On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 08:59:02 -0500, David of Broadway
wrote:

Andrew wrote:
Motorists who feel aggrieved by the extension of the London charging
zone have some positive assistance this week with the launch of a new
easy-to-read bus map for London.

Easy-to-read? It gives me a headache.

I don't like it.

Or, download a super-simple version from:
http://www.quickmap.com/downloads/q20supersimple.pdf

Super-simple?

Not really.

Then again, London's bus maps aren't designed to make it easy to trace a
route, which is the style I'm used to:
http://www.mta.info/nyct/maps/manbus.pdf

I'm not sure if that style is genuinely easier to read or if I just find
it easier to read because I'm accustomed to it. Has it ever been
attempted for London?

The real issue is that New York's bus system is a fair bit simpler than
London's. I have used it and "studied" it from bus maps. Your use of
and familiarity with your grid street pattern must also assist in
comprehending the bus network. The use of "uptown", "midtown" and
"downtown" as commonly understood descriptions of areas of Manhatten is
also a further help. IIRC many services are described in this way as
they run N-S or E-W (Crosstown?) - this must also help people know which
way a bus is going. We really only have West End and City plus some
district names which are very familiar like "Victoria".

I know the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn are more involved in terms of
service provision but your overall number of regular NYCTA routes is
still relatively small. I know there are commuter express services as
well but I believe they are advertised separately.

You tend to have only one route on many main corridors which assists
with map clarity hugely - in Central London that is pretty rare. We
often have 3 as a minimum and up to 10 or so on the very busiest
streets.

I will say that your spider maps are much easier to read and much more
useful than the maps we have posted at bus stops.

They are fine if there is a direct bus from the stop you are standing
at. They are hopeless if your journey requires interchange to another
service at some point. There is no sense of there being a network with
spider maps which I believe is counterproductive when you have a network
which is as dense as London's and where the move to shorter routes over
the last 4 decades means changing services is much more of a necessity.
There is little to guide people as to how to accomplish such journeys if
they are relatively unfamiliar with the bus network.

The one advantage they do have is that they make an attempt to show you
exactly (for the immediate area) and approximately (wider radius from
origin) where bus stops are. That is a help.

And anything is better than what NJTransit provides:
http://www.njtransit.com/pdf/bus/T0001.pdf

Actually as a pocket guide I think that is not too bad. It should be in
24 hour clock format but at least it is an attempt to show every trip
with journey time. Oh how I wish we could have that in London - it is
only courtesy of a non TfL website that I have something approximating
to the real timetable for my local route. I consider that to be a huge
failing on the part of TfL - it's not as if we didn't used to have such
info. The half hearted local transport guides have been scrapped. Even
our quadrant bus maps are threatened which is another insane piece of
nonsense.

The guide also has an approximate geographic representation of the route
the bus takes, transfer points, services to transfer to and some fare /
zone information. It even tells you when there is a holiday schedule
operating. Try finding any of that in London in a leaflet!

I think you don't know when you are well off !
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!