Who Prints The Clearest Timetables?

[Envoy]

I see big differences in the clarity of printed timetables. Arriva Trains Wales seem to print one of the faintest timetables with tiny print. They also use letters to denote final destinations of trains such as 'D' for Birmingham International. Goodness knows why they can't use the standard codes that people use when using the National Rail website - as Great Western do.

On the ATW timetable 2 (South Wales to Manchester/North Wales), they actually manage to miss out some places including the County town of Pembrokeshire - Haverfordwest. This despite having spare white space on each page.

So, if you know which TOC prints the clearest timetables, perhaps all companies could be told of this and follow their good example?

 

[SprinterMan]

Greater Anglia gets my vote, not ambiguous at all, easy to read, and they don't use the stupid font that ONE/NXEA did any more.

Adam

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Northern or FGW.

 

[thenorthern]

Island Line Trains, they are just so easy to understand as the line is so simple.

On a larger scale though Northern Rail are very good, no fancy colours or graphic and they just show you when your train is.

The worst ones in my opinion are Virgin Trains and CrossCountry as they are very long ones because of the routes and the connecting trains information can be misleading (for me) and it can be hard to find the time of my train at Burton-on-Trent when the timetable starts in Aberdeen.

 

[Mugby]

Northern Rail are very good considering the huge amount of timetables they have to produce.

TransPennineExpress take some beating for clarity with a well chosen typeface and clever use of house colours for different days and certain journeys.

EMT don't do very well with their London leaflets because they're not easy to differentiate the Sheffield and Nottingham services and they usually have to issue a separate leaflet for Sunday services which requires to opened out into a huge sheet.

 

[AM9]

I know that they are not a TOC but I think that the National Rail timetable format should be mandated by DfT. The basic format hasn't changed for at least 50 years (nor is there any reason for it to do so), and it is capable of showing anything from a simple A to B service to complex route timetables with train splits and combinations, and passing waits. Of course TOCs will want to slant the actual information to maximise their sales (or even maybe to minimise overcrowding) so there's no problem if they only include certain trains. That doesn't affect the format though so they should just follow a common print style and format.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Northern are great at timetables.
TPE are a bit awkward with the notes.
The EMT timetable is impossible to grasp.

 

[380gk]

Scotrail print very clear timetables.

 

[cuccir]

+1 for Northern. Simple colour scheme, clear route maps, exactly the correct amount of info.

 

[185143]

+1 for Northern. Simple colour scheme, clear route maps, exactly the correct amount of info.

make that +2.

 

[DarloRich]

arent they all printed to an accessibility standard?

 

[heart-of-wessex]

I see XC hasn't appeared yet

I find XC's ones are just a mess, I'll admit it's been a while since I had one but I found they were simple for the timings, but the amount of codes often got confusing, A, B, C, D etc then AA, BB etc. It might mean it was 'seasonal' runs (extensions to the South Coast in the Summer for example), or calls at a list of stations with timings or might be a couple of stations, or it might mean it runs certain days etc.
One time for a train I planned to get, there was a letter code at the top, could I find what the code meant? It didn't exist in the directory at the back!

 

[sarahj]

I still miss Southerns line timetables. They were a handy thing for us staff to carry, esp for more detailed stuff that even an advantix cannot give you. When they went to the little leaflets just showing things like Brighton-victoria, it was a major loss.


OT fact. A few years ago Southern advertised on some stations an all Southern timetable book. It even got a mention by Barry Doe. I asked if we could have one. Seems they may not have existed in real life and it was impossible to get one, in fact it was not known by many, even managers to exist. All I had was a photo on my mobile of a poster to prove otherwise. I then read somewhere it was being discontinued due to lack of demand.:roll:

 

[LLivery]

Southern is a nightmare, far too many timetables and they don't even cover the whole routes! London Bridge - Caterham is split between two tables (London Bridge - East Croydon all stations and London Bridge, Norwood Jun - all stations to Caterham) The second isn't stocked at the intermediate stations north of Norwood and when I contacted them about it they pretty much said "we would like to get all on one, but it doesn't fit". I couldn't even tell you the number of the two timetables for my local station!

SWT isn't bad, I'd like if they had one booklet for South London though.

I haven't liked the Midland Main Line timetables since East Midlands Trains took over. Especially with this separate weekend leaflet nonsense. FGW used to be far better when InterCity were in one book - I couldn't even find a South Wales table at Paddington a few weeks ago. FGW only really need 4 books at most (InterCity, Thames Valley, Devon & Cornwall locals and Bristol/Wiltshire locals).

I'd go Chiltern, c2c or AGA. I haven't seen a Northern one in years.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

OT fact. A few years ago Southern advertised on some stations an all Southern timetable book. It even got a mention by Barry Doe. I asked if we could have one. Seems they may not have existed in real life and it was impossible to get one, in fact it was not known by many, even managers to exist. All I had was a photo on my mobile of a poster to prove otherwise. I then read somewhere it was being discontinued due to lack of demand.:roll:

Lasted two years or so (I have copies of them all ) - it was available from Victoria (Southern Reception), East Croydon, Gatwick Airport, Redhill, Haywards Heath and Brighton and was literally advertised by a sticker in the booking office window. It was £5 too which didn't help matters! It wouldn't have been too bad if it contained things like station information or ticket restrictions, but it was literally just all straight repeat of the 33 timetables on sturdier paper. For any customers it would have been cheaper, lighter and more compact to just pick up all the timetables separately!

 

[merlodlliw]

ATW confuse many in North East Wales with their timetables,Timetable one for Wrexham/Chester, timetable four for Wrexham/Bidston.
I agree about the codes use, we have BB which is suppose to mean bank holiday monday only.

 

[FQ]

Another vote for Northern.

 

[ValleyLines142]

I agree also with Northern.

CrossCountry list too many connection times in theirs, although that's understandable due to the long routes they operate and to be fair their direct services are in bold so it's okay.

 

[Statto]

Northern, Merseyrail are good.

Virgin Trains timetables quite annoying as Nuneaton is only included as a code, yet quite a few VT trains call there.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
I like EMT ones who also shade peak/off peak trains in a different colour which is very useful to those who don't travel reguly.

 

[Yew]

I like EMT, purely as they specify if its a meridian or HST

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

I like EMT, purely as they specify if its a meridian or HST

That is good, but look at the Leicester to Newark to Cleethorpes timetable and tell me it's easy to know what times to leave Grimsby Town.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I've been collecting and studying timetables for over a decade now, so I would say this, but I didn't find it that hard to do. Certainly not as clear as Northern or FGW's styles, but not overly complex.

 

[cactustwirly]

FGW, Northern is plain, but it isn't as a easy to read as FGW

 

[Envoy]

Many thanks to all of you who have responded to my post thus far. It looks like Northern is a clear winner so far.

 

[Andyh82]

Northern's are clear but they are very plain and work a day, useful for commuters rather than attracting new passengers. The First TPE books are clear and a bit more exciting. For the intercity operators, East Coast's books are usually the most enticing.

Can't be doing with any operator who only have multiple fold pocket timetables in general use, like Southern and First Capital Connect among others.

 

[Quakers Yard]

Northern, FGW now and SWT about 4 years ago.
ATW Valleys not too bad but the Sundays take some reading to understand how to get to and from Barry island.
XC can be indecipherable but look how many stations they have to cover.