Travel

I'm a dedicated user of public transport in my travels, and as I head for the fells this winter, then I want to have ALL the public transport options readily to hand. In the past, I've been able to rely on a magazine-style publication called 'Cumbria Rider' for the winter months.

I picked up a copy today from the local tourist office, and the woman behind the counter handed it over with some trepidation, warning me... "It doesn't contain any timetables."

What? A public transport guide with no timetables? What on earth was Cumbria County Council thinking when they produced that? This winter's 'Cumbria Rider' is a 32-page guide to absolutely nothing, full of pictures of happy, smiling people, with constant reminders that if I want to know any more, I can phone Traveline or look up details on the web.

Actually... it's not completely useless. The back page is a detachable, two-sided form asking for my opinions. I tried to be gentle while ticking the boxes, taking care not to hack and slash too much at the paper, and I'm sure that the public response to this winter's 'Cumbria Rider' will be 100% negative. After returning the form, the rest of the publication went straigh into the recycling bin, and I've a mind to go round Cumbria collecting the rest of the stock and consigning them to the bin too.

It doesn't take 32 pages of paper to say - Traveline 0871 2002233 www.traveline.info

guide to absolutely nothing, full of pictures of happy, smiling people, with constant reminders that if I want to know any more, I can phone Traveline or look up details on the web

sounds like a typical county council publication:lots of fluff, not much content....

Sounds like the travel equivalent of some of the 'lifestyle' catalogues produced by outdoor kit manufacturers in recent years (Haglofs, Marmot), that contain almost no product information, but lots of pictures of of happy, smiling people, with constant reminders that if I want to know any more, I can look up details on the web.

Actually, Marmot's latest offering was back to being a pretty solid product catalogue.  I wonder if they'd received any feedback...

Traveline's excuse will be that timetables are subject to revision, so a printed timetable may be wrong.  In other words, they can change the timetable when they damned well like, and not have to try to meet some previously-published service...

I've no objection to Traveline having some sort of presence, but I've only found them about 75% capable of giving out the information I require. Their website is hit and miss, and I recall some journeys it's given me that involve over a dozen changes, when I know damn well I can do the trip with only one change. Phoning Traveline is a complete nightmare. Do it from a public telephone and you always land in West Yorkshire by default, then have to pay at 0871 rates while they try in vain to transfer you into a queue for the area you actually want information from. I used to use a BT Chargecard for public telephones, and guess what... you can't use the card to call an 0871 number!

Nope... give me printed paper timetables every time and I'll figure out the trip myself!

Same comment, I had last year edition and it was well handy to have all the info at a glance without faffing online.

I'd happily pay a few quids for it actually...

Yes Glyn... that's the offensive publication (converted into a link).

Actually... the pdf is missing its most important component... the final page... where you can fill out a form indicating your displeasure to mail back (Freepost) to the council. I can't imagine anything less than a 100% dissatisfaction rating.