Where do the buses go?
Maps are provided for each area of the county. There is no county-wide overview though, so anyone unfamiliar with the area might struggle to work out which local map they need. It does look like the whole county is covered though and town centre enlargements are included. Stoke-on-Trent is not covered because it is independent of the county and looks after its own transport affairs. We'll judge its council in a later post. Staffordshire however gets 5 out of 5.
Timetables
You can search by route number or you can use the map index page to see a list of all routes for each local area, complete with timetables. 5 out of 5.
Fares
The only fares information is about Plusbus, which is available in Stafford, Cannock, Lichfield and Tamworth. There is no other fare information. Nothing about single or return fares. Nothing about day tickets. There is no multi-operator ticket. 1 out of 5.
Summary
We have good maps, although an index for those unfamiliar with the area would help. Timetables are similarly easy to find, but fares information is the big let down. Staffordshire County Council scores a total of 11 out of 15.
Oh dear yet another county who had been producing some excellent area booklets and has now stopped. They do I believe offer to print off and post the area maps but that's no substitute.
ReplyDeleteLeaving it to the operators doesn't often work very well particularly if they are small and not part of the large groups.
Aren't transport authorities supposed to be promoting the use of alternatives to the private car?
They are, but with funding being reduced year on year it may be better to use the money to actually keep buses on the road?
ReplyDelete