Blackledge – THE DESIGN OF PASSENGER INFORMATION SYSTEMS 1992

Description

A Transport and Travel Research survey in a medium-sized PTE-area town examined passenger information and service perceptions. Respondents rated safety relatively positively (around 3.7), while fares and ticketing scored lowest (about 2.75 on a 1–5 scale). Timetables were widely present but seen as ineffective because buses often did not run to schedule; people reported long waits, confusion over which buses they could use, fear of minibuses due to unclear destinations, and surprise at route changes announced only after boarding. Comprehension tests showed roughly half of respondents could correctly extract information from both old- and new-style timetables (~54% and ~53% correct), indicating limited effectiveness of timetable design. Main information sources were interpersonal or point-contact: bus drivers (25%), household members (24%), other passengers (≈19%), with lower use of printed timetables and telephone enquiry services. Overall the findings point to inadequate, poorly understood passenger information and a need for clearer, more reliable, and better-distributed information on routes, times and fares.