Paper Bus Timetables - are they Back in Your Area?

[overthewater]

Citylink timetables should be in stock at Edinburgh Bus Station. If I recall the Travel Hub on Shandwick Place never had any timetables which I found strange.

Travel hub at Shandwick place did have timetables, however you had to ask for them as they were in the cupboards. Citylink timetables are also behide the desk.

Quick recap of my findings in a week in Scotland - some may almost certainly been mentioned before, but here's what I found.

St Andrews: The shining light. Nothing in the iCentre, but a full rack of Stagecoach leaflets at the bus station. Top marks again! Interesting that the former A5 stapled books have been replaced by perfect-bound DL books. Perfect binding is usually more expensive to produce.

Did St Andrews have No94 / No95 or No42?

 

[duncombec]

Travel hub at Shandwick place did have timetables, however you had to ask for them as they were in the cupboards. Citylink timetables are also behide the desk.

I only stopped in Edinburgh briefly on the way home, so I hadn't realised there were still two. My references were to the centre on Waverley Bridge.

Did St Andrews have No94 / No95 or No42?

94/94A yes, and the 95 was in the East Neuk book (DL stapled), both available at St Andrews. I don't have a 42/42A, so not at St Andrews, and I didn't find it on a bus (although in fairness, when I travelled on the route to Tayport the bus was a 99 vehicle both ways, and they never had anything on, including for the 99).

 

[route101]

Ferrytoll had Dunfirmline and Dalgety Bay booklets but they lacked any route maps.

 

[Simon75]

D&G drivers have several booklets, split into different areas eg Mid Cheshire

 

[chiltern trev]

Stagecoach Cumbria in Carlisle has:
* Booklet for all Carlisle city services including map
* Individual leaflets for all Carlisle city services
* The Lakes by bus' which includes the 554 Keswick - Carlisle
* Individual leaflets for all country services into Carlisle except 554.

 

[route101]

Stagecoach Cumbria in Carlisle has:
* Booklet for all Carlisle city services including map
* Individual leaflets for all Carlisle city services
* The Lakes by bus' which includes the 554 Keswick - Carlisle
* Individual leaflets for all country services into Carlisle except 554.

That is good going. Are they only available at the bus station?

 

[chiltern trev]

That is good going. Are they only available at the bus station?

The Lakes by Bus' is available Carlisle bus station, Carlisle railway station (bin in ticket hall). Also I think Booths Keswick and Booths Windermere. No doubt also on 555 and 599 buses.

The Carlisle timetables are available at Carlisle bus station - there is a small building on the end of the bus stands. This small building has a waiting room with wall racks containing timetables. There were also boxes on the floor a few weeks ago. The waiting room is open when a member of Stagecoach staff is present in the small building office - there are no published opening hours but I guess normal office hours Monday -Friday - closed weekends and public holidays. If you cannot find the timetable you require, ask the member of staff in the office.
Sometimes timetables are available on the buses, at least there was last week on the double decker coming back from Newcastle on the 685.

 

[Andyh82]

The Lakes by Bus' is available Carlisle bus station, Carlisle railway station (bin in ticket hall). Also I think Booths Keswick and Booths Windermere. No doubt also on 555 and 599 buses.

The Carlisle timetables are available at Carlisle bus station - there is a small building on the end of the bus stands. This small building has a waiting room with wall racks containing timetables. There were also boxes on the floor a few weeks ago. The waiting room is open when a member of Stagecoach staff is present in the small building office - there are no published opening hours but I guess normal office hours Monday -Friday - closed weekends and public holidays. If you cannot find the timetable you require, ask the member of staff in the office.
Sometimes timetables are available on the buses, at least there was last week on the double decker coming back from Newcastle on the 685.

The Carlisle waiting room was open on a Saturday when I visited a few months back

In my experience whilst in the lakes you are never more than a few feet away from somewhere that stocks the ‘Lakes by bus’ timetable. It is routinely available in tourist leaflet racks wherever they appear in shops, hotels etc amongst the leaflets for attractions


Talking about offices without published opening hours. Whenever I’ve visited the new Exeter bus station the office there is never open. The extensive range of Devon council and Stagecoach Devon timetables and maps always inaccessible. I’m not sure I’ve ever found anywhere in Exeter or indeed the whole of Devon where the timetables are widely available and you can obtain a full set (In Plymouth you are more likely to find a copy of the Cornwall timetable)

 

[Bedford OB]

