(07 Jul 2014, 11:07 am)Dan wrote Speaking for Go North East alone here: the posters advertising service changes are usually displayed a week after the changes are first advertised on the website and Social Media pages. The delay is due to the time it takes to make and print the posters, in addition to actually having all vehicles in the depot (i.e. night times only) to pin the posters up on the notice boards.
Unless that procedure has not happened for whatever reason, you'd still have three weeks to check against both timetables and make alternative arrangements.
But hey, even a week's delay is better than what Nexus last did when there was changes to the Metro... They only posted on their website and a few days before the changes they also added a message to the boards which stated there was going to be timetable changes and to check the website for more information. Nothing was found on-board Metros!
Regardless of whether passengers 'like' or 'follow' Go North East's Social Media pages, any with an Internet connection (which will be the majority) will check the website to download timetables. If a lone female, who is likely to have a mobile device or is likely to have had access to another device which connects to the Internet, does not have the sense to pick up a new timetable from the bus or download it online after posters, Social Media posts and website posts all suggest there is going to be service changes from whatever date, she's a fool.
But why would someone check or pick up timetables and end up being labeled a 'fool' - if they had no reason to suspect changes were happening?
Or if the person was aware of the minor changes - they presumed the changes were just that. Not the cancelling of one or two runs.
You have already said that I am someone who has more knowledge/interest than an average passenger, I have numerous different tools to get on the internet - yet it was only because of this site, I was aware of changes and how I needed to check in the details in the timetables, so I could get home this weekend.
How is a regular, non-enthusiast passenger a fool, if they are totally unaware of 'minor changes' to the service they use on a regular basis?
If I hadn't registered on this site despite my 'knowledge or interest', I would have walked down the hill in the rain carrying bags, laptop and a suitcase to stand and wait for a bus which had been cancelled just a few weeks earlier - even though the fairly recent timetable saved onto my phone stipulates the bus should have been there.
Pretty sure the posters displayed on the vehicles I used on the 20 (both in the lead up to and immediate days after the changes), were still outlining the recent increases to fares.
There were no posters relating to specific services being cut/reduced at all.
It isn't up to a passenger to check the finer points of a timetable every time they plan on using a bus they use on a regular basis...