(25 Nov 2013, 4:59 pm)Dan wrote My eyesight isn't amazing, but I always used to be able to see the service numbers for a bus stop from a distance. It's a matter of seconds, but it is more convenient to the potential customer.
Think of it in website terms - a website is usually more 'user friendly' if the user clicks less to get to pages or features on a page. I've discussed this in another area of the forum regarding a recent Flickr update. Even if it's a matter of a few more steps, it saves time and effort. It's more convenient for the customer.
You have a very valid point regarding the updates. That, to me, shows the inefficiency of Nexus and its incapability of doing minor things such as updating bus stop information. Although I agree there are quite often a great number of changes at certain times each year (as well as the other 'minor changes' to services too, of course), it seems somewhat barbaric that Nexus cannot update the small things such as peeling a number off the bus stop sign to show that it no longer stops there.
City Centres are another good reason for these sign posts - something which I hadn't thought of. My mum often relies on me for where buses stop in the City Centre (be it Holmeside, John Street, Fawcett Street or indeed St. Mary's Way) - perhaps if she could see at a distance when travelling around the City Centre where buses stop, she'd me less reliant on me?
Nexus need to consider everyone, rather than those who may be familiar with an area. Like I said before, having numbers on bus signs allows for greater user convenience. If you don't know where a bus stops because there are several stops in the area where it could, you want an obvious sign that it stops at a specific stop before checking the timetable. Looking at the timetable (especially a Durham County Council one, as in my previous example of Framwellgate Moor) wastes an additional 30 seconds if it's not the stop you need, when you may only have a few minutes to spare before the bus is due at a stop in that area.
Summary from me is City Centres and other examples like this Fram Moor: yes they could serve a purpose.
Unfortunately anywhere else for me they're surplus to requirements.