Enhancements for viewing and printing schedules

Apr 10, 2020

If you've looked at our online schedules since the announcement of our temporary service reduction (taking effect April 12), you may have noticed a small difference in how they look. No, I'm not talking about the overall reduction in the number of trips available -- that's obvious.

The blue "hamburger menu" and print icon that have been added to all RTA schedulesWhat I'm referring to is the little blue "hamburger menu" in the top left corner of each schedule, and the blue printer icon in the top right corner, both of which are pictured here. These changes, the first of which our mobile users have been familiar with for some time, were put in place to make the schedule information easier to consume and, since you may not be venturing out to pick up a printed schedule, easier to print out at home.

The menu allows you to selectively pick & choose, or filter, the timepoints you want to see visible to you. This is especially useful if you are looking at a schedule like that of the Cleveland State Line, or the #94: East 260 - Richmond, each of which have a large number of timepoints associated with them, but it can be used on any schedule.

You can set this timepoint filter independently for each direction, and each "daytype" (Weekday, Saturday, and Sunday/holiday). In fact, it needs to be set independently -- just because a route passes a timepoint in one direction, or on one daytype, doesn't mean it goes there all the time.

Your choices will be stored in a local browser "cookie", which is ONLY used for this purpose, so they'll remain that way when you revisit from the same browser. These cookies do periodically expire, just in case we make changes to our timepoints, and you always have the option of going back to the menu and making further changes yourself at any time.

Once you have your filter set up, if you want to print the view you see, you have to use the blue printer icon in the top right corner. Using your browser's Print function will still print all of the timepoints, even those that are not visible. You'll still have access to all of your usual printing options - portrait/landscape, duplex (if you printer supports it), and any other features your particular printer might offer.

We hope these enhancements make it easier for riders to view and use our schedule information, as we all adjust to the ongoing changes in our lives. While they were put in place in response to current events, they'll stay in place for the foreseeable future.

If you have any questions about this, or any other aspect of the website, or any suggestions for future enhancements we might be able to consider, please reach out to webmaster@gcrta.org. We're happy to help you.