The Carlisle waiting room was open on a Saturday when I visited a few months back

In my experience whilst in the lakes you are never more than a few feet away from somewhere that stocks the ‘Lakes by bus’ timetable. It is routinely available in tourist leaflet racks wherever they appear in shops, hotels etc amongst the leaflets for attractions


Talking about offices without published opening hours. Whenever I’ve visited the new Exeter bus station the office there is never open. The extensive range of Devon council and Stagecoach Devon timetables and maps always inaccessible. I’m not sure I’ve ever found anywhere in Exeter or indeed the whole of Devon where the timetables are widely available and you can obtain a full set (In Plymouth you are more likely to find a copy of the Cornwall timetable)

Devon timetables are widely available in Tourist Information Centres, sometimes the full set, otherwise perhaps two or three that are geographically relevant. Theer have been plentiful supplies at the likes of Tiverton, Okehampton, Tavistock and elsewhere when I have visited in recent weeks, although that pre-dated the availability of the two that have been issued so far for the summer.

 

[Bedford OB]

The Lakes by Bus' is available Carlisle bus station, Carlisle railway station (bin in ticket hall). Also I think Booths Keswick and Booths Windermere. No doubt also on 555 and 599 buses.

The Carlisle timetables are available at Carlisle bus station - there is a small building on the end of the bus stands. This small building has a waiting room with wall racks containing timetables. There were also boxes on the floor a few weeks ago. The waiting room is open when a member of Stagecoach staff is present in the small building office - there are no published opening hours but I guess normal office hours Monday -Friday - closed weekends and public holidays. If you cannot find the timetable you require, ask the member of staff in the office.
Sometimes timetables are available on the buses, at least there was last week on the double decker coming back from Newcastle on the 685.

Stagecoach have also now issued a West Cumbria book, dated 2 April 2023, which is a combined edition which has replaced the two books dated 10 October 2022, one for Whitehaven and the other for Workington, Maryport and Cockermouth. The new book includes the West Cumbria area map.

 

[duncombec]

[...]

Dundee: [...]

Stagecoach here were... interesting. Most double-deckers had leaflet racks. Sometimes they were knee-bashers under the ticket machine, sometimes they were on the back of the wheelchair back rest, in "magazine rack" style, clearly designed for the old A5 books. Single deckers seemed to have only V-shaped racks that were usually empty. However... not all buses had timetables. Most buses that did have timetables didn't have those for the route the bus was on, even if branded. The Arbroath local 30/30A leaflet seemed to be on every bus, but those on the 73 (including those branded) seemed to have the 20/21, or the 42 (?). Sometimes, leaflets were also thrown into the Metro bin. I eventually found a 73 timetable on a bus on the 20. All of them seemed to have been run over by a bus before being put on board - I've long held that this is down to the dark blue, which rubs off very easily. It's like newsprint, so you barely need to rub two leaflets together and they look "damaged". The new colour navy is even worse than the mid-blue of Beachball leaflets. So in short, the rack could be in two places, leaflets could be in three, and they may or may not be for the service the bus is on! Still, can't complain.

[...]

Now I've had a chance to look at the Stagecoach timetables in more detail, and these issues from October 2022 seem to have been produced in a hurry and very badly proofread. The right-hand margin in particular is very changeable, with sometimes half the width blank before more of the timetable on the following page. There have also been occasions where the introductory "what's changed" text is repeated, and in the 73 timetable, numerous journeys are shown twice - pretty much the entire Monday-Friday morning and Saturday evening service from the Arbroath/Carnoustie end.

As cost is one of the common reasons given for not printing leaflets, I'm surprised a bit more control wasn't put into these to keep the size of the leaflet down to a minimum - I reckon I could take 8 sides out of the 73 booklet just by correcting the errors and making sure as many pages as possible have maximum column usage.

 

[D6130]

Travelled on Reliance route 30 (York-Easingwold) yesterday and there was a full set of York District timetables in the rack alongside the driver.

 

[route101]

Aberdeen had Citylink timetables behind the glass ticket office counters. No timetables on the racks.
Inverness had 7 cities Citylink timetables, X99 and M96 timetables out on racks.

 

[Woolos 22]

Stagecoach South Wales has just published a timetable dated 26 February 2023, copies of which are now appearing on buses, but most of the services will have altered by the end of July.

 

[318266]

The other day I was on a McGill's Eastern Scottish Streetlite (0450 for the curious) which carried new timetables for the 26 and the X22. I managed to get a Citylink West Coast timetable in Stirling Bus Station of all places (something to do with the 978?)

