Fichter and Fusci – NOTES ON TRANSIT ROUTE GUIDES 1979

Description

These preliminary notes advise designing route guides—pictorial timetables combining timetables and stick-map diagrams—for scheduled transit in mid-sized and smaller cities where service is infrequent and customers need predictable schedules. A published schedule is a promise that must be honored or qualified with disclaimers. Route guides should be uniform, coordinated within the transit system, and balanced for legibility, portability and completeness; design requires compromises and planning for likely future changes. Materials vary (individual route guides, system guides, time-maps, booklets, special-service flyers). Key design issues include panel size, paper and printing choices tied to agency scale and press runs, quantities to print, and distribution methods. Stick-map and timetable design must be closely coordinated: show timepoints, running times, directions, limited-service segments, symbols, street names and hierarchy of information. Timetable formatting, symbols/footnotes, headings, covers, passenger tips, effective/expiration dates and maintainability are emphasized. Production should be iterative, practical, and informed by printing constraints and customer needs.