BusTimes.org - general discussion

[JoNi]

The following is on LVFs facebook page.

"Well it seems that regrettably the work we are currently undertaking has been made public. I'm annoyed at the way this has occurred as it was so unnecessary and we would like to have made more progress before going public.
I would have to stress that we are still at a very early stage and apart from vehicle data and the fact that it shows vehicles and the routes they are on there is nothing else. The data only updates every 10 mins so not exactly useful at the moment.
To give a bit of background, the DfT is implementing a system to provide real time tracking of all public service vehicles on registered bus routes in England. It is not due to go live until January 2021 however we have become an early adopter of data. Currently there are over 7.700 vehicles that have been identified. This is probably about a half of the total we might expect. We have identified a number of problems with the feed, the most critical of which is that most of the data stops working at 5pm each evening and restarts at 7am.... The biggest problem for us is that the real time data does no more than identify the vehicle, the time and a location in Latitude/Longitude coordinates. No next stop, no predictions etc. The data is wonderful if you are going to plot vehicles on a map eg bustimes.org, but not very helpful if you want a service that looks like LVF. To transition from what we have to what we want means we need to hold timetable and route info. We haven't even started importing that data. Not only does it need to be imported for every route in England but we need to create a process that updates the information whenever there is a route or timetable change.
At this early stage we still need to QA a lot of the data we have, and we still have a large amount of work to do before we can present a working system. We would ask you all show a large amount of patience. The last thing we need at the moment is queries regarding any data you may see which would only distract us from achieving the end goal. There will be a period shortly after the initial release of the new system where we will encourage feedback especially of branding/advert buses and other special liveries."

A lengthy update has just been published on Regional Vehicle Finder Facebook page, stating have data from all large groups except National Express West Midlands!

[Bus Spotter Ben]

All NX buses are tracking on bustimes.org

Perry Barr's buses are currently tracking under Metroline Travel and hopefully be running under NX tomorrow They're currently all white for the time being. DEAD runs can also be tracked. Some routes won't always show up so you may have to guess what is on what.

[Bus Spotter Ben]

All NX buses are tracking on bustimes.org

Perry Barr's buses are currently tracking under Metroline Travel and hopefully be running under NX tomorrow They're currently all white for the time being. DEAD runs can also be tracked. Some routes won't always show up so you may have to guess what is on what.

The Perry Barr issue has now been fixed. All buses are in their respective liveries

[2206]

How come the X20/X21/X22's track as going round the island at Five Ways instead of going through the bus gate on George Road, its currently showing 6889 on Five Ways Island. Sorry for asking as well, I was just wandering as its been a long time since i've been to that area with lockdowns etc.
Is it a diversion or something?

[ellspurs]

How come the X20/X21/X22's track as going round the island at Five Ways instead of going through the bus gate on George Road, its currently showing 6889 on Five Ways Island. Sorry for asking as well, I was just wandering as its been a long time since i've been to that area with lockdowns etc.
Is it a diversion or something?

From: https://www.networkwestmidlands.com/plan-your-journey/disruptions/#/params?DisruptionType=true&when=All&TransportModeA=5#9958_TfWM

Roadworks at George Road, Five Ways
Affected Service(s):X20X21X22Start date:Fri 12 Feb 2021 at 12:01 AMEnd date:Fri 05 Mar 2021 at 03:00 PMDescription:
Whats Happening?
George Road from St James Road to Islington Row Middleway will be closed for roadworks.

When?
Wednesday 3 March to Friday 5 March
0930-1500 hours

Services Affected & Diversion Route
Service X20, X21,  X22 to Birmingham
St James Road, Frederick Road, Islington Row Middleway, u-turn Five Ways Island, Islington Row Middleway, Bath Row, normal line of route
Service X20, X21,  X22 to University Station
Normal line of route

Travel Advice
Buses are operating just allow extra time to travel.

Edit: it says the roadworks are 3-5 March, but the advice is running from 12 February.

[2206]

Edit: it says the roadworks are 3-5 March, but the advice is running from 12 February.

Yes, very confusing for any passengers who need that information, etc.

[2206]

Notice 7522 isn't tracking on there, its on the 55 today.
It was running behind 7506 on the 94 at Ward End towards Chelmsley.

[busboy31]

Buses tracking without a route:
4475
4603
6121
6878
6930

Can't find the others, so that's them.

[CL]

International Express?

Just a testament to the reliability of bustimes; 431 appears to be tracking in the Gulf of Guinea currently! 😂

[JoNi]

International Express?

Just a testament to the reliability of bustimes; 431 appears to be tracking in the Gulf of Guinea currently! 😂

I've seen buses from other operators having their first journey from this point.
Could be some sort of default GPS location when data is missing?
When I log into bustimes map defaults to middle of East Anglia!

[Stu]

International Express?

Just a testament to the reliability of bustimes; 431 appears to be tracking in the Gulf of Guinea currently! 😂

I've seen buses from other operators having their first journey from this point.
Could be some sort of default GPS location when data is missing?

GPS co-ordinates 0°00'00.0"N 0°00'00.0"E  ;)

[don]

Interesting.

I find it interesting seeing withdrawn buses being manoeuvred around - at Pensnett right now, 4358 is showing in the graveyard - I noticed a couple of others there over the last couple of weeks (438x from YW and 442x from CV). Also 4306 at Miller Street overnight one night last week.

If buses were animate objects I'm sure the 43xx in service at Pensnett would be shuddering seeing the stream of their brethren being towed past to the breakers.....

[Stuharris 6360]

Am I the only person to think that the bus trackermap is rather spoiling the art of bus spotting.

In the past if you needed a particular bus, then you would go out and try and find it, now you can find it very easily and you don't have to leave home.

[Westy]

Am I the only person to think that the bus trackermap is rather spoiling the art of bus spotting.

In the past if you needed a particular bus, then you would go out and try and find it, now you can find it very easily and you don't have to leave home.

Yeah, but based on the example mentioned earlier, would you rely on it?

[don]

I would think it's generally quite accurate - however Tony did mention the equipment being transferred from one vehicle to another and if the ID isn't changed immediately might register as the wring vehicle on the tracker.

I thought it was 50/50 whether 3303, 4 and 5 shown at Pensnett at times this week were actually there or transferred equipment!!!

In terms of bus spotting, there's nothing to replace "in person" bus spotting but this new dip in and out when you feel like it stuff has an entirely new appeal all of its own!!