Sprent, Bartram and Crawshaw – INTELLIGIBILITY OF BUS TIMETABLES 1980

Description

This study compared four common British bus timetable formats by giving 96 stratified household subjects one version and a 12-item questionnaire requiring typical timetable tasks. The formats were: 12-hour (am/pm) normal, 24-hour reflected, 24-hour normal, and a 24-hour style with row delineation. Results showed the 12-hour (am/pm) format produced significantly faster completion times and fewer errors than the otherwise identical 24-hour version. The reflected 24-hour format performed worst, and adding horizontal lines to delineate rows yielded non-significant improvements. Performance did not vary reliably with age, sex, social class, or self-reported timetable use. A modest negative correlation between accuracy and time indicated speed and accuracy trade-offs. The authors note that task type strongly affects apparent failure rates in prior studies and that the average score (8.2/12) implies many people can use timetables but still make errors. They recommend future work isolate specific design features to improve intelligibility.