Sunday 1st March 2026
It comes to something when passengers wanting a bus timetable book showing all the bus routes operating across a county have to turn to the Omnibus Society to find out what runs when and where in a printed format. But that’s exactly what’s happened in Powys where the South Wales and West Branch of the Omnibus Society has taken the much welcome and commendable initiative of commercially producing a fully comprehensive countywide timetable book detailing every bus route – including those with just a part section of route in the county – and an easy to follow countywide bus map.
Omnibus Society member David Chalkley has put it all together and is to be congratulated on a magnificent job with all the timetables laid out to a crystal clear and consistent format with easy to understand codes detailing any journeys with exceptional routings or other variations. David also explains “we have seen operators’ website timetables, Traveline Cymru and bustimes.org sometimes define a timing point in different ways, and we consider it is of more use to readers if a timing point is described in the same format throughout the book”. Hurrah for that.
The book kicks off with a list of the 15 bus operators featured in the book along with route numbers of the services they operate followed by an Introduction page giving the background to the timetable’s production.
Where space permits within the timetable pages the reader will find seven lovely colour photographs of buses going about their work throughout the county and a real highlight is a colour map across the centre pages which shows all the principal inter-urban routes in red with other routes in green together with an indication of their frequency. Railway and heritage railway lines are also shown but, for reasons of space, not school services.
The map is a masterclass from Brendan Fox who runs the hugely helpful busatlas.uk website and is to be congratulated and heartily thanked for giving permission for his cartography skills to be included in the book. It’s so much easier to follow than what is now on the Powys website as featured in last month’s Seen Around.
The timetable book is available to purchase online for £5 either through MDS Books or by sending a cheque for £6 (to include postage if a non member of the Omnibus Society) made payable to ‘The Omnibus Society SWW’ to OS-SWW, 5 Angelica Avenue, Melksham, Wiltshire, SN12 6ZP. Alternatively, a bank transfer can be made by emailing sww@omnibus-society.org with the address for dispatch and details of the bank account will be emailed back.
As a long standing member (and past President) of the Omnibus Society it’s so heartwarming to see this new dimension to the organisation’s activities. The Society has long been an excellent source of recording and detailing developments and changes to the UK’s bus routes over the decades so how lovely to see it now also providing useful and helpful information for passengers wanting to use current services.
Quite why county council’s (and in commercial cases, some bus companies) abrogate that responsibility continues to baffle me. Well done Omnibus Society (South Wales and West). The timetable book has already enticed me to make a return visit to Powys for some more travels.
Roger French
Blogging timetable: 06:00 TThS
BusAndTrainUser 
Thank you, Roger, for the excellent review!
Darryl in Dorset (and OS SWW Branch Secretary)
LikeLiked by 1 person
But isn’t the problem with such a book is that it’s quite possibly out of date even before people can purchase it – and potential travellers wouldn’t know which routes had been changed?
Of course, if operators only changed their services and (say) two defined days per year, there’d be no problem!
LikeLike
Almost all services in this book will be contracted by Powys and given the upheaval of the recent changes, one would hope they leave them alone for some time!
LikeLike
Presumably the problem for councils is that they no longer have staff with the speciallist knowledge to create and thoroughly check a book like this. But they can still benefit from the efforts of people like Brendan Fox and the Omnibus Society by having links on their website – and buying a bulk supply of this book!
LikeLike
Sorry to come back again: but is Joe Public (or his Welsh equivalent) likely to buy this – or even know of its existence? I do think that, for the vast majority of folk, the Internet is their go-to place for this kind of information. And yes, it is important to have all the information in one place, kept up to date. Although neither produce books any more, both Suffolk and Gwynedd are good at this. The big omission though is maps.
LikeLike
The main reasoning for producing this book was to provide a snapshot of services following the complete revamp of the Powys bus network which took place last September.
Yes, printed literature does become out of date with the next change. But with this publication, the main lump of work is now done and it should be relatively easy to update it when necessary.
I’d also point out that there are some online timetables out there which are also out of date, or (as Roger pointed out in a recent blog), very difficult to understand!
Darryl in Dorset (and OS SWW Branch Secretary)
LikeLiked by 1 person
I totally agree. The problem though is that changes occur at random times and someone looking up the printed timetable won’t know about them.
LikeLike
I wonder if it would be possible to additionally sell this timetable as an online product, as an alternative to the printed copy? In other words, online access to a web site for a specific period of time – e.g. one year. That way, updates could be included as and when they become available – subject to the availability of sufficient helpers and supporters. I would suggest that the price for one year could be the same as for the paper copy.
Can I also suggest that the OS could also promote the book on their website with a little more priority? I could only find a reference to it on the page for the South Wales and West Branch, and, not being a member, I could not see any detail.
Certainly, a very useful project, and one that deserves wider “exposure”.
