On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 02:47:38PM +0000, d wrote:

Meanwhile my Nokia dumbphone will go a week on a single charge in normal use.

Well, I'm back from my weekend in Zurich, and found my smartphone to be
very useful indeed. While there I made six journeys on public
transport, over four different routes, all involving a change. In all
cases, my phone told me exactly what modes of transport to take, what
route numbers, and how long the journey would be. On later comparing
its recommendations to a printed map, it was spot on - and it was far
more convenient, as the ZVV maps are not particularly easy to read.

One other thing that ZVV gets badly wrong and TfL gets right is that at
the confluence of many routes - Central, for example - there are no maps
showing where all the various routes stop. Compare to TfL's very clear
signage inside tube stations directing you to the right line, or the
maps at busy places on the bus network showing which routes use which
stops.

--
David Cantrell | semi-evolved ape-thing

I know that you believe you understand what you think you wrote, but
I'm not sure you realize that what you wrote is not what you meant.

On Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:24:14 +0100, David Cantrell
wrote:

On Wed, Aug 22, 2012 at 02:47:38PM +0000, d wrote:

Meanwhile my Nokia dumbphone will go a week on a single charge in normal use.

Well, I'm back from my weekend in Zurich, and found my smartphone to be
very useful indeed. While there I made six journeys on public
transport, over four different routes, all involving a change. In all
cases, my phone told me exactly what modes of transport to take, what
route numbers, and how long the journey would be. On later comparing
its recommendations to a printed map, it was spot on - and it was far
more convenient, as the ZVV maps are not particularly easy to read.

Wouldn't you get the same from TfL's journey planner? Or do you
perhaps mean that their decision to stay out of mobile apps entirely
was a poor one? Very impressive to see, on the tram, the connections
at the next stop shown in real-time (I think - it certainly showed a
delay for one route).

One other thing that ZVV gets badly wrong and TfL gets right is that at
the confluence of many routes - Central, for example - there are no maps
showing where all the various routes stop.

At least the stops themselves are big and bold. I think the Swiss
believe that any problem can be solved by a big enough chunk of (of
course) Helvetica. (I stayed for a year just up the hill from
Central.)

I've always thought that TfL's spider maps are beautifully simple and
easy to use. Odd that nowhere else I've been, except Lisbon, has used
this idea.

Richard.

What is a spider map?

Offramp wrote on 29 August 2012 10:03:44 ...
What is a spider map?

A diagram of all the bus routes that pass through a particular location
in London. Go to http://www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/1106.aspx and
click on "Bus spider maps".

--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

On Tue, Aug 28, 2012 at 08:32:54PM +0100, Richard wrote:
On Tue, 28 Aug 2012 15:24:14 +0100, David Cantrell
wrote:
Well, I'm back from my weekend in Zurich, and found my smartphone to be
very useful indeed. While there I made six journeys on public
transport, over four different routes, all involving a change. In all
cases, my phone told me exactly what modes of transport to take, what
route numbers, and how long the journey would be. On later comparing
its recommendations to a printed map, it was spot on - and it was far
more convenient, as the ZVV maps are not particularly easy to read.
Wouldn't you get the same from TfL's journey planner?

TfL don't have one that works well on mobile devices. And in any case,
it would be silly to have a separate application (usually poorly
translated, of course) or even to have to use a separate website for
each city. Far better to have a third-party application which can cope
with many cities.

Or do you
perhaps mean that their decision to stay out of mobile apps entirely
was a poor one?

Nah, what I really meant was that Boltar was being a dick when he tried
to claim that smartphones were completely useless and that network maps
printed on paper were superior.

I think that TfL not releasing their own app is a good thing.

Very impressive to see, on the tram, the connections
at the next stop shown in real-time (I think - it certainly showed a
delay for one route).

They had that on the trolley-buses too.

--
David Cantrell | Enforcer, South London Linguistic Massive

When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life
-- Samuel Johnson