Out of character
After having to wait this long, you'd expect 4 to arrive together
This afternoon, Transport for London opened up an API to share the data normally displayed in bus shelters with one and all, so expect a deluge of route-planning apps just in time for the Olympics. The API joins up existing data feeds for Boris-bike availability, vehicle traffic and waiting times for trains, and is already …
Not in Oxford. The bus drivers get annoyed if you give them a tenner for a £2.60 fare. Better stick to a fiver or coins. That said, most of the population use the Oxford Key for their bus, works just like Oyster, and even works, if you so choose, on the buses to London, Heathrow and Gatwick.
And Oxontime does the same as the displays in London. Even does SMS short codes. :-)
Hello London! Welcome to the 21st century experience we've been enjoying in Edinburgh for the last decade at least.
GPS? Check.
Route planning? Check.
Accurate? Check.*
Good Apps for major phone platforms? Check.
Bus stops with Unique IDs and QR codes that link you to the relevant stop details (so that if you have a smartphone you can still see what's happening? Check.
Smart Cards? Check.
Still able to pay in cash if you must? Check.
*Well accurate til the sodding tramworks started.
Got to admit public transport in the smoke is spot on.
As a northerner I was naturally terrified when I had to pay a visit to London last year, especially as my ultimate destination was on the DLR which was suspended that weekend.
The replacement buses and tube were the model of efficiency, so we managed to travel from Euston to Dulwich to Limehouse to City Airport without problems.
Just wish the trains in Lancashire were half as efficient, where a single carriage train during rush hour is a regular occurance...
I expect it can only be about, say, 20 years before Greater Manchester Public Transport Authority (whatever their rebranded name du jour is) have something similar going.
How hard can it be, really. Oh and by the way, the "one bus journey one price" isn't that great, you could factor in the distance travelled, and allow for changing buses within one journey.
Oh, and have a 2-line 7-segment display above each Oyster pad saying "remaining balance" and "charge for this journey" can't cost the earth either.
I tried the sms short codes on Manchester bus stops last week. They seem to use the same code on both sides of the road, and the software supplies times for one direction only. Not bright.
Then I noticed a 12 minute difference between the times I was texted and those on the paper timetable glued to the bus stop. The busses appeared to be reading the paper timetable.
Couldn't this be used by terrorists?
Surely unauthorised users must be blocked from the system for the "people running around event that must not be named" in a capital city in a year between 2011 and 2013
Alternately I suppose you could mount tanks on a few roofs to deal with buses.
paranoid people: this is about as limp as your 'gmaps is watching me' comment...
go ahead, point gmaps to where your 'woolworths' was... - you may find it STILL open!!! ROFL
It may be nice to get a view of ALL the buses in motion, but most mobiles dont have that kind of resources.. to say nothing about the huge amount of data killing your local transponder!!
All you get, is where the bus stop is, and how long it may take to get there.. good news is you can see it going up, when stuck in traffic, or down when that traffic disappears!! :)
When I worked for a government agency, we tried to get a definitive list of bus stations to add to maps on an Olympics website we had been commissioned to write. I was told by TfL that I couldn't have this list for security reasons, although I had always assumed that bus stations were large, clearly marked buildings that the public were intended to be able to find.
"Londoners rarely seem to appreciate just how effective their bus network is"
that would be because it was excluded from the nationwide bus privatisation for some strange reason. Edinburgh also has a public bus company although in their case it has to compete with First, as a result of which customers do indeed get a pretty good service.
No, seriously... If you are sitting there, impatient and doing nothing, its *feels* like hours.... :/
- with this on your phone, you can see in real time, what the buses are doing! - it has returned my respect of buses back to me!!! :) :)
BEST feature... :) I can tell if I have time for 'nother pint, without waiting out in the rain for the bus!!
I hear the problem with bus stops, AFAIK is they are 'managed' by 3 different companies!!
e.g..
LT want a nicer stop.
week later: shelter removed, including all other stuff..
week or 2 later: building negotiations finish, so a new shelter is built (electronics? nuffin to do with me...)
week or 2 later: LT 'discover' there is no 'countdown' at that stop.. (different company!)
week or 2 later: electronics contract negotiations finish, so a new 'countdown' system is put in..
week or 2 later: new system is incompatible with current shelter, regs, etc...(different company!)
week or 2 later: if you are lucky, the system may work, or is deemed too expensive...
I have seen this happen at a major stop I use.. ancient shelter, but good rain protection, and countdown.. this was removed, getting brand new one! - so now I get wet for around three weeks, and no countdown!!
Brand new fancy shelter, looks 'arty' but no real protection from wind and rain.. 6 months later, still no countdown... :(
So what are the chances of this happening outside of London, 0%, why? Deregulation has allowed buses to be a profit making business, in London the buses are run by private companies but they are scrutinised over their costs and profits and they don't set the fares.
If you want cheaper and better out there, follow London. Buses aren't for making a profit.
Why on earth are Busses not for making a profit?
Where I live we get a proud and wonderful service from a family owned bus company that has had to make a profit for a hundred years. http://www.delainebuses.com/ They manage to purchase the first version of new models, run a regular service with clean reliable busses, and organise a heritage bus procession from time to time.
I like this page:
http://www.delainebuses.com/Fleet/Gallery/1920s/pages/1.htm