While I agree the $2 fold out map was a fantastic imitative, given the rate of major changes that has been occurring with the network over the past decade now, a hard-copy network wide map would become obsolete before many copies are sold - you'd have to issue a new one roughly every 3 to 6 months.
Wasn't much different to when they were produced! To be fair, the lead time for producing a printed network map in the days prior to ubiquitous computerisation with easy to use graphical based software packages would have been significant with route modifications possibly having fluid introduction dates based on funding, plans running to schedule, etc. Then of course it depends on the lead time required by the government printer to fit printing the map into their schedule. Still, you'd think that nowadays with the maps being in digital format, presumably with easier to use, more efficient software, and significantly improved printing processes and technology, that it would be a reason to keep printing them as it would be less problematic than back in the 70s and 80s.
It is disappointing that PTV have stopped producing the fold-out guides for each council area, they should be delivered to each household with any network change and available freely at stations and shopping centres.
Agreed. I also remember when the Travelsmart initiative was around, I have maps somewhere of the Banyule area delivered to our letterbox, as well as the LaTrobe Uni version. Better still were the timetable booklets from the early 90s which included both a local area route map AND the relevant timetables. It seemed to die a quick, quiet death...
Still, I wonder how much this sort of information has been replaced by online journey planners and the like? Certainly if I'm planning a journey nowadays, I certainly don't get out a map and set of timetables like the old days - I fire up Moovit or Offi and see what they suggest. Ditto Google Maps or the PTV app, although I find the official app painful to use apart from instant stop departure times (when Moovit has stopped showing realtime data for the month), and Google Maps surprisingly sucks at finding and showing journey options compared to any of the apps! If the majority of people use online options, then it could be argued print versions of information are of secondary importance to provide. Certainly I use the realtime data to plan when to leave work to catch the bus rather than go to the stop with the screen to find out there isn't a 902 for 25 minutes. I wonder if that is now common enough that printed information is becoming irrelevant?
I might add I'm in my 40s, not some 20 year old Millenial who has grown up with the internet before anyone suggests using apps and the internet is a generational thing, and I'm hardly alone in my age group planning journeys this way!