American Public Transit Association – TIMETABLES 1982

Description

This comprehensive 100-page handbook, “Timetables,” published by the American Public Transit Association (APTA) in May 1982, offers a deep dive into the effective design, distribution, cost analysis, and evaluation of public transit timetables. Developed by a collaborative team of transit professionals and academics, it serves as a “how-to-do-it” guide for practitioners aiming to enhance consumer information systems. The document provides practical insights into setting objectives, optimizing clarity and legibility through good graphics, and establishing efficient distribution policies. It includes detailed cost analysis models (Figures 1 and 2), a robust evaluation framework with research considerations, and a valuable checklist of questions. Visually rich, it features numerous examples of cover designs, route maps, actual timetables, and passenger information layouts (Examples A-F), alongside an extensive bibliography. Despite its age, this well-structured resource remains a significant historical artifact, reflecting the state-of-the-art in transit information management from the early 1980s, offering high trustworthiness and foundational principles still relevant today.