The new Stagecoach timetables are interesting. Most of mine were collected from Ferrytoll P&R while awaiting the AB1, and I note that the Edinburgh - Fife expresses is big enough to have be bound by glue compared to just being stapled with the others.

 

[route101]

The other day I was on a McGill's Eastern Scottish Streetlite (0450 for the curious) which carried new timetables for the 26 and the X22. I managed to get a Citylink West Coast timetable in Stirling Bus Station of all places (something to do with the 978?)

The new Stagecoach timetables are interesting. Most of mine were collected from Ferrytoll P&R while awaiting the AB1, and I note that the Edinburgh - Fife expresses is big enough to have be bound by glue compared to just being stapled with the others.

I do like the Citylink books. There is 2 books plus timetables for AIR, 900 and 902.

Not seen any Stagecoach timetables for the express routes.

 

[Statto]

Shame Derbyshire County Council have stopped publishing their timetable books, great things they were, the full system books were published a couple of times a year, & they always had an amendment book published if their were multiple service changes during the lifespan of the book.

 

[NorthernSpirit]

The Carlisle waiting room was open on a Saturday when I visited a few months back

In my experience whilst in the lakes you are never more than a few feet away from somewhere that stocks the ‘Lakes by bus’ timetable. It is routinely available in tourist leaflet racks wherever they appear in shops, hotels etc amongst the leaflets for attractions


Talking about offices without published opening hours. Whenever I’ve visited the new Exeter bus station the office there is never open. The extensive range of Devon council and Stagecoach Devon timetables and maps always inaccessible. I’m not sure I’ve ever found anywhere in Exeter or indeed the whole of Devon where the timetables are widely available and you can obtain a full set (In Plymouth you are more likely to find a copy of the Cornwall timetable)

Speaking of the Devon timetable books, I once managed to obtain the full set from the Tourist Information Point in Newton Abbott market hall. When I was in Exeter in November last year I managed to obtain four of the six timetables from the travel centre (or what counts as one) as these were the revised ones. I wonder if the travelshop at Paignton has reopened? Otherwise you could until 2019 at least were able to get the full set, zero chance at Barnstaple as the main building has been closed for years.

If you contact Devon County Council either by calling them on 01392 382800 or by emailing them at [email protected] they'll send you the full set.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

Speaking of the Devon timetable books, I once managed to obtain the full set from the Tourist Information Point in Newton Abbott market hall. When I was in Exeter in November last year I managed to obtain four of the six timetables from the travel centre (or what counts as one) as these were the revised ones. I wonder if the travelshop at Paignton has reopened? Otherwise you could until 2019 at least were able to get the full set, zero chance at Barnstaple as the main building has been closed for years.

If you contact Devon County Council either by calling them on 01392 382800 or by emailing them at [email protected] they'll send you the full set.

Paignton travelshop still closed and I doubt ever to reopen

 

[route101]

Bournemouth Coach and Bus Station had Morebus, Breezer and Hampshire New Forest timetable. Bluestar travel centre closed on a Saturday, you expect Saturday to be your busy day.

 

[Ken H]

The Lakes by Bus' is available Carlisle bus station, Carlisle railway station (bin in ticket hall). Also I think Booths Keswick and Booths Windermere. No doubt also on 555 and 599 buses.

The Carlisle timetables are available at Carlisle bus station - there is a small building on the end of the bus stands. This small building has a waiting room with wall racks containing timetables. There were also boxes on the floor a few weeks ago. The waiting room is open when a member of Stagecoach staff is present in the small building office - there are no published opening hours but I guess normal office hours Monday -Friday - closed weekends and public holidays. If you cannot find the timetable you require, ask the member of staff in the office.
Sometimes timetables are available on the buses, at least there was last week on the double decker coming back from Newcastle on the 685.

The Lakes by bus is freely available at tourist info centres in the National Park.

 

[overthewater]

As its stands in Scotland, please do correct if you know otherwise:

FULL Set Published:
* Stagecoach East Scotland
* Explore Dundee
* Eastern Scottish
* East Coast buses
* Lothian country
* Stagecoach Highlands

Not printed:
* Lothian city
* First Glasgow
* First Aberdeen

Unclear:
* Midland Bluebird - at the printers
* Stagecoach Bluebird - at the printers
* Border buses - Only X62 and X95 been printed.
* Stagecoach West Scotland - unclear - No change recently
* McGill delayed at printers?

