South Yorkshire PTE

[Bevan Price]

All their transport information centres have been closed - so seemingly now nowhere to get paper copies of timetables, maps, etc., for those who prefer them rather than to rely only on website access.

Their website claims this gives "new and improved options"..............


http://www.sypte.co.uk/media.aspx?id=4487

 

[MidnightFlyer]

According to the link you posted, customer service desks at interchanges will provide timetable for those who desire them. I did note however from the May rail timetable change, TSY have seemingly done away all of their own timetables. They are now covered solely by other TOCs or PTEs.

 

[Harpers Tate]

TSY are no longer producing any paper timetables of their own for buses. They have PDFs online but no method for those not web-savvy to obtain copies; and what few information points that still remain will offer operators' self-produced paper where available.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

That's bad. I liked those timetables. No wonder I couldn't find any

 

[Harpers Tate]

It is bad. But the thing I find mystifying is why the PTE has been funding these things for themselves anyway; why operators find it more commercial or cost-effective to print their own, rather than collectively funding a composite PTE leaflet.

I firmly believe that all the Operators have still yet to understand that promoting their entire INDUSTRY as opposed to attempting to promote their BRAND is the optimal way to grow usage and hence revenue; that their primary competition is not the other operator, but actually car use.

 

[Haydn1971]

I used to be involved in the Sheffield Motorists Forum, which lost officer funding a couple of years back - we had a "unfunded" meeting with the Transport Users Forum a few months back at which the local manager from either First or Stagecoach (can't recall) confirmed that the operators were developing paper timetables and to cut costs these were going to be cross operator timetables.

Sign of the times I'm afraid, when government funding gets cut, something has to be chopped... Lots of jobs have also recently been axed at TSY too, so it's a bad time all round at the PTE

 

[radamfi]

In Greater Manchester, the PTE (now TfGM) print their own timetables, but as far as I was aware they charge the operators for them, and have done for years, so in some cases the operator prints their own. So I can't see why SYPTE doesn't continue to print them but charge the operator for them. The expense of producing and printing them is compounded by service changes being far more frequent since 1986. Timetables are almost universally single route ones, whereas in the Netherlands, for example, books containing all services in an area are more the norm, or at least they were before the internet. It is easier to produce one book per year if you align the change dates with the railway.

In Britain, even if you have the printed timetable, you need to be sure that it is up-to-date, and because bus timetables don't have an end date, that's quite tricky. If it is important to have correct information, then you need to use the internet or phone or ask at the information office, and if you are doing that, you don't need the printed timetable.