The New NXWM App

[PinkBus]

Just saw a tweet on Twitter about a new NXWM app that has replaced the existing one from today.

I've downloaded it and it doesn't appear to be working correctly yet, I don't really understand why the app needed updating, I found that it worked very well for me when I was out and about.

I'm looking at the new app now and it isn't showing the stops right by where I live, yet the old app shows them immediately and also the time of the next bus.

[Steve3229vp]

My wife has had nothing but problems with it

[Westy]

Try the Network Wm one instead, if you just want times of buses!

[P419 EJW]

UK Bus Checker is the best app! I have never had an issue with the app.

[Stu]

Just saw a tweet on Twitter about a new NXWM app that has replaced the existing one from today.

I've downloaded it and it doesn't appear to be working correctly yet, I don't really understand why the app needed updating, I found that it worked very well for me when I was out and about.

I'm looking at the new app now and it isn't showing the stops right by where I live, yet the old app shows them immediately and also the time of the next bus.

I opened up the 'old' NX Bus app this evening, and it had a notice saying this app was retired from 31st October and to download the 'new' one.

Which I did while sitting on the bus towards home.

Quite frankly, echoing some of the comments left in reviews on Google Play store, this new app simply doesn't work. The map works and it finds my location (thanks to Google Maps), but then nothing more after that, at the bottom in the 'Stops Near You' tab, the circle keeps swishing around, nothing comes up and then it shows a "Something went wrong..." error.

Thankfully the old app does still work, but this new one is frankly useless at present, and I'm shocked that they released this without thoroughly testing. I'll give it a try again in a couple of days, hopefully by then it is fully working.

[cardew]

It worked this morning for a while at least. The real-time positioning of the buses on the map is a good feature, but that is part of google maps now anyway. It seemed to only pick up Diamond buses on the 50 for a while, ignoring any NX buses and the speed of it was appalling compared to the (happily still working) old app.  Needs work...of which I am sure they are aware.

[Stu]

The real-time positioning of the buses on the map is a good feature, but that is part of google maps now anyway.

That's not been my experience using the Google Maps app. I don't see positioning of buses on the map, and while you can tap on a journey to see the progress of the bus on a list of stops, that is not wholly accurate and just seems to be based on Google extrapolating 'due' times from previous stops; the tracking system as a whole seems very inaccurate recently, buses seem to show as 'due' up to five minutes before they actually arrive. Or show as 'due', disappear altogether then the bus actually arrives a couple of minutes later.

[cardew]

That's not been my experience using the Google Maps app. I don't see positioning of buses on the map, and while you can tap on a journey to see the progress of the bus on a list of stops, that is not wholly accurate and just seems to be based on Google extrapolating 'due' times from previous stops; the tracking system as a whole seems very inaccurate recently, buses seem to show as 'due' up to five minutes before they actually arrive. Or show as 'due', disappear altogether then the bus actually arrives a couple of minutes later.

It is part of the new Google Maps Commute feature launched in 80 regions worldwide. I don't know if the feature works here yet, or if it is even planned to do so, but it seems to be the same technology.

I agree with the inaccurate tracking - the reliable old app and at-stop information times have often been out of sync lately.

[DJ]

Try the Network Wm one instead, if you just want times of buses!

That one isn't much better, it doesn't load the stops half of the time, and it always shows my location as somewhere I was about 10 mins ago. I use Citymapper a lot which works pretty well.

[Roy]

I opened up the 'old' NX Bus app this evening, and it had a notice saying this app was retired from 31st October and to download the 'new' one.

Which I did while sitting on the bus towards home.

Quite frankly, echoing some of the comments left in reviews on Google Play store, this new app simply doesn't work. The map works and it finds my location (thanks to Google Maps), but then nothing more after that, at the bottom in the 'Stops Near You' tab, the circle keeps swishing around, nothing comes up and then it shows a "Something went wrong..." error.

Thankfully the old app does still work, but this new one is frankly useless at present, and I'm shocked that they released this without thoroughly testing. I'll give it a try again in a couple of days, hopefully by then it is fully working.

My experience mirrors that of Stu's almost exactly.  I used the old app while waiting for a bus yesterday evening, got the message and installed the new app - with exactly the same results - a message telling me that there wasn't a bus stop within 400 meters of my location - very strange given that I was stood at a bus stop.

I sent really negative feedback to NXWM concerning the release of an app that clearly had not been tested and have received the following reply.

"We're really sorry to hear you have had issues using the new app, we are experiencing some technical issues due to a high demand. The old app will not be retired until the new app is 100% fixed so please continue to use the old one for now. Apologies for any inconvenience caused. We'll be taking all other feedback on board for later versions."

Since then, I actually located a bus before the app fell over again.  It was a number 15 going to Wall Heath, Stourbridge!  That'll confuse people.

The good news is that they realise that they can't retire the old app.

[settlerman]

I also contacted NX about their new app and left negative feedback and received the same answer as Roy.

[Stu]

I have just been informed and confirmed that it is working now.  ;)

[SK68MEV]

Yeh just checked and it's fast and fully working

[cardew]

Now it is working, I see one problem while using it on the 50.

If the next bus due at a stop is a Diamond Bus, you cannot tell what time the next NX bus is due. The only way to do this is to work your way back down the route searching for a stop where an NX bus is the next one due. 

On such a frequent route as the 50 this is probably not going to make anyone's life unbearable but it does seem a bit odd with it being branded as an NX App.

[Stu]

Now it is working, I see one problem while using it on the 50.

If the next bus due at a stop is a Diamond Bus, you cannot tell what time the next NX bus is due. The only way to do this is to work your way back down the route searching for a stop where an NX bus is the next one due. 

On such a frequent route as the 50 this is probably not going to make anyone's life unbearable but it does seem a bit odd with it being branded as an NX App.

I've just had a look for myself and I can see what you mean now.

I don't know how this app works with regards to receiving data feeds for stops, but at the moment it seems like an 'unintended' nice touch that it also shows data (albeit not in real-time) for other operators services.

Unless they are planning this app to cover other operators services as well, it might be worth sending some feedback to ask them to 'filter' the data feeds so only NX Bus service information is shown.

Otherwise it does seem to work nicely, although I don't believe the positioning of buses on the map is entirely accurate, whether that is down to Google just 'estimating' where a bus might actually be from the data feeds, or in delays in transmitting real-time information from the bus itself.