Neil Williams writes:
I've also seen Belgian buses at termini with a very clever variation
on the theme - all blinds show a countdown to departure in minutes.
Very useful.

Ah, Belgium. That reminds me of another advantage of roller blinds,
which they take advantage of in Brussels:

http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/be/...000/7016-2.jpg
http://www.railfaneurope.net/pix/be/...000/BRUSS1.jpg
http://www.xdinet.demon.co.uk/rail/pics3/BR7759.jpg
http://www.xdinet.demon.co.uk/rail/pics3/BR7796.jpg

Note the use of colour, enabling the route to be picked out more quickly.
The routes are shown on the system map using the same colours. Sadly,
their newest vehicles have monochromatic digital displays (LCD, I think).

In Toronto, the roller blinds used to look like this:

http://www.transittoronto.org/images/bus-8704-31.jpg
http://www.transittoronto.org/images/bus-8000-86.jpg

These would be 1960s or 1970s pictures. The yellow block with the route
number was easily spotted; the red block showed the route's two endpoints.
(However, in the last years before the change from blinds to flip-dots,
costs were reduced by changing to plain white-on-black.)
--
Mark Brader, Toronto | "Men! Give them enough rope and they'll dig
| their own grave." -- EARTH GIRLS ARE EASY

My text in this article is in the public domain.