Doe – DOES DIRECTION 1986

Description

Barry S. Doe reviews ten years of change in British bus timetables, noting a drop in 24-hour clock use among major operators from 85% (1984) to about 73% (1986). He defends 24-hour notation as clearest in print, disputes claims it confuses older users or clashes with spoken titles, and attributes many reversions to 12-hour time to image-driven marketing rather than practicality. Doe criticises the move from comprehensive timetable books to varied leaflets—many lacking indexes and maps—making services harder to use and maintain. His survey finds only a small minority publish single comprehensive books; 25 counties/regions/PTEs (39%) produce full county guides while others produce little. Deregulation prompted mixed responses. He urges more timetable submissions to support his Directory and a proposed national Directory Service, praises Gwynedd’s integrated, bilingual, well-publicised model, and condemns authorities that fail to publish or update timetables. Doe promotes better operator-authority information sharing, citing his expanded 10th Directory and a Bus/Rail Guide to improve public use and planning.