Joyeux à Genève - Quatre

PDF - Pretty Difficult to Find

We move now to the TPG web site. There are three panels at the very head of the home page, putting a priority for enquiries rather than advertorial twaddle that bedogs so many UK public transport sites.

GOOD HOUSE POINT

Typing in Aéroport brings up a list of all services.

Ticking, for example, 5 and 10 delivers next departures.

Seemples!

Next we have a bog-standard journey planner ...

... which does what you would expect. At first fbb thought something was awry as there appeared to be duplicate answers ...

... but fear not, oh suspicious and tubby one ...

... one 2014 departure is route 5 (bus), the other is route 10 (trolleybus).

The next panel is headed "horaires" - timetables ...

... i.e. fbb's least liked departure lists.

Alongside is a list of stops showing "correspondances" (connections) at each one, as appropriate.

Clicking on the route numbers/letters takes you to their departure lists, stop lists etc. A further click will provide you with the full list of departures for the whole week ...

... and yet another link takes you to the stops location on a street map ...

... courtesy of the determined drive for World Domination by Google!

It all goes very smoothly and lacks the clunky clutter of so many bus and train sites in the UK that are trying to sell you something. The main thrust of the TPG site is providing information. How refreshing!

Now you will know what fbb is going to ask about next, won't you?

Can he obtain a proper timetable?

There is another menu which lists "Horaires" - where might that lead? Perhaps back to the pages we are looking at.

But no!

As well as "affiches" horaires, (timetable "posters") we can also look for "tableaux" horaires (timetable "tables").

We have already seen the stuff in "affiches", so let us now click on "tableaux".

Abnormal timetables, by the way, are ones operating at holidays times - which are defined.

With eager anticipation, fbb click on his "fave", service 5. And this happens:-

No amount of prodding and poking the "tpg_ligne_5" produces any tangible result.

Why?

Now fbb is no computer expert - you may have noticed - but he is profoundly disturbed by that underscore after the "pdf".

Summat's up!

But if the old man stirs around in the "downloads" section of his confuser and "renames" the file by deleting the underscore, lo and behold, sim-salabim and open sesame, he gets a "normal" PDF file type and a "normal" PDF file.

And what does this lead to? Drooling with joy, fbb has found a "proper" timetable for the service 5.

There, for example is the 2014 that appeared in the journey planner example above/

But it gets better.

By performing the same strange computational manoeuvre, fbb can download a PDF of the WHOLE TIMETABLE BOOK ...

... all 208 pages of it. From route 1 to route Z ...

... to Bossy.

It's a small village north of Geneva and close to the border with France.

Occasional journeys (i.e. the 1212 from Cornavin) continue across the closely guarded border ...

... and into France. The bus continues through open country ...

 ... to a sweet little turning circle at Bois-Chatton ...

...  complete with a splendid bus stop "flag" and up-to-date timetable frame.

Ah, the joy and delight of a timetable book.

But why, please, do we have those "corrupted" PDF files. Maybe the TST gang are at work again - the Timetable Secrecy Team - even in Switzerland!

Or has fbb got something wrong, yet again?

Tomorrow, we return to the network map and the fares leaflet for a more detailed perusal of both.

 Next Geneva blog : Friday 21st September