Nigel Frampton
LikeLike
I have just sent your blog to a friend who lives in a village 5 miles out of Newtown which only has two shopping buses per week. He reads the local County Times but had no knowledge of this publication. He’s absolutely delighted and has immediately ordered a copy with a view to more travelling throughthe county. Success!
Paul, Leicester
LikeLiked by 2 people
Sorry Roger, you have criticised Transport for Wales here which is incorrect.
Their Powys service change was exemplary and model for what will come.
You must believe that type and PR.
LikeLike
Addressing Anonymous @9.46 and Paul Leicester, has the OSS thought about contacting the County Times for them to run an article in their newspaper to bring residents’ attention to this timetable?
MotCO
LikeLike
And also targeted posts on local community Facebook groups with a link to purchase the book.
Peter Brown
LikeLike
Thanks Roger, more timetables like this one needed.
The Swiss don’t change their timetables for a whole year. Talking of which, I came across an excellent report called “Switzerland in the Peak District”. Excellent common sense contained therein at https://hopevalleyclimateaction.org.uk/switzerland-in-the-peak-district/ .
Any chance of reviewing and promoting it, Roger?
Cheers
Paul Kirby
LikeLike
I read through this myself and hope much more comes of it. I think the level of integration and place-based policies are excellent. Some straightforward changes too but could lead to some great enhancements in service. Just the idea of connecting buses with trains from start of service to end of service was enough to make me excited, as this doesn’t even happen in much larger commuter towns in the Home Counties at present.
Would require a much bolder policy than just BSIPs (full on regulation really) and to restrict bus timetable changes to the same day every 6 months, as we see on the railway.
Been travelling around the wider Midlands this week. Was impressed by the timetables at Shrewsbury station showing London connections generally as well as bus connections for services additional to trains on the Heart of Wales line. Also thought bus connections have much improved at Aberystwyth.
Between the Welsh efforts and the ‘Mini-Switzerland’ proposal, gives a lot of promise for joint up thinking for transport at last.
Aaron
LikeLike
Tony JacksonSent from my iPad
LikeLike
What a useful book!
I managed to read the page explaining the publication, and note that for space reasons arrival times at bus stations and other connection points have been omitted (presumably this refers to through journeys) – this could be problematic when there is some waiting time and timed connections that are within a few minutes.
LikeLike
It has to be said that at the time of these changes, Lloyds Coaches did an exemplary job of communicating the Powys changes through social media and on their own website, and not just for their own services either.
LikeLike
Celtic Travel are normally pretty good on that front as well.
LikeLike
This is very welcome news.
Not so long ago most councils in Wales produced clear and comprehensive timetable booklets; Powys was one of them and the quality of its publication would have shamed most English and Scottish councils had they any sense of shame. But now there is next to nothing.
It would be a joy not to have to wrestle with the Transport for Wales website which contains timetables but makes them near impossible to find unless one already knows the route number. The map is of little help as it shows only bus stops and imminent departures therefrom. No bus today? No information. Complexity without utility: probably designed as a school exercise.
So congratulations to the Omnibus Society for doing what councils and operators should be doing.
Where next?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well done to the OS for producing this, but it is absolutely bonkers that an independent organisation has to step in to provide such information.
However, I suspect that in a rural area such as Powys the booklet will be of more use to visitors than locals, who probably use the same bus all the time. And for visitors, it needs to be widely available, preferably free of charge. Timetables such as the Lake District one, Dalesbus and Moorsbus are of huge value in publicising what is possible, and I imagine Northumberland could also benefit from something similar.
Perhaps local authorities could subcontract such production to the OS – they seem to know how to do it well.
John
LikeLiked by 1 person
I thought it equally bonkers its left to a man in Essex (Mike Harris) to produce a proper bus map for London every year too.
I would pay a couple quid for printed bus information including a high quality map, I would’ve thought especially essential in rural counties where phone signal and internet access can just vanish at random.
Also, fantastic to see Bus Atlas still going strong with his work, hopefully one day the atlas will be finished. Been very useful when exploring new regions. Councils should definitely work with these people to promote buses.
Aaron
LikeLike
I think I’ve remembered this correctly: when I moved here in the early 1980s the local paper occasionally printed the bus timetables as a supplement. Ordinary type on ordinary newsprint, no frills at all, but all the information was there at minimal cost. Haven’t seen it since, nor anywhere else, but maybe an idea worth looking at where appropriate.
V ….. Saltash
LikeLike
London Country North West also did that in 1988 . . . they printed all the new minibus timetables in Hemel Hempstead onto a 4 page spread in the local “freebie” newspaper . . . as well as bus shelter adverts and copious printed timetable booklets.
The intention was that nobody local could say “well, no-one told us!” It worked . . . ridership doubled in 12 months!!
Well done to all involved at the OS and elsewhere . . . my copy is ordered!!
LikeLike
Some above query why we need book timetables, given the internet these days. In many ways, I agree, but there still remains a versatility of paper that cannot be achieved with screens. Keeping your different fingers on different pages, it is possible to triangulate between the map, and pages showing alternatives services. This makes planning a trip from A to B, but returning B to A via a different route, much easier to plan. You might be able to do that with a large monitor at home, but far from trivial on a smartphone.
And then, potentially touring around Wales, might be people who want to do “off grid” for a few days, but will be happy with a paper timetable in their backpack…..
(CH, Oxford)
LikeLike
In the old days, timetable books were paid for – 15p in 1977. That is over £1 today.
First Somerset noticed that a high percentage of their free books were either left on the bus or found on the ground within 100yds of the bus office. Presumably used once and dropped. There is not much point in that.
If they are paid for then they get respect. But where to sell them today? TICs can sell things – many keep what books that exist under the counter or sell photocopies of local routes for 10 or 20p.
This book is £5 or £6 – It will only be bought by the seriously interested. Those that only use their one route won’t bother.
Tourist publicity and urban areas can certainly justify a printed book.
LikeLike
I went on holiday to the Isle of White in the late 90s early noughties. I remember you had to pay for the bus book. I remember paying for one at Sandown tourist centre.
LikeLike
Around twelve, when I started going to “family” in Kent (Birchington), I bought an EKRCC book as soon as I got there. It was a mine of information with several pages at the front detailing PSV regulations and Conditions of Carriage. Thus, I have never thrown alms from a bus for the money to be scrambled for by those upon the pavement. How many bus drivers scrupulously search the passengers’ saloon(s) after every trip to check for lost property? Are bus companies remiss in failing to exhibit on buses the fare table or tables for the routes upon which said buses ply for passengers?
LikeLike
I’m going to say it was the early 2000s but a neighbor went on holiday to Bangor. And when they came back they gave me a Bangor area bus book. I don’t think it was County area. Produced by the Council had a map of the town and the area. I remember liking the layout of the bus timetable book.
LikeLike
The timetable book was published by Gwynedd County Council, & it would have been for the whole County, as i have a few Gwynedd timetable books
Conway, Gwynedd, Denbighshire & Flintshire all used to publish timetable books & no longer do.
SM
LikeLike
In France timetables are changed every year with the “Rentree”, ie the new schoolyear, on the nearest Monday to 1 September. This makes sense.
malcolm chase, Buses Worldwide
LikeLike
It might make sense in France, but here in the UK, most operators are not informed how many pupils may be attending which schools. The first two weeks of September for us are a constant juggle with duplicates and swapping differently sized vehicles in order to accommodate what is thrown at us. And as the county allows everyone to travel for free for a couple of weeks or so, because they have not been able to issue passes in time, it’s exacerbated still further by those who are exploiting the temporary free travel.
LikeLike
I Andrew Pearson
LikeLike
I think SWW Omnibus Society have done a fantastic job in collating all the timetables and whilst I accept that printed timetables do become out of date OS members will be kept up to date in the monthly bulletins produced by the society. One comment referred to Powys as though it was not a tourist destination but this type of book encourages tourism to the Elan Valley, Llandrindod Wells, Offas Dyke etc. It a wonderful labour of love and the author shoud be praised for his wnderful effort and I know of one person who has already joined the OS on the strength of this book alone. One omission I have notified them about is Sargeants 465 Kington Presteigne Leominster M-F.
LikeLiked by 1 person
is such an omission a problem where terminal points are outside a country but calling point/s inside ?
JBC Prestatyn
LikeLike
Well JBC, if the service includes stopping points within a specific county or district, etc, then it provides a service for residents of, or visitors to, that particular county or district.
So if the timetable claims to be a comprehensive source of information about services in the specified geographical area, then yes, the omission would be a problem!
RC169
LikeLike
maybe roger or someone could let me know if selling timetables including taking paid adverts therein ever made a profit.
JBC Prestatyn
LikeLike
I recall selling advertising space in our area timetable book. It was a time consuming process as it was before the days of computers. After the first couple of editions I was involved with I suggested that advertising was dropped. We had to increase the price of the book though to 40p. Then along came deregulation and the era of leaflets and small area timetables which were distributed free of charge. No idea whether the timetables made a profit. They were compiled more in the hope of boosting or maintaining on bus revenue.
LikeLike
I remember the problem we had getting local shops to stock timetable books or leaflets as shopkeepers in village a didn’t want people and custom going by bus to town b
JBC Prestatyn
LikeLike
It sounds a great book, but, unfortunately, the nominated stockist, MDS Books, is out of stock, and the title is not listed (and thus available to order) in the OS Booklist…
MR
LikeLike
MDS are pretty good at getting new stock … there are alternatives noted at the end if the original blog post.
LikeLike