 

[route101]

Keighley bus station had a range of transdev route timetables. Burnley had none by comparison.

 

[barringtoncem]

The last time i used the whippet bus there was paper timetables on board as well as a Cambridgeshire Bus Guide for services X2 18 X3 66 which has a route map inside for these services
as well a web address for the on demand service Ting on the back cover

 

[LothianBusesPh]

As its stands in Scotland, please do correct if you know otherwise:

FULL Set Published:
* Stagecoach East Scotland
* Explore Dundee
* Eastern Scottish
* East Coast buses
* Lothian country
* Stagecoach Highlands

Not printed:
* Lothian city
* First Glasgow
* First Aberdeen

Unclear:
* Midland Bluebird - at the printers
* Stagecoach Bluebird - at the printers
* Border buses - Only X62 and X95 been printed.
* Stagecoach West Scotland - unclear - No change recently
* McGill delayed at printers?

Eves Coaches and Prentice Coaches have timetables available inside of their buses.

 

[Andyh82]

On a recent visit I was impressed that Hampshire still do a map and timetable books

The latter aren’t entirely comprehensive though, with Southampton relying on Bluestar (which is ok as they have a set) but Portsmouth relies on First and Stagecoach (which isn’t good as neither seem to have any timetables now)

I’m surprised First Solent don’t do a timetable book actually as the rest of the new First South West regional management area (Kernow, Somerset, Wessex, Beeline) all do timetable books

It’s also strange that most parts of Go South Coast do timetables but they are all in entirely different formats, everything from a single thick gummed edge book, to the tiny pocket style that Bluestar use

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

The GBBTT is the ultimate in a publication that was great for the enthusiast but who else? IIRC, it was distributed to bus company offices and tourist information centres but was invariably out of date as soon as it was published, didn't feature local bus services, and the timetables showed only principal stops. It acts as an interesting reference piece though.

I had copies of the Durham CC book - one from 1978 and one from 1986. My dad worked for United and was usually issued the United North Yorkshire - Richmond, Ripon and Hambleton book as well. I think Northumberland also had a timetable book that continued through deregulation and, when I travelled about in the post de-reg era, I think I did have a copy for my excursions. The odd one might have survived in some box somewhere but I don't know.

As I say, in my locality, it would make sense for First to publish stuff for certain routes like the Mendip Explorer, or a Badgerline one for Weston, or perhaps the Bath to Bristol service where tourists form an important element of the clientele and it is a marketing tool. The case is less strong, for example, for Bristol city routes but I'd prefer to see them return.

That Arriva don't do it for stuff like... the Northumberland Coast, the X4/X93 in North Yorkshire, the North Wales routes like the 5 or 12... it's just a reflection on the apathy they have towards marketing in general.

I take it back - they do a leaflet for the X93/4. It’s not great but it’s something

 

[Lynford1976]

The latter aren’t entirely comprehensive though, with Southampton relying on Bluestar (which is ok as they have a set) but Portsmouth relies on First and Stagecoach (which isn’t good as neither seem to have any timetables now)

Portsmouth and Southampton are administratively separate unitary authorities, outside of Hampshire County Council's remit.

Both, however, do produce excellent maps, at least online.

Stagecoach have produced some recent paper leaflets for Portsmouth-area services (the 21, Coastliner) but I don't know where they are publicly available.

Which reminds me...I haven’t yet ordered my new HCC maps - thanks for the prompt!

 

[Redmike]

I take it back - they do a leaflet for the X93/4. It’s not great but it’s something

I was aware of a leaflet for the x93/4 last year but haven’t seen one this year. Good news if there is one but as mentioned above it should be widely available with all other tourist leaflets.

 

[TheGrandWazoo]

I was aware of a leaflet for the x93/4 last year but haven’t seen one this year. Good news if there is one but as mentioned above it should be widely available with all other tourist leaflets.

I found it in racks outside the former Arriva travel shop (now just a welfare/admin facility) within Whitby station.

I’m surprised First Solent don’t do a timetable book actually as the rest of the new First South West regional management area (Kernow, Somerset, Wessex, Beeline) all do timetable books

For Wessex and Kernow, it makes more sense given that tourists are a major part of the market. Buses of Somerset less so but I think it was very much driven by Marc Morgan Huws and Alex Carter; given the pared-down nature of operations in Somerset (including transferring some services to West of England), I'm not certain it would stretch to a booklet now!!