Where are the bus stops?!

[E759]

After a lifetime of not using buses I now find myself using them to get to heritage railways and football grounds. Without Google Maps I'd have no idea where the bus stops are as the bus companies don't appear to publish all the stops:

1/ How accurate is Google Maps? To date my experience is very positive
2/ Why do bus companies not publish a full list of stops?

Thank you.


PS: I'm finding myself increasingly drawn to heritage buses

 

[carlberry]

After a lifetime of not using buses I now find myself using them to get to heritage railways and football grounds. Without Google Maps I'd have no idea where the bus stops are as the bus companies don't appear to publish all the stops:

1/ How accurate is Google Maps? To date my experience is very positive
2/ Why do bus companies not publish a full list of stops?

Thank you.


PS: I'm finding myself increasingly drawn to heritage buses

Google Maps uses the public data about bus stops which is about the only accurate data there is. The data is supplied by local councils who are usually responsible for the stops. Obviously using street view you can check it most of the time as you'll be able to see the stop.

Next buses will also show local stops using maps:
https://nextbuses.mobi/

And Traveline lists all stops on it's timetables:
https://www.traveline.info/

Bus companies tend to just list the timing points, and sometimes use different names for the areas.

 

[E759]

Ah cheers!

Yes I've been using Street View, very useful for stop location and working out in advance where to press the stop button

Just tried next buses.mobi - interesting
Just tried traveline - looks very promising

Thank you

 

[Non Multi]

Also look at http://www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk and https://bustimes.org

The first link can generate bus route map PDFs with all the stops marked. Bustimes.org has the option of listing the times for every stop on a bus route.

 

[Jordan Adam]

Also look at http://www.travelinesoutheast.org.uk and https://bustimes.org

The first link can generate bus route map PDFs with all the stops marked. Bustimes.org has the option of listing the times for every stop on a bus route.

It should be noted though that times may be inaccurate for stops which are not timing points.

 

[edwin_m]

Nottingham City Transport website includes a map with all stops on, and both timetables and realtime information can be pulled up for any stop.

 

[ChrisC]

I’ve been using an app called UK Bus Checker for quite a few years now. Usually very accurate for showing you maps with positions of bus stops and real time information for most stops in urban areas and along main routes. In more rural areas I find it just tends to display the time the next bus should be due but not real time.

 

[E759]

I’ve been using an app called UK Bus Checker for quite a few years now. Usually very accurate for showing you maps with positions of bus stops and real time information for most stops in urban areas and along main routes. In more rural areas I find it just tends to display the time the next bus should be due but not real time.

Thanks very much Chris, downloaded and it looks very good indeed.

 

[vicbury]

Ah cheers!

Yes I've been using Street View, very useful for stop location and working out in advance where to press the stop button

Just tried next buses.mobi - interesting
Just tried traveline - looks very promising

Thank you

No need to even do that anymore. Plan a journey via public transport using Google Maps on your phone, and press start. Google Maps will recognise when you are on the bus (presumably via the speed you are travelling) and will count down the number of stops until you need to get off, even giving you a notification just before so you know when to press the stop button.

My only gripe is that in this area (West of England), Google Maps does not integrate with the real time information feeds, meaning that all bus departures are scheduled not actual.

 

[Non Multi]

No need to even do that anymore. Plan a journey via public transport using Google Maps on your phone, and press start. Google Maps will recognise when you are on the bus (presumably via the speed you are travelling) and will count down the number of stops until you need to get off, even giving you a notification just before so you know when to press the stop button.

Interesting and somewhat frightening, considering it's tracking you, what your travelling on and instructing you what to do. But I suppose it's no more sinister than turn-by-turn car GPS satellite navigation.

 

[causton]

Interesting and somewhat frightening

If you think that's frightening... there are much more frightening uses of your personal data

I think personally it's a very good idea especially if you are unfamiliar with the area. But like any system it is garbage in, garbage out - so if the stops on the online data don't match up in real life then you might have an issue. For example one time there was a bus stop marked 'Both sides of the road' - but the opposite side was not marked on Google Maps as the council had not included it in their data.

