Writing of 24-hour clock times

[stut]

London UndergrounD use "24 00" in Working Timetables.

That's good practice, though...

00:00 7/7/12 = start of today
24:00 7/7/12 = end of today

 

[Joseph_Locke]

That's good practice, though...

00:00 7/7/12 = start of today
24:00 7/7/12 = end of today

It isn't, because they (00:00 and 24:00) mean the same thing. Think about it: the next minute after 23:59 is? What about the whole minute before 00:01? See what we mean?

If you're going to have one, only 00:00 makes sense.

 

[stut]

Yes and no. They both mean midnight, but the implication is key: 0:00 comes before 0:01 and 24:00 comes after 23:59. Distinguishing between the two is key to understanding which day is meant by which, and that's pretty standard international notation.

 

[heart-of-wessex]

I've seen it on WTTs as Dstock says, not seen it much on permanent NR TT's though. Buses round here use the 24hr clock, bar the Wiltshire timetables which uses 12 hour times and is confusing for me!!

I have seen the Bristol Airport bus uses 0000 for one or two departures though (one is from Temple Meads IIRC)

 

[Techniquest]

I've seen thing like 2430 for replacement buses running late into the night before, which just looked weird.

Personally, I like writing the time in a post on a forum, a text or whatever in the same manner railway timetables do. Just grown up with it like that. The only time I change my manner of writing it is when I'm at work and signing out equipment with the time I've picked it up. Then I'll added a colon between the hour, minutes and seconds. Yes I even add the seconds just to be a bit different and for more proof it's me taking it/returning it.

I don't think I've ever had any problem with reading the timetable with no colon in the middle of the times. Now if we were talking about lack of clarity in many timetables (lack of boldness for station calls or too similar to the style for passing/connecting times), that would be a different story!

 

[Trog]

The BR system of ignoring midnight by going for 23:59 or 00:01 also has the benefit of avoiding the 00:00 or 24:00 argument.

The look on the face of the new bloke ex-Army, Navy, etc. laying down the law on how midnight should be written, when you tell him that there is no such time as midnight, on the railway is always worth watching as well.

 

[LE Greys]

The XXXXh formation is useful in text messaging because it saves pressing the 1 button numerous times until you find a colon. Other than that, it's probably best avoided. I've also often seen things such as "xx:xx" coming up here because of the smiley problem. I developed a system of using a three-dotted colon between hours and minutes and a two-dotted colon between minutes and seconds to distinguish them - but that's impossible with a modern keyboard (easy enough with a pen though). Nearest I can get is 12⁞34:56.78, meaning twelve hours, thirty-four minutes, fifty-six point seven eight seconds.

Of course, the twenty-four hour clock is rare in some places, especially the USA. I remember once asking which platform the 13:15 left from and getting a blank stare.

 

[radamfi]

Another method is to use 2400 for arrival times and 0000 for departure times.

An example from an old Dutch rail timetable:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Railtime.jpg

 

[ReverendFozz]

I remember seeing a picture of a bus timetable recently, think it was somewhere in Washington, the first bus was advertised as going at 0767, just a typo though, still it made me laugh, I am so easily amused.

When I deal with time, I dont like using the 24 hour clock, I very rarely write the time in the 24hr format e.g. I will write 8pm or 8:00pm instead of 2000, only thing I use a 24 hr clock format on is my phone