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| A service 1 that doesn't exist? |
The Bus Users' Group would always recommend checking carefully before making an unfamiliar journey by bus. There are at least four possible sources of information online: Bus Company websites; Traveline; Google Maps/Transit and BusTimes.org, an independent site. We'd also recommend that you check more than one as the following tale will tell.
The week just ended was Lancaster University's Freshers' Week when Stagecoach normally enhance the service on routes 1/1A along Greaves Road. Service 1, which in the holidays runs only between Heysham and the City Centre, is extended to the University to give a 10-minute headway with the 1A, whilst the evening and Sunday service on 1A is similarly extended to give more buses to the University.
Paper timetables make this clear, but in their "temporary" (or is it now permanent?) absence how would the online enquirer get on?
Stagecoach
Copies of the paper timetables appear on Stagecoach's website and have been clearly annotated (in red, bottom right) to show the start date of the enhanced service.
But bus companies seem to think that we passengers won't - or can't - read timetables and that what we need are Journey Planners. Stagecoach's own Journey Planner, however, doesn't seem to know about the change! In the screenshot below, the 1507 and 1527 from the Bus Station are missing, giving the impression that the service along Greaves Road is less frequent than it actually is.
Similarly, the journey planner tells you that in the evenings, apart from occasional buses on service 40, the only service to the University is the 100, the three 1As an hour are ignored.
Both sets of Stagecoach information can't be right - so what about Traveline?
Traveline
Traveline, which is maintained by local authorities using data from a national database populated by bus companies, knows all about the new times, both during the day...
...and (although we aren't showing it)in the evenings.
Google Maps, which also uses the national database, is also on the ball, showing the day time and evening service correctly, even though it uses the American 12-hour clock system to do so.
Bus Times
Bus Times is an independent site, originally aimed at bus enthusiasts but increasingly used by the general public. It doesn't offer a Journey Planner, but does have a timetable for every bus service in the country. It's usually very reliable, but in the case of the 1 and 1A it still shows the "holiday" times that applied up until last week, with the 1 running only between Heysham (Overton on a few journeys) and the City Centre
and the evening service on 1A doing the same
What's Going On?
Traveline and Google use the national database, which gets its data from bus companies, including Stagecoach. It's not surprising then that they are showing up-to-date information. Bus Times uses a variety of sources for its timetables. In the case of Stagecoach services it uses information supplied directly from the company as indicated on the timetable page
Stagecoach's own journey planner, unlike those of Traveline and Google, only gives information on the company's own services. It won't, for example, tell you about Kirkby Lonsdale Coach Hire's buses in the Lune Valley even when they complement its own. It therefore does not draw its data from the national database, but from a separate company-specific one, also accessible to Bus Times
What seems to have happened is that Stagecoach Cumbria & North Lancs has successfully supplied the current timetable data to the national database, but - for whatever reason - has been unable to send it to its' own Journey Planner, which is maintained at Group level and outside local control.
The Bus Users' Group has previously identified many faults in the Stagecoach planner - could this be another one?
