04 Feb 2018, 10:45 am
#44
(02 Feb 2018, 6:46 pm)Greg in Weardale The new larger destinations, which I like and approve of, are spoilt by the use of "squashed" letters g, p, q and y (as in this "Houghton") which is unnecessary and will nullify the improvements for the visually impaired - and it just looks awful. I have however seen "Washington" and "Bishop Auckland" displayed sensibly.
There is (or was on Friday) at least one of the Washington Mercs still displaying the old style blinds.
(04 Feb 2018, 2:16 am)Rapidsnap So are 5265 - 5272 going to be the Blue Arrow Omnicities?
Looks great though.
As for the destination thing, the debate is really getting on my nerves. I see nothing wrong with the new style blinds, and I think it's a bit nit picky because the letters all finish on the same line.
Honestly in the past we have gone years with buses having a simple final destination on the bus. How many people got confused on what bus went to Jarrow when the 310 / 319 displayed either North Shields, Whitley Bay or Blyth in case of the 310 or Wallsend, Killingworth or Cramlington with the 319.
Example 1 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...3804786464
Example 2 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...3804794444
Also there's the case years ago, you are standing at Wallsend Metro and want to go to Throckley. There's a choice of 3 routes (21 / 22 / 49) and usually all routes just showed Throckley as a destination with no indication that the 49 served just about every estate in North Newcastle.
Example 3 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/gjm-photog...1940151006
People will always ask the driver regardless what it says on the front so they are reassured on where the vehicle is going, as the blind display could be completely incorrect and the driver hasn't realised it, especially if a vehicle has powerblinds and it has gotten stuck or doing the usual drop down a set of numbers / destintions when the engine goes off. (I miss the powerblinds, used to love watching them change). And with the modern LED blinds, it's not unknown for displays to either become scrambled or the light dims so much you cannot make out what it says.
Buses had step entrances in the past. Time moved on and vehicles became more accessible.
Buses had a variety of blind types and displays in the past. Time moved on and they became easier to see and more reliable.
Now, we have single destination LED's, in a colour that doesn't suit everyone, on routes that have been merged, changed and adapted numerous times in relatively short periods of time (as opposed to the routes in your photos) and are operated by vehicles in a range of liveries; that sometimes has a linear route map on the side of the vehicle, sometimes has a linear route map on the rear of the vehicle, sometimes has examples of calling points on the side or could be the wrong vehicle type (sometimes allocated and sometimes operating via a quirk of fate).
I'm not sure how this makes routes more accessible like in the first two examples I used though...
I think the question needs to be asked about why single line destinations were removed in years gone by.
Using your example about the three buses from Wallsend to Throckley, I can probably guess one possible reason why it was changed.
'Illegitimis non carborundum'
