Information on bus timetables, fares and "real-time" location of buses should soon be easier to find electronically according to the Department for Transport (DfT)
In what is described as a "pioneering" and "ground breaking" project, information from bus operators will be collated, standardised and made available to passengers - at least those with access to the internet.
New Government Regulations will require bus operators to provide data on bus times, routes, fares and real-time bus locations in a standardised format to allow third-party developers to add the information to existing apps or develop new products. Information on routes and timetables will be available early in 2020 with fares and vehicle locations following next year.
Not all of this is new. Locally Stagecoach, like many operators nationally, provides on-line timetables and fares information via its website and app. Users of Apple iPhones can also track the location of their Stagecoach bus in real time on a map, although this facility isn't available on the company's website or to users of other makes of 'phone.
Other large bus operators, such as First, Arriva and Go-Ahead provide similar services although, of course, each operator only provides information on its own buses. This doesn't matter too much in areas such as Lancaster, where Stagecoach run the majority of services, but doesn't make life easy for passengers in places such as Manchester or Liverpool, where an intending passenger might have to look-up a number of different apps or websites to find the information they need. Even in Lancaster this can be an issue as Stagecoach doesn't provide information on Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire bus services or vice-versa.
You might think it strange that such an obviously useful tool for bus passengers has not been developed independently by bus operators working together in the interests of their customers, but the bus industry is not renowned for its ability to sell its own services, with fares in particular being seen by many parts of the industry as a "state-secret" only to be divulged to passengers when they have committed themselves to making a journey by boarding the bus! What could they possibly be worried about?!
It's Not All New
Some third-party developers have already been making use of data that has been made available on a voluntary basis. The BUG would heartily recommend Bus Times.Org
This is a website that contains timetables for every bus service in the country, together with maps and stopping places (but not fares) all presented in a standard, easy-to-read format. For many operators, including Stagecoach, it enables the passenger to track his or her bus in real-time as shown below:
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| Stagecoach buses in and around Lancaster at about 17.15 on a Monday afternoon |
Of course, as with all computer-related activity, the quality of the output is directly related to the quality of the data that is inputted. The founder of the Bus Times site, a private individual who reportedly developed it "just for the sake of it" has identified a number of discrepancies in timetable data from certain operators, which he has then had to get them to correct.
Another issue is the regrettable lack of standardisation between information providers when it comes to the names of the bus stops themselves. Despite every stop having an official name on a National Database it is not uncommon to see the same stop being described differently by different operators or by county councils, where they also provide information. Lancaster BUG has identified a large number of such discrepancies locally, but thankfully both Stagecoach and Lancashire CC have so far been happy to work with us to eliminate these.
But What About Fares?
We do, however, see a problem looming when it comes to fares data. Bus operators are reasonably good at providing accurate information on multi-journey tickets, such as Day Riders, Megariders and the like but they seem to find providing accurate information on ordinary single and return fares more difficult.
Some, including our local operator Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire, simply don't bother (hence the need for government intervention), but even large, well-resourced operators such as Stagecoach can't always get things right as this enquiry made on the company website shows:
It would appear (erroneously) that a journey from the University to the Bus Station will cost you "from" £2.20 on service 1A and service 42, but a whopping £4.10 if you decide to get service 40!
The First Rule of Public Transport
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| Service 100: The Secret Service? |
This enquiry was made in order to show up the inconsistencies in Stagecoach's fares data, but it inadvertently also uncovered a problem with timetable information. The enquiry was for a bus leaving the University "at 18.45" (We didn't specifically ask for times from the Sports Centre, that's just the stop that popped up at the top of the list when we typed in "Lancaster University"). The result we got suggests that there are buses at 18.59 (1A); 19.12 (42) and 19.27 (40). Perhaps not a bad service given that the students are all on holiday, but what it doesn't tell you is that there are departures on service 100 at 18.55 and 19.15. This might be because service 100 follows a more circuitous route and takes longer to get to town. Someone at Stagecoach seems to have decided that because service 100 buses take longer to reach the city centre, and that it can be quicker to let them go by and wait for a bus on the more direct route, that passengers shouldn't be told about them. But anyone who thinks that way obviously isn't aware of the First Rule of Public Transport: "Never wait for the 'other' bus" or "If it's going your way and it's at the stop - get on!"
It will be interesting to see whether the new "standardised" system allows such anomalies to continue but in any case, surely passengers should be given the information and left to make up their own minds about which bus to catch?
And, by the way, none of these - or other - developments negates the need for the continued provision of information in that easily-portable, easily-read, sustainable and recyclable format that doesn't need a signal - or a battery - to access: the paper leaflet!
