quite. Not got any pictures to hand but I'll grab one this afternoon.

They have a list of routes at the top with a vague list of where it goes and who operates it. Eg 487 Neston - Birkenhead - Liverpool, Arriva Merseyside.

Then lists in order of time and the final destination.

Eg
0700 487 Liverpool
0710 272 Ellesmere Port
Etc.

Worth noting a lot of stops state "Times show here are taken from the stop at XX" (nearest timing point) so arnt specifically for that stop. Other stops state no Times at all and just list the routes plus call for information.

 

[lewisjn]

As with other parts of my job I've observed what I like around the country before coming up with my own, and this was my go at bus stop panels.

Includes a route map with 'you are here', departure times (which are still the case at non-timing points but I've adjusted the times myself so they are as realistic as possible) and off-peak journey times to key destinations (which on the 441 are pretty consistent all day).

Those operators who use Best Impressions often tend to have fantastic roadside publicity too, including the bus stop flags. The idea it's your 'shop window' for passers by is not one to neglect and if you can at least catch someone's eye, that's surely a good thing!

 

[43055]

As with other parts of my job I've observed what I like around the country before coming up with my own, and this was my go at bus stop panels.

Includes a route map with 'you are here', departure times (which are still the case at non-timing points but I've adjusted the times myself so they are as realistic as possible) and off-peak journey times to key destinations (which on the 441 are pretty consistent all day).

Those operators who use Best Impressions often tend to have fantastic roadside publicity too, including the bus stop flags. The idea it's your 'shop window' for passers by is not one to neglect and if you can at least catch someone's eye, that's surely a good thing!

Nice work.

I agree about Best Impressions tending to be better. Being in trentbarton land we have the route branded flags and timetables including cases which has the times, map, journey times and space for a advert like the zigzap day ticket. On some other routes the poles for the flags are even painted in the route colour. When this first happened it got reported in the local paper as someone going round doing graffiti!

Midland Classic has some good roadside information from the large flags in Burton town Centre and network maps showing trentbarton routes as well. Not sure about the timetable cases but they seem to be at most if not all stops and seem to be regularly updated.

Arriva's in Derby is a lot better than the timetables on the Arriva website! Most flags have the route number on and the cases all have a simple diagram and list of departures by hour.

 

[Llandudno]

Nice work.

I agree about Best Impressions tending to be better. Being in trentbarton land we have the route branded flags and timetables including cases which has the times, map, journey times and space for a advert like the zigzap day ticket. On some other routes the poles for the flags are even painted in the route colour. When this first happened it got reported in the local paper as someone going round doing graffiti!

Midland Classic has some good roadside information from the large flags in Burton town Centre and network maps showing trentbarton routes as well. Not sure about the timetable cases but they seem to be at most if not all stops and seem to be regularly updated.

Arriva's in Derby is a lot better than the timetables on the Arriva website! Most flags have the route number on and the cases all have a simple diagram and list of departures by hour.

At least an empty timetable case doesn’t contain incomprehensible and inaccurate timetable information unlike the Arriva website!

 

[cnjb8]

Nice work.

I agree about Best Impressions tending to be better. Being in trentbarton land we have the route branded flags and timetables including cases which has the times, map, journey times and space for a advert like the zigzap day ticket. On some other routes the poles for the flags are even painted in the route colour. When this first happened it got reported in the local paper as someone going round doing graffiti!

Midland Classic has some good roadside information from the large flags in Burton town Centre and network maps showing trentbarton routes as well. Not sure about the timetable cases but they seem to be at most if not all stops and seem to be regularly updated.

Arriva's in Derby is a lot better than the timetables on the Arriva website! Most flags have the route number on and the cases all have a simple diagram and list of departures by hour.

It's good living in 'trentbartonland' for transport I think compared to other parts of the country. Nottingham and Nottinghamshire councils are more strict with the actual bus stops themselves rather then Derbyshire but then bus stop provision is still excellent, albeit only if a TrentBarton service goes through that stop.