Why did I start this site?
In early 2000 when I started this site there was next to nothing on the web concerning bus timetables for the Peterborough area. Wanting to taste the water with web authoring, and having a life-long interest in bus and rail timetables, I gave it a go. I was also keen for my site to be genuinely useful to the travelling public, and with that end I concentrated on the content of the site rather than design aspects. Many people have told me they find it useful and easy to use.
Is it still needed?
Eight years on and all the major operators now have their own websites, as do the Councils. Indeed, Peterborough City Council's Travelchoice site has timetables for all local bus services (though not always as up-to-date as they should be). People tell me that my site is still the easiest to use, combining as it does all buses to a single destination on one page, and I shall continue to maintain it for the foreseeable future as best I can, given the limited time available.
The code behind the site
Back in 2000 the site started with very simple hand-coded html and frames. From early 2003 I started using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) for the city pages and for a couple of other sites I do, and in February 2005 I decided to start redesigning the whole site using pure CSS and no frames, just for the hell of it. For help in using CSS for layout I found Bluerobot.com very useful.
I was also keen to have scaleable fonts to help those who wanted to adjust the typesize using their browser controls, and was very pleased to find a neat solution on Thenoodleincident.com. Using CSS also means that separate stylesheets can be provided for those using older browsers, and the pages are still logically laid out if viewed as text-only. A further stylesheet is provided for printing purposes meaning that any unwanted material such as menus can be omitted.
Abolishing frames meant that I had to find a new technique for repeating items such as menus on each page, and for that I am using SSI (Server Side Includes) - you can find a useful guide to this here.
About Me
Originally from Leicester, I made my first visit to Peterborough in 1966 at the age of 12 on a Midland Red coach, and walked from the bus station (then near the Embankment) to Lincoln Road depot. I still have a street plan from that visit, carefully marked in felt tipped pen with the local bus network. In 1968 I moved with my parents to Southampton and became a firm fan of Bristol/ECW types. My degree course at the City of London Polytechnic (as it was then) was of the sandwich variety and included a fascinating work placement with London Country Buses at Reigate and Crawley, as well as periods with a London Council and in road haulage.
Having graduated, I moved to Peterborough in 1978 to work for the Operational Research Department of the National Bus Company, based in Deanery Mews. During this period I made good use of my NBC staff pass to explore bus networks throughout the country. In 1982 I planned my first extensive rail trip abroad (Switzerland), the first of many European trips looking mainly at trains, trams and trolleybuses. Just weeks before the trip the NBC announced the relocation of the Research Department to Birmingham, and I might have moved there but for an unexpected vacancy on the Continental Timetable team at Thomas Cook.
Joining as Assistant Editor, under the watchful eye of John Price, I became Editor in 1985 of what is now the European Rail Timetable and have held the post for over 20 years. Since 2005 I have become a big fan of the Malta bus scene and am writing an occasional series of articles on the routes and timetables for Malta Transport News, and have also started a website entitled Malta By Bus. The demands of work, and being married with two teenage boys, means that development of both the Peterborough and Malta websites continues to be a rather slow process!
Brendan Fox, Peterborough
