Out of date bus info at Southeastern stations

[alex397]

At Broadstairs, Faversham and Sittingbourne stations at least, there are posters in displays just outside the station buildings with bus information dating from 2010 at the earliest, which are now hugely out of date and now belong in a museum. It seems rather typical of our unintegrated public transport system.

Last year, I emailed both KCC and Southeastern about either updating or removing these highly misleading posters. Though removing them is the more realistic option, as there seems to be absolutely no will in Kent to promote bus services anymore. KCC say it’s a Southeastern responsibly but Southeastern say it’s a KCC responsibility. It seems no one knows who is responsible for these. In my view, it’s better to have no information rather than misleading information. They contain routes and numbers which no longer exist.

These posters still exist (Faversham at least last week, and Broadstairs today). I’m not sure why it is so difficult to get someone to remove them. It would take about 30 seconds.

Aside from removing them myself by buying a special key to open these displays (which I certainly wouldn’t do), what else could I about having these removed or updated?

 

[Surreytraveller]

Bus operators only need to give six weeks notice of a change to a bus service.
There's no point in railway companies giving bus information out, as there's no hope of it being kept up to date

 

[Harpo]

The internet is also a mine of out-of-date bus schedules that can still appear current. Non-commercial rural services that have changed operators seem especially prone to this.

 

[alex397]

Bus operators only need to give six weeks notice of a change to a bus service.
There's no point in railway companies giving bus information out, as there's no hope of it being kept up to date

The Onward Travel maps, that tend to be posted at most stations (at least Southeastern anyway) are usually kept up to date, and provide a useful map showing the nearest bus stops and which buses stop there. So, if things are kept updated, it’s a good tool for integrated transport, which is fairly lacking in the UK.

However the stations I mention above have both the updated Onward Travel maps as well as the out of date bus ‘spider’ maps, which were produced by Kent County Council (KCC) but are kept in display boxes that no one wants to claim responsibility for. Having both the Onward Travel maps and the KCC maps can just lead to confusion to any potential bus passengers. Why it’s so hard to just get the simple things right, I’m not so sure.

 

[Surreytraveller]

However the stations I mention above have both the updated Onward Travel maps as well as the out of date bus ‘spider’ maps, which were produced by Kent County Council (KCC) but are kept in display boxes that no one wants to claim responsibility for. Having both the Onward Travel maps and the KCC maps can just lead to confusion to any potential bus passengers. Why it’s so hard to just get the simple things right, I’m not so sure.

Probably someone had a one - off project to do. Whoever commissioned the project was likely oblivious to the fact that the project would involve information that would need to be kept up to date, so no processes were put in place to keep that information up to date

 

[gravitystorm]

Aside from removing them myself by buying a special key to open these displays (which I certainly wouldn’t do), what else could I about having these removed or updated?

There's two main approaches that I would suggest. The first is to go through your local politicians, who often get more attention from public-sector staff than is paid to individual members of the public. So try your local county councillors (are any interested in public transport?), or the Director of Transport at KCC, or your local MP. Keep it bright and simple, describe the problem, describe the standoff, and ask if they can help resolve it. Don't give them grief, or insinuate incompetence, no matter how tempting.

The second approach is the direct action approach. Print out a helpful notice - "Warning - outdated information - please ignore", with some further details and something like the Traveline link to get the correct information (or arrows to the correct posters, if they are nearby) and then tape that over the offending posters. Keep replacing the notices whenever they are removed, until the matter is resolved. If anyone gives you stick about it, point out that you've been unable to resolve this through the proper channels.

Either way, good luck!