I’m going to start with a look at DRT’s customer communications in 2007. DRT’s web site was much the same in 2007 as it was the year before, but some reorganization had been done to improve layout. Some of the changes were suggested by me, and it appears DRT was listening, and for that I’m pleased.
So where does it stand now? Overall, the site is better organized than it was a year ago. Extraneous links have been cleaned up, schedule pages are better organized, and in general there is a higher quality to it.
But there is still one thing that nags, and that is the use of Adobe PDF files for tabular schedule information. This is a general no-no on the web, as it violates accessibility rules (e.g. making sites easy to use for people with vision difficulties).
As I’ve mentioned in the past, I’d like to see DRT move to an approach in which the route schedules are displayed in-line on the page, using approaches similar to that found on York Region Transit’s site at www.yrt.ca. PDFs can and should be used for printable route summaries including both maps and schedules, as YRT does, but the core question of “when is the bus coming” can be answered without PDF files.
Printed materials fared well during 2007. Multiple schedule books were streamlined into a pair of books for Ajax/Pickering and Whitby/Oshawa/Clarington, with the northern and regional routes covered in both books. Printed materials for service changes were also handled well. In October, DRT released a terrific printed map of the entire system, their first. This map took DRT’s map design to a new level. Unfortunately, these maps have become virtually impossible to find at information kiosks. I urge DRT to print more and make them available again, as they are truly exceptional.
On a related note, I came some guidelines on developing printed transit material, coming out of a research project at the National Center for Transit Research at the University of South Florida. DRT’s materials are good, but these guidelines show how they could be even better.
Now for the bad news. DRT’s “on site” communications at GO bus stations leaves much to be desired. Not only is schedule information no longer available at bus stops, but route maps have also disappeared (at least at Ajax GO). Service changes last spring were poorly communicated, and December’s cuts were particularly badly handled. I know that DRT does not have a huge staff, but communicating service changes on site is critical. Only a small portion of people will make the effort to visit the web site.
I’d like to give DRT a 8/10 on the basis of the printed materials and web site changes, which were truly worthy, but the onsite communications problems demand that I lower the rating. Instead, I’m giving DRT a 6/10, simply because the problems were so damaging.
Filed under: 2007
