Stop the buses
First, I am sorry for not posting so much. Thanks for all the corrections, don’t get mad, just tell me, I can take it and I will correct it.
(And to the ‘person’ who voted for the Dutch extreme right party in the last election and thinks they are justified in threatening me here or anybody else, you’re just sad.)
Public transport posters are fun, especially after a night on the town. I won’t analyse it, it just needs some therapy.
August 26th, 2010 at 8:58 pm
Completely off topic (but as your complaining is part of the actual post I guess it is on topic)…. I’m sorry, but which extreme right party would that be? There IS NO extreme right party in the Netherlands and there hasn’t been one for many years (which I guess is quite a good thing). There are extreme left parties though, just sayin’ 🙂
Following the media (can you bleat?) like that is just pathetic.
Threatening people is bad, no matter which side it comes from. Complaining about it here is just as sad. Ah well, this will
August 30th, 2010 at 9:52 pm
That is far too much text for that information even on a Dutch-only sign. Makes me feel a little better about Toronto’s crappy transit signage.
September 6th, 2010 at 7:32 am
Perfectly comprehensible. I do wish, though, that when it comes to times translators would not always assume that English-speakers cannot count beyond 12. There is no need to change 17.00 to 5 pm. Rail, bus, and other such public-service timetables (in the UK and Ireland at least) all use the 24-hour clock: 0.00 (midnight departure) to 24.00 (midnight arrival).
November 30th, 2010 at 7:51 pm
Even if you were to take one language out, that would still be entirely too wordy. It’s enough to state the bus routes that are affected, what the diversions are and when they apply. Simpler is better, especially as bilingual texts tend to get very heavy.
March 1st, 2011 at 11:00 pm
But, Larry: what you want is precisely the information that this notice supplies (it also explains why all this is happening: an important piece of information, I think, that you did not call for).
If asked to design this notice myself I might set it out something like this:
———
What’s happening?
Services on routes 142, 145, 170, 172, 197, 354, 358, 370, N70, N97 will not call at this stop
When?
From Monday 12 July until 17.00 on Saturday 28 August
Why?
Because of track repairs in Marnixstraat between Leidesplein and Leidsegracht
Which way will they go instead?
[Details then listed…]
———
However you slice it up, though, such explanations do require the use of words, so I think we should beware of attacking “wordiness” per se…