Bus companies without websites or published fares information

[Flange Squeal]

Bear Buses of Feltham, Middlesex. No twitter, website or even email. I’ve also heard stuff about them banning enthusiasts from uploading videos of their buses to youtube. Seems like they don’t want any online presence at all

The point about no website etc is certainly true with no online publicity about their four school routes and tendered 305 other than timetable on council's website, but I hadn't heard about the "banning" of videos. Indeed a younger member of the family semi-regularly uploads fleet news/photos to social media and Flickr so can't be completely anti-enthusiast, unless it has to be on their terms...? While the ageing fleet seems to change a lot and you get a lot of previous operator liveries, they are definitely one of the more competent in terms of getting the job done on weekend rail.

 

[cnjb8]

Could be worse could have an abomination of a website like Arriva have, Arriva has got to be the worst public transport website on the net

And Stagecoach

 

[TXMISTA]

Euro Taxis of Bristol/South Glos. have virtually no information on their website regarding their school or commercial routes. Luckily bustimes.org has all the timetable information

 

[northken]

Euro Taxis of Bristol/South Glos. have virtually no information on their website regarding their school or commercial routes. Luckily bustimes.org has all the timetable information

I can't find much about fares but their website is better than average and they do have timetables for their local routes. Link

 

[route101]

Bear Buses of Feltham, Middlesex. No twitter, website or even email. I’ve also heard stuff about them banning enthusiasts from uploading videos of their buses to youtube. Seems like they don’t want any online presence at all

Wonder why? Do they have printed timetables?

 

[ANDREW_D_WEBB]

Bear Buses of Feltham, Middlesex. No twitter, website or even email. I’ve also heard stuff about them banning enthusiasts from uploading videos of their buses to youtube. Seems like they don’t want any online presence at all

They turn up regularly on local rail replacements near me and always seem very friendly whenever I point the camera in the direction of their fleet and never been questioned about what I intend to do with the images.

Setting up a web site etc is relatively easy - maintaining it is what takes time and effort. Bear Buses only public bus, the 305, is council tendered and probably attracts the same select group of passengers who use it for shopping / catching up with fellow pensioner friends. Their other work is schools, similarly the individual schools probably publicise these routes to the regular clientele. A website is, therefore, probably somewhat superfluous to their business.

 

[Ken H]

Could be worse could have an abomination of a website like Arriva have, Arriva has got to be the worst public transport website on the net

Yes!. their timetable pdf's are almost unreadable for long routes. The long Newcastle - Berwick routes for example.

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

As has been previously mentioned, our local independent operators tend not to publish timetable info on their websites and rely on the local authority (who they operate services on behalf of) to publish it. Finding fare information for independents is almost impossible - you'd need to contact the operator themselves to find the fare.

I also find the Arriva and Stagecoach websites a bit of a pain to navigate. One of the websites I most favour is Borders Buses: https://www.bordersbuses.co.uk/

In my opinion each operator having their own website is old hat. There should be a central location (website and/or app) for all services.

There is http://bustimes.org/ but it relies on data being accurate from the Traveline National Dataset, or the Bus Open Data Service. Some operators also publish open data on their website, e.g. Stagecoach, which is usually very accurate as it updates when they update their online journey planner/timetables, and bustimes makes use of this also.

 

[philthetube]

Bear Buses of Feltham, Middlesex. No twitter, website or even email. I’ve also heard stuff about them banning enthusiasts from uploading videos of their buses to youtube. Seems like they don’t want any online presence at all

Sure loads of people would know how you do that, I am sure you have heard it but it is just not possible to do, imagine how boring youtube would be if anything someone doesn't like can be removed for no good reason.

 

[NorthOxonian]

As has been previously mentioned, our local independent operators tend not to publish timetable info on their websites and rely on the local authority (who they operate services on behalf of) to publish it. Finding fare information for independents is almost impossible - you'd need to contact the operator themselves to find the fare.

I also find the Arriva and Stagecoach websites a bit of a pain to navigate. One of the websites I most favour is Borders Buses: https://www.bordersbuses.co.uk/


There is http://bustimes.org/ but it relies on data being accurate from the Traveline National Dataset, or the Bus Open Data Service. Some operators also publish open data on their website, e.g. Stagecoach, which is usually very accurate as it updates when they update their online journey planner/timetables, and bustimes makes use of this also.

There is one part of the country where all operators show up on an excellent website. Intalink, who are a partnership between Hertfordshire