Yesterday I needed to get from Oxford to Witney. Stagecoach's app had shown me that the S1 bus left from stop R7 in Frideswide Square.
When I got to R7, the first thing I saw was a big notice saying 'this bus stop is not in use'. It was only in Reading the detail that it became clear that this only referred to Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel services, but the headline was misleading, and what if someone only read the headline or did not know which company operated the service they wanted?
To then confuse matters further, the city centre bus stops guide within the shelter stated that the S1 to Witney left from stand R8, not R7. However, the electronic display said that the next bus was the S1, so on balance I decided to follow that.
Thankfully I was correct, but it really should not be so difficult to ensure that a bus stop has correct, consistent information.
Why are local authorities and bus operators so poor at achieving this?
(See photos for details of the above.)
When I got to R7, the first thing I saw was a big notice saying 'this bus stop is not in use'. It was only in Reading the detail that it became clear that this only referred to Oxford Bus Company and Thames Travel services, but the headline was misleading, and what if someone only read the headline or did not know which company operated the service they wanted?
To then confuse matters further, the city centre bus stops guide within the shelter stated that the S1 to Witney left from stand R8, not R7. However, the electronic display said that the next bus was the S1, so on balance I decided to follow that.
Thankfully I was correct, but it really should not be so difficult to ensure that a bus stop has correct, consistent information.
Why are local authorities and bus operators so poor at achieving this?
(See photos for details of the above.)
