INFO YES - COST NO

摘要

A recent trip to Berkshire caused me to view how the industry provides passengers with information. It has long been criticised for poor comprehensive information, made worse lately as many local authorities have scrapped not only printed but online information. For trains there is the National Rail website. Although complicated, all timetable and fare information is there if you can find it and, particularly on fares, if you understand the jargon. There is nothing similar for buses. The only national database is Traveline, which does a good job but relies on operators' service registrations, and these are often not laid out in the best format for passengers. Traveline also has a facility for planning journeys using all modes. This works fairly well, although it comes up with some odd answers, I presume because of the massive multi-modal database it has to trawl.