So what if there's an app for that?
I've long carried a printed timetable for the railway line that I use most often. A couple of weeks ago, I pulled it out in order to check when the next train home left.
The friends that I was with asked me why I didn't have a more modern appliance for doing such things. I said that "It works and it's free". I then went on to my standard explanation that, as someone who sits at a computer all day at work and who also has a computer at home, I don't feel the need to have one while I'm walking around the place as well. (I don't actually sit at a computer all day now that I'm a teacher, but this explanation comes from when I worked as a programmer.)
One of the friends reminisced about the days in which she had a complete collection of printed timetables for Sydney's rail network. I have no doubt that an electronic device containing all of this information would be more convenient than such a collection, and one of the few mobile apps I've seen that actually seemed interesting to me is one that provides timetables for public transport in various cities (including Sydney).
Still, I have no plans to replace my printed timetable. For one, it does work quite well for all of the routine trips that I take, and it is free, which cannot be said about mobile devices and mobile data plans. I use the CityRail and TransportInfo sites from my home computer to plan non-routine trips, but I find these sites to be a little clumsy compared to looking up my printed timetable for routine trips.
More importantly, perhaps, I also enjoy the challenge of working out the most efficient public transport route for myself. For me, an app that works out how to get from A to B would be like an app that solves crosswords or games of patience: efficient, maybe, but not very entertaining.
