Perhaps if e-ink had taken off - but as soon as you put the poster up, it's already out of date. If you can't rely on posters or printed materials to have the latest information - why publish them at all - at best, it's just indicative of what they plan to run in perfect conditions with no engineering works or resourcing constraints.
I feel like the solution to out of date timetable posters is to have a TVM page (at stations that have them) that shows the timetable (maybe even with an option to select different formats).
Or a journey planning TVM
Those already exist (and can be annoying at times, I know what ticket I need!).
On a printed timetable? Or online? If the former, that’lll be expected. If the latter, then that would be unforgivabl… but that isn’t the complaint!
Good for you. I never had one up until 2021. I only got one then because every place I went to wanted me either to scan a barcode and fill out my details, or display the NHS Covid pass. So I grudgingly had to get one. The only app I ever installed on it was the NHS app for the Covid pass. I still have it now but mainly just use it as an alarm clock. I think all these naysayers on here would be surprised exactly how much you can get done in life without a smartphone. Younger people are going back to dumb phones in their droves. 1 billion of them were sold in 2021, compared to 1.4 billion smartphones.
This would make a lot more sense than the traditional timetable format - you could either have it LNER app style (enter date and time, then click the timetable only bit) or just a special timetable button on the screen that you can filter down if you wish when you get it.
Not really. The poster timetable will display the LTP timetable and should be good for several months. Engineering alterations should be displayed prominently a couple of weeks in advance. CIS screens display messages to the effect of "Weekend engineering work 6th-7th July, check your journey" which prompts passengers to look at the engineering work poster or ask a member of staff. That's what they do around here, and it seems to work.
Are there no "engineering work" posters put up where you are? Up here even the smallest request stops get them put up by the cleaner when they do their rounds.
Anything bought with a Club50 card is only valid on Scotrail, including their £17 to anywhere in Scotland tickets. The only exception was TPE to Lockerbie, which wasn't served by Scotrail. I no longer have a club50 card so don't know what the position is with Reston.
ScotRail's website says 'any operator' under FAQs.
I disagree. To most people, a train timetable shows the trains that run on the route the timetable is for. Not some of them, but all of them.
Agreed. Whilst it is a ScotRail timetable, I would have thought that most punters would reasonably expect to include available train services. I really do think that the Dunbar edition is the real travesty here as it shows something less than half the available services without making this obvious.
Just as well that was abandoned. So they printed non-ScotRail services in BOLD totally the opposite expectation (by providing additional weight to those trains from another TOC). With italics invariably showing connecting services and the arrival of single-TOC tickets catching many out (Advances) this was developing into a real mess.
Not all of them, XC is still operated by Arriva.
The "non scotrail service in bold" seems to have been a short-lived thing. Prior that it was like the 2019 timetable, with operators highlighted at the top of each column.
Younger people certainly aren't going back to dumb phones 'in droves'. Gen Zers couldn't exist without smartphones now. There are many reasons why dumb phones are still bought in quantity, and a good number of them are nefarious.
I have never bleated or otherwise about not having a smartphone. I choose not to have one and can function perfectly well without it.
Of course, the best solution is to get them right in the first place.
Had been removed between 1999 and 2021: https://www.modernrailways.com/article/thameslink-added-tube-map
Paper timetables are probably even more important in Scotland with the isolation and therefore lack of phone service in places especially if there is disruption or a cancellation of a service
I'd say need to Authorise that Stirling to Euston service and really push LNER/fix XC in Scotland as a bit of you are part of the national network mantra
The one you can pick up in stations is the Tube map.
Very few other TOCs include other TOCs' services. You mention Dunbar. TPE don't include LNER or Scotrail services in their Newcastle to Edinburgh timetable.
The issue being that Scotrail portrays itself as the national operator, yet doesn’t include trains to two of its own stations and ignores the trains of other operators which replace its own in certain hours.
If a restaurant expects me to look up its menu online rather than providing a printed copy, then I'll take my custom elsewhere. I'm not a dinosaur but I'm going to draw a line there.
It is pretty successful in that (a) the Saltire is part of their logo, and (b) no other TOC covers as many stations in the country. The fact they don’t serve 4 of their stations here leaving it to other TOCs is a slight pain, but the do serve Carlisle on their Dumfries service so it can be done. Ignoring trains of other operators is nothing new - but are shown on all platform displays regardless.
