Clock Face Timetables

[Llandudno]

A real bug bear of mine is the lack of a clock face timetable on relatively frequent trunk bus routes.

Arriva have excelled themselves again with the introduction of yet another revised timetable for what was once a premium Sapphire branded route, the 12 between Rhyl and Llandudno. When rebranded a 10 minute frequency was provided 0700-1900 and every 30 minutes until circa 2315.

Since then the Sapphire brand has all but disappeared and evening services are now every 40 minutes so you need a timetable to refer to them. The daytime frequency was cut to firstly a clock face 12 minute frequency and then subsequently a clock face 15 minute headway.

The revised timetable starting next week will still have 4 buses per hour but will during the main part of day with departures as follows:

From Rhyl: 1200 1215 1230 1248 1306 1321 1336 1351 1406 1425 1443 1458

From Llandudno 1200 1215 1230 1249 1307 1322 1337 1352 1407 1427 1443 1458


as the gap in some of the buses varies surely this could lead to bunching of buses and make the overall service more unreliable?

You could certainly see the 1443 Ex Llandudno catching up with the likely delayed 1427 departure?

 

[43055]

Arriva Wales seem to be every good a creating random timetables like the 35 min service on the 13 a while back.

When it was every 10 min there was always a bus on the stand at West Shore in Llandudno but now it looks like most buses have around 5 mins layover. To me it seems like they have removed one or two buses but tried to keep the same frequency.

Kinchbus Skylink now has some random gaps in the middle of the day which I don't understand. Normally a 20 min but from Derby goes: 1200, 1230, 1250, 1310, 1330, 1345, 1410. Why can't the 1345 run at 1350?

 

[Titfield]

Usually clock face timetables are less efficient and have lower driver and vehicle utilisation than non clock face timetables.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Usually clock face timetables are less efficient and have lower driver and vehicle utilisation than non clock face timetables.

Probably true. However, the benefits provided by understandability and memorability of the timetable mean a cut in frequency down to one can actually be desirable. For instance (a rail example, I can't think of a bus one off hand) clockface hourly would in my view be better for St Albans Abbey than the present every 45ish minutes. Though sometimes (not in this example) the requirement for capacity can be an issue with a cut.

Add to that that if you do put a bit more layover in the service will be more reliable.

The main barrier to clockface timetables in buses is traffic congestion varying through the day. Even the Dutch don't always have them perfect for this reason.

 

[Roger1973]

Indeed. It's probably not been the case for a very long time that you can reliably do the same running times all day every day.

I'd agree that an irregular timetable is not ideal for intending passengers, but neither is a A timetable where buses are sitting and waiting at all the timing points some of the day and won't ever run to time in peak hours. And the Traffic Commissioners can penalise operators for poor punctuality.

Many timetables are based on the commercial constraint that this service can justify X number of buses, and as traffic gets worse, the headway that X number of buses can run gets worse at peak times at least. Traffic / running time in some areas can peak round afternoon school times rather than (or as well as) the traditional 'peak hours' - and some afternoon journeys get adjusted to fit round the time of school/s on the line of route.

It could be argued that a few 20 minute gaps in an otherwise 15 minute service is better than odd gaps between 15 - 20 minutes, although depending on where the congestion is, it can be that irregular departures from point A can result in an even headway from point B on a journey to point C.