Bowles – CHANGING FACE OF THE BRITISH BUS TIMETABLE 1982

Description

The British bus industry has been historically conservative in marketing, relying on infrequent, often confusing timetable booklets. In the 1970s market pressures forced change: operators adopted market research, selective pricing, improved timetable presentation, leaflets, colour printing, free distribution and local branding. Quality and formats now vary widely—some operators still use traditional books while others issue high-quality leaflets or area guides—creating inconsistency and potential passenger confusion as services grow more complex. Leaflets help but cannot fully portray wider networks; area booklets and council-produced guides (e.g., Essex, Derbyshire, Gloucestershire) better communicate the full system. Many operators produce no recent timetables—only about 250 (under 20%) were identified as publishing one in the last three years—leaving councils to promote services. Advertising and promotion spending is very low (often under 0.33% of turnover), far below comparable industries. To increase ridership the industry must expand promotional budgets, improve information distribution and present timetables as a compelling product to change public perception that buses are obsolete.