Battison – USING PRINTED TIMETABLES EFFECTIVELY – THE BRISTOL EXPERIENCE 1991

Description

Vernon Battison of Bristol CityLine described how the operator improved printed passenger information for Greater Bristol (population ~500,000; fleet ~350 vehicles). CityLine retained traditional 24-hour timetables (adding explanatory clocks) and invested in Bus Times software to produce camera-ready pages, cutting production time and cost; timetables sell around 35,000 annually. Leaflets drawn from the same database are widely distributed for service changes. Recognising timetables alone did not serve non-users, CityLine commissioned Ford Farrow & Partners to produce a diagrammatic, colour-coded City Line Overground map showing every named stop, route groups and interchange points. Central Bristol required a special approach (lettered stops with a table) to avoid confusion. Market research guided refinements; prototypes were tested and the first edition was household-distributed in May 1988. The map has been updated three times, with ~70,000 copies a year, 4-sheet public displays, fleet and stop rebranding and on-bus maps—substantially improving passenger wayfinding