John Briggs Consultants – RESULTS OF QUANTITATIVE SURVEY INTO THE RELATIVE ACCEPTABILITY OF A NEW AND EXISTING BUS STOP TIMETABLE 1985

Description

A September 1985 John Briggs Consultants hall-test for London Regional Transport compared a redesigned “New” bus-stop timetable (turned-round layout, larger print, colour, side snippets, Frequency Summary) with the Existing format. 390 occasional bus users on two routes completed timed tasks and 35 took part in depth interviews. Many users struggled to extract timetable information; frequency questions were hardest and frequency panels or notes were often missed, while hour panels (“minutes past the hour”) were easiest. The New format scored higher for legibility, attractiveness, colour and snippets and was preferred by about 55%, though Existing benefited from familiarity and outperformed the New on some tasks. Younger and ABC1 respondents tended to favour the New design. Recommendation: further real-world testing and refinements to frequency presentation and route clarity.