It's highly questionable that a train timetable attracts copyright, see threshold of originality.

Oh the irony. If only government and councils would put everything on the internet rather than having to call to their offices.

Assumptions
 

My comments were specifically in relation to transport but equally, as you mentioned, the reverse needs to apply i.e. public authorities should have information, forms etc... available on their respective websites.

The key point is that information should co-exist in both internet and hard copy forms, so that the public can access the information in the most convenient way at the time they need it.

What in my view is wrong are the assumptions that everyone can call and collect hard copy material and that there is no need to put much on the respective websites or that everyone can regardless of place, time or circumstance readily access the web and that there is no need to have any printed matter.

Here's some possible reasons why the "Book" isn't being made available this year.

1. Last year's print run was too large due to a cock up.
2. Last year's print run was too large deliberately so that few would be made available this year - see the next reason.
2. The Unions want a reason for the public to go to Station staff for information, hence the reluctance down through the years to making it available to the public.

Transport system or outdoor relief scheme for its workers? I wonder.

There is some iPhone apps already, apparently

http://www.facebook.com/notes/irish-...s/187125779957

Looks like they both just scrape the real time info from the website though and don't actually do the timetable.

The Passenger's Charter promises a timetable book...
 

So I guess the traditional public timetable book has been consigned to history despite the fact that the publication of the book is one of the Passenger's Charter commitments...(page 5)

Where's Irish Rail's consultation with its customer base?

And the book that a few posters on this forum have been fortunate to obtain would I imagine be the Working Timetable book (an internal timetable that too has been published for years).

Perhaps a poll on the whole timetable issue would be of merit.

But they would then have to do work!

It's a small network. The trains are never on time anyway.

There are alot of things they need to get right before they bother about a book.

Nonsense the service is not that bad and a book timetable is, and always has been, an indespensable item - not all of us are living in the Greater Dublin Area.

Yes the service is that bad. 100% of the trains have been late for me since the new timetable. My annual ticket doesn't work in the barriers. There is thousands of euro of ticket barriers in heuston and a booking system on the galway line which are not being used. Service has disimproved. Trains are smaller. Catering is abysmal and unpredictable, frequently run out of even basic things like boiling water for teas/coffees, no sandwiches on lunchtime trains towards Dublin. Ridiculous padding in the timetables. Stupid vouchers as refunds for late trains when I have an annual ticket and if I need another ticket will buy it online. A rail company that pretends to consult the public by just telling them what they are going to do and refusing to look at any other options. New trains that are much bumpier. No space for bicycles. Timetables with no apparent logic... Pretending to be implementing clockface timetabling, but then only doing it at terminus stations. JOurney times longer than by road. No integration between trains and buses, or even between trains and trains. Bizarre ticketing arrangements, including a €6 add on to get to Connolly from Heuston!

Nobody has yet given a proper answer as to why the book is indispensable. Also, given that most of the population do live in the Dublin area, and what difference does that make anyway? The new timetable seems to be an unmitigated disaster in many other ways, with alot more waiting around for signals. And Ronald, despite you calling me "snide" you still have not made a clear case for the ****ing book.

Oisin88 while I agree with 99% of your post about the failings of CIE/IE, I don't see how adding to the problems by not producing a proper book timetable will help. Nobody is harder on CIE/IE than I - see my other posts here - however I think you are being a bit harsh on them as regards punctuality but of course I don't know of your personal experiences. The book timetable should be able to pay for itself or, God help us, make a profit and should be franchised out if CIE/IE are incapable of producing it. :)

PS My reference to the Dublin area is aimed at those whose only concern is the DART clockface timetable and who never use a train to venture outside the Capital.

A few reasons as to why the book timetable is needed :

- commuter and intercity passengers making connections to DARTs and vice versa

- bear in mind there is no dart and commuter timetable out. This was handy for someone travelling via dart to make a connection to the northern line.

- not all dart times are clockface look at malahide and also off peak and weekends services yet judging by a lack of timetable leaflets you wouldn't think so

people dont want to be carrying a number of small leaflets around at the bottom of their bag this book was handy for people taking different routes

given that there are so many complaints this is another reason why irish rail are so out of touch with their passengers

My train is late again. The realtime timetable says that it will be 14 minutes late, which is convenient for the "statistics." Every train I have been on in the last week has had this sort of "creep lateness." All the 14 minuteses add up and it gets very irritating when you see it all coming out as 90+% on time. The fact that the journey to Tullamore could take 55 minutes, but is timetabled for 1:07, add the 14 minutes standard lateness, effectively there is an extra 50% on all of my journey times. Also, this train is fairly packed and is shaking like a 1950s jalopy on a dirt track. Also, I know when I get out late at Heuston, that I will have to queue up to show my annual ticket at the gate because (a) they haven't made the annual tickets smart card yet and (b) they seem to have given up on having people use the exit validation machines themselves.

I appreciate that by commuting out of Dublin I am not the average commuter, but think how much worse is it for the sardines packed in to the same trains going the other way. i apologise for getting irritated, but when all is said and done, I still think that the whole paper book thing is a little bit down the list of things, but I appreciate that other people have different views and like the old book system.