Show HN: Laminated Bus Schedules

Well done for doing something to make the world around you a little better. If only everyone did little things like this how much better the world would be.

Im very supprised the bus companies dont do tgis though! Here in the UK nearly all bus stops have the schedules displayed, its very common to see route maps though. I would imagine the bus system wpuld be next to useless without them!

Here in brighton we even have electronic signs which show the time to the next bus, theyre pretty useful!

All over Germany the companies do this. Almost always there is also a network map and other information. I am flabbergasted at the state of public transport in your vicinity. How were you supposed to use it conveniently without that information prominently displayed.

An interesting little project! I often wonder how different neighborhoods would be if people did beneficial things like this routinely without either relying on, or being held back by, civic institutions or businesses.

For example, the UK had a "big freeze" in November and December of last year. I cleared the ice from the sidewalk outside our house and kept it salted. No-one else on the walk into town did and it was a death-trap walk. If everyone else had spent 10 minutes a day doing their bit, walking around would have remained pleasant.

Great Idea. These kind of laminated bus schedules are normal all over Germany, so it's easy here to find the right bus and to understand where it goes. But whenever I'm in the states (and that's rather frequently) I'm always grateful about Google Maps on my iPhone because it actually gives me a chance to use U.S public transit. Otherwise I'd probably end up in dark nowhere and never ever get back home since there is no information whatsoever at the bus stops.

I was always wondering why you guys had no maps at the bus stops.

Great project. Hopefully you're able to collaborate with the metro department to get more stuff like this done.

The swagging tool and bolt cutter cost me $42.37 but it’s ok I returned them later.

I was really disappointed to read this.

In Switzerland every stop has something like this posted: http://online.fahrplaninfo.zvv.ch/pdf/01/ah_01011a/ah_01011a...

Sometimes there is even an electronic sign which states how many minutes until the next bus,tram,train etc.

Also almost all have several of these inside to tell you where you are: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3203/3077018448_0b2162659f.jp...

Nice project! Just needs a little bit of design and color?

Color coding the North bound and South bound grids (From what I can see?) would be helpful.

I saw this post and thought "Man, I should do this in my town," because my local transit authority makes no effort at making it easy for people to take the bus.

Then I looked at the route names/numbers and realized you are in my town! Thank you for making my part of the world better.

My coworkers and I were just talking about how difficult it is to navigate the public transit system here if you don't have a smartphone with Google Transit.

St. Louis is not like Chicago, NYC, or SF where people of all walks of life take public transit to work, either because it's highly convenient or because parking costs more than their car payment. Transit here is not convenient and the people who rely on the bus here are the ones who can't afford a smartphone with Google Transit, let alone a car payment.

As a student at the University of Waterloo taking the bus is standard. You are able to text the bus stop number to the bus company number and then it replies with when the next 3 (ish) buses are coming. I wish you were able to find out more information then just when the next few buses are coming like when is a bus coming at 4 o'clock, or some real time data about buses running late. No smartphone is required which is a bonus as it is for public transit, and on a side note I like that you can text Google and get search results texted back to you.

Great idea but what about graffiti? In most major East coast cities those schedules wouldn't be around for two weeks before getting tagged.

This is a fantastic idea, my city has similarly bad bus schedule postings. I'd love to see some usability studies on what a bus schedule should look like though. Usually the actual schedule design is just as awful as the way it is posted.

Also, using wire rope may have been a bit overkill, but I always support people informing the world of swaging tools.

I just remembered a project along similar lines to this. A guy created a 'guerrilla' sign for a freeway in LA to reduce confusion amongst drivers: http://www.good.is/post/the-fake-freeway-sign-that-became-a-...

Are you planning on maintaining these? In my city the route timings change depending on school schedules and time of year, so the transit schedule's that are posted at stops have to be swapped out three or four times a year.

Next step: Get the buses to actually follow the schedules.

Cool! In NYC at many stops this is already there, but I can see how this is useful outside of those places.

I would be really interested to see some kind of follow-up data on this in terms of did it actually promote bus use. I love this but I wonder if it genuinely accomplished something.

EDIT: Or I would also be interested if someone posted comparison data for places that already have this versus those that don't. I am seeing some anecdotal comments here that some places already do this "officially" rather than as a guerrilla tactic.

Very nice; I like it.

In Boston, they'd send a fella 'round to cut your schedules down. Public workers don't like being shown up.

...if you think laminating is worth $10 per each sleeve, you should probably acquire the skill for yourself - it will pay for itself in long term. descent laminator costs <50 USD.