LIVING in Leominster and asked to a Sunday lunchtime drinks party in Hereford a few months ago, I decided to investigate travelling by bus. From Leominster Tourist Information Centre for 40p I got the bus and train Timetable - Leominster and Kington, Area Two. This has 88 pages and, inside, had Update 3, of 20 pages - 108 in all. There are two other timetables for the rest of the county, more than 300 pages in total.

The first I looked at between Leominster and Hereford said 'No Sunday Service' but the Hereford - Leominster - Ludlow 492 had and at times that suited me going and returning.

On another occasion I got to Hereford by train on Sunday morning. I could see no information at the station about buses on the Sunday from the town centre to Kings Acre Road. It was a nice day and I walked - then found there was a good Sunday service from the town centre on this route. No doubt I could have phoned in advance to get this sort of information but it should be more easily accessible.

I contrasted this with two experiences on a visit to Seville. We wished to travel to Cordoba by train and the Tourist Information Office simply gave us a sheet of A6 paper which, on one side only, contained an astonishing amount of information including 11 different long-distance rail destinations around Spain including Cordoba but also Madrid, Barcelona and eight others; services on Monday to Friday, Saturday and Sunday, with return times and prices.

It is a triumph of miniaturisation and must cost virtually nothing to produce. On asking at the bus station about travel the young lady typed in a code and a machine spewed out all the times.

The local timetable is an excellent reference book with all kinds of information and a good map but many only want to know quickly what is available on a given route.

Some rail companies do provide simple cards or leaflets for particular routes and the booking office staff will print off a timetable.

From the written timetable, I discovered Herefordshire Public Transport Website but this is even more complicated than the written timetable with lists of route numbers or choice by operator. If I want to get from A to B I am not interested in who provides the service. The information you want will be there somewhere but it is not a user-friendly site.

The sight of near empty buses travelling around is a depressing one. Why and how could the use of local bus services be increased?

The service is primarily for local people but living in such a beautiful area there is also considerable tourist potential. Timetables must be on a database and individual Tourist Information Centres could produce a summary and village/parish councils could do something similar.

Vouchers could entitle people to one free return (off-peak) journey on given routes and there could be an incentive for people to buy season tickets or travel cards. Why not summarise and publish local services and opportunities every six months?

Mrs Thatcher implied that anyone in their 30s who uses a bus must be a failure, i.e. car-less. This highlights changing attitudes. Imagine petrol suddenly rationed or £3 per litre and then we'd see an increase in car sharing for work, the school run and greater use of public transport.

JOE COCKER, Castlefields, Leominster.