There was a well acknowledged lack of information about public transport in and around Dunbar. Many bus stops had either outdated or no timetables and people were unsure about where to obtain information. Early on in the project, we decided to provide simple measures such as copies of up-to-date bus timetables at the Be Green shop for all local services. We quickly gained a reputation as the place to go for public transport information, handing out hundreds of timetables at the shop and local events.
At the same time we began work on a combined bus and train timetable covering the services from Dunbar to Edinburgh. This timetable has been extremely well received; we are currently working on a fourth edition which now features a cut-out-and-keep credit card sized timetable. 3000 of these timetables have been distributed via local shops and places of interest.
Both of these measures have been extremely effective in raising the profile of the project and making it easier to access bus and train information. However, we recognise the importance of high quality, convenient and easy to understand public transport information has when trying to increase bus and train usage. We have therefore also commissioned a series of bus information leaflets and timetables form public transport specialists Pindar. Unfortunately, just as we were about to go to press with these, the commercial company First announced major changes to their services in this area. With the tenders for the supported services also up-in-the-air it was agreed to hold-off on publishing our series of bus time-tables. The process of gathering information and the feedback we received on our draft timetables was very useful experience, and once the new services are confirmed, we will be able to publish the series of timetables very quickly.