Simple answer, NO! If you bus routes are complex and confusing no amount of map-designing skill can change that mess into something that is easy to understand. Yesterday we saw how Sheffield's 52 bus route retained the "straight line" simplicity of the tram route that it replaced.
Then along comes privatisation, deregulation and (ultimately) self-destructive competition leading to two 52s following different routes at one end.
The sensible use of the 52a number helped, but the latest nonsense from the PTE, the Undergound-style route diagram, does more harm than good.
We also saw (again in yesterday's blog) that various bits of PTE "publicity" uses four different colours to identify the 52/52a. Why?
The map on the current PTE non-leaflet is unhelpful ...
... but necessarily involves compromise to maintain a reasonable semblance of "simplicity".
But if we then maintain consistency and use an extract from the "tube" map on a timetable leaflet, we can do a better job. Instead of the above, we can show the two Woodhouse routes separated where the difference might matter.
Then in the University area, which the PTE mangles so spectacularly ...
... but then do even better. By playing a little fast and loose with scale we can help passengers with the physical layout of stops at the Uni.
The full "new-style" 52/52a map will be on GoTimetable Sheffield (www.gotimetable.com) later today. Choose service 52 via the table tennis bat on the opening screen, call up the timetable itself, then tap/click MAP .
But then there is the problem of the City Centre "spider" maps (as favoured by Transport for London).
Here is the "spider" map snapped by fbb on Saturday last in the searing heat of central Sheffield. It is on Waingate at the stop for routes 10/10a, 6/6a, 24/25, 52/52a and 56.
The "spider" ignores 6/6a and 10.
Unusually, the route lines (in their non standard colours, of course) are NEARLY in the correct geographical order. Sadly the PTE has got the 24 and 25 going the wrong way ...
... but you can't have everything can you? Certainly not accuracy!
That's daft enough, but look closely at the four Woohouses.
Unusually, the route lines (in their non standard colours, of course) are NEARLY in the correct geographical order. Sadly the PTE has got the 24 and 25 going the wrong way ...
That's daft enough, but look closely at the four Woohouses.
Three of them are, effectively, the same place; both the 24 and the 25 serve Cross Street and Stradbroke Road and the 52 is terminates between them.
And, please Mr PTE, what about buses to Skelton Road and Spa Lane? This is a loop of newer housing tacked on to Woodhouse village centre ...
... but impossible to find on journey planners or timetables. Even the map on the PTE non-leaflet doesn't tell you what goes there.
So how about using an extract from the tube-style map (fbb's of course) to help the public, rather than a computer generated spider. "Help the public", now there's a novelty! (click on the graphic below to enlarge it).
And, deep joy, the 24 and 25 are shown going the right way. Another novelty! A map for service 10 (Circular) would be shown separately as it has no affinity whatsoever with the selelction as shown above.
Which leaves the problem of Sheffield City Centre.
Which leaves the problem of Sheffield City Centre.
Whilst being ambivalent about the benefits of "Underground-style" maps versus geographically accurate cartography, fbb has latched on to their benefits for a complex city centre network that is an exciting and challenging feature of Sheffield bus travel.
It all went belly-up when the trams came. To give these beasties room, High Street becasme one way for buses, which meant considerable gyrations to get to city centre stops for almost every city bus route.
In GoTimetable, fbb has created some rather crude City maps e.g. for 52/52a ...
... but, using the revised styling, perhaps we can do something better.
The idea is "out for consultation" at the moment but samples are appearing on GoTimetable.
If Buses for Sheffield is serious about wanting to encourage more passengers, this sort of consistency will help folk make sense of a complicated network.
But this sort of inconsistency won't:-
All four were photographed on the same day a couple of weeks ago. All four are current and three of them have been published since the big reveal of
If Buses for Sheffield is serious about wanting to encourage more passengers, this sort of consistency will help folk make sense of a complicated network.
But this sort of inconsistency won't:-
Buses for Sheffield One City One Service
with lots of incompatible leaflet styles.
Bog-up in Buxton Blog : Thursday 19th July
The fbb maps are an improvement, though I am still struggling to understand where 52a ends up after it goes rogue from the 52 (Woodhouse or Woodhouse Stn?) and similarly the loops on 24/25 - which ends up where and how?
ReplyDeleteHaving considered this post carefully, I think what it is saying is how dare bus operators launch competing services, how dare they try to serve new bits of road, and how dare they innovate.
ReplyDeleteSuch habits make a right mess of the network map, and wouldn't have happened back in the good old monopolistic/state run days.
As a go timetable Sheffield user I certainly prefer the newer maps.
ReplyDelete