Technology Triuumphs

Information is Power

Above is a map of Cornwall, showing bus routes.

Maybe the bi-lingual index may give a clue. But it is Cornwall.

It is Cornwall in Canada. What fbb wants us a bus map of Penzance in Cornwall, UK. The latest network timetable ...

... has no local maps at all. The network map is good once you leave Penzance ...

... but it will not tell you which roads are used by which routes in the town. Once upon a very long time ago, Western National would sell you a map of the town.

It cost three (old) pence. There is a copy on line, but, probably because the owner wants to sell it, only half the map is actually available.

The best First Bus could do, once, was a tiny bit of a map showing town centre bus stops.

Information on the National Rail site us also very limited indeed.

But it does have a list of bus routes ...

... and, joy of joys, it gives us a list of stands at the bus station. Unfortunately the list is out of date and it doesn't actually say where these stops are.

They are, fbb thinks, the stands at the bus station; information which is not available AT the bus station. The posters should be available AT the railway station but they often aren't. Disgracefully, fbb failed to check.

Anyway, the information is not much good if it is out-of-date!!

But It Is All On The Bus

The fbbs travelled on seven bus routes during their brief stay at Penzance. All of them had the capability of showing limited next stop information. Some had all the latest bells and whistles.

Only one of the seven was actually working!

The worst exemplars of non-working displays were two of the GoAhead buses and two of the First Bus journeys. 

Here us a screen from the M6 Mousehole (First Bus).

The time is correct, but the screen (upper right) has a large QR code and a complete screen of gibberish. But the strangest thing was the temperature display.

It was NOT 26.1 degrees outside! So much for electronics.

Then this was the display in a GoAhead bus.

It was good to know that the 16A to Penzance 9was operated, not by Go Cornwall, but by Plymouth City Bus!

The "next bus" display panel showed 100% gibberish. Sadly, because of  LED refresh rates nothing would photograph.

But various meaningless codes were shown and, from time to time, there was a gibbering sound announcement accompanied by a Hi-De-Hi 'bing bong' type chime. There was NOTHING of any use.

Surely working displays, where available are now a legal requirement?

Maybe devolution in Cornwall has happened ...

... and the rest of UK laws don't apply.

But there was one redeeming feature. Yesterday the old codgers travelled from Penzance to Treviades Barton for the next three nights.

It was a bus from Penzance to Helston (of which more later) then a 35A to Port Navas Turn (of which more later).

The 35A was a minibus like this one ...

.. and almost everything worked! The time on the clock was half a day out, showing 00 rather than 12 hours, but the next stop screens and the sound were perfect.

As the fbbs were uncertain of the route but knew their terminal stop, it was really helpful to hear the sonorous tones of the computer.

PLEASE NOTE - this blog has been posted as a place holder to try to be sociable to our new hosts. The idea failed! The blog took too long to put together. Must do better for friends and blog readers tomorrow.

 Next Cornwall blog : Thurs 25 Sept