 

[E759]

No need to even do that anymore. Plan a journey via public transport using Google Maps on your phone, and press start. Google Maps will recognise when you are on the bus (presumably via the speed you are travelling) and will count down the number of stops until you need to get off, even giving you a notification just before so you know when to press the stop button.

My only gripe is that in this area (West of England), Google Maps does not integrate with the real time information feeds, meaning that all bus departures are scheduled not actual.

Love the sound of the stop countdown, I didn't know it could do that. I'll give it a try at the weekend.
Thank you!

 

[carlberry]

Interesting and somewhat frightening, considering it's tracking you, what your travelling on and instructing you what to do.

If you turn the GPS system on the phone on then Apple/Google/etc are tracking you without you click all the correct buttons to stop them!

 

[carlberry]

If you think that's frightening... there are much more frightening uses of your personal data

I think personally it's a very good idea especially if you are unfamiliar with the area. But like any system it is garbage in, garbage out - so if the stops on the online data don't match up in real life then you might have an issue. For example one time there was a bus stop marked 'Both sides of the road' - but the opposite side was not marked on Google Maps as the council had not included it in their data.

The 'both sides of the road' is quite common. I suspect there's supposed to be a national standard however it could be dependent on if the council want to know the location of all their bus stops (useful to them but less so to travellers) or all the places a bus could stop (more use to travellers but less use to the council). The dataset does also include some 'positioning' bus stops (motorway slip roads for example) so that the route goes the correct way on a map, I don't know what Google does with those.

 

[High Dyke]

After a lifetime of not using buses I now find myself using them to get to heritage railways and football grounds. Without Google Maps I'd have no idea where the bus stops are as the bus companies don't appear to publish all the stops:

1/ How accurate is Google Maps? To date my experience is very positive
2/ Why do bus companies not publish a full list of stops?

Thank you.


PS: I'm finding myself increasingly drawn to heritage buses

Oddly enough I used the bus last Saturday to get from Warrington Interchange to Warrington Town FC. Google maps are fairly accurate regarding the nearest bus stop to the ground. However it also has a church nearby, but sadly Google maps thinks the church is on the opposite side of the road to where it actually is. I appreciate that accuracy may not be consistent across the UK.

 

[ooo]

Oddly enough I used the bus last Saturday to get from Warrington Interchange to Warrington Town FC. Google maps are fairly accurate regarding the nearest bus stop to the ground. However it also has a church nearby, but sadly Google maps thinks the church is on the opposite side of the road to where it actually is. I appreciate that accuracy may not be consistent across the UK.

If Google maps is wrong you can edit it to the correct location

 

[philthetube]

I’ve been using an app called UK Bus Checker for quite a few years now. Usually very accurate for showing you maps with positions of bus stops and real time information for most stops in urban areas and along main routes. In more rural areas I find it just tends to display the time the next bus should be due but not real time.

This depends on whether or not the bus concerned is equipped to pass on location information. Busses in Rural areas are probably less likely to do, depends on the oporator though.

 

[PeterC]

This depends on whether or not the bus concerned is equipped to pass on location information. Busses in Rural areas are probably less likely to do, depends on the oporator though.

Around here Carousel and Arriva vehicles are mostly fitted but the independent vehicles generally aren't.

 

[ChrisC]

This depends on whether or not the bus concerned is equipped to pass on location information. Busses in Rural areas are probably less likely to do, depends on the oporator though.

Thanks for that information, that explains a lot.
I still find the UK Bus Checker app extremely useful for locating bus stops, especially in less populated rural areas. It is very useful when I am out walking to be able to locate bus stops in villages and along country lanes and to determine whether any buses are due from that stop in the next few hours. Having real time information on busier routes is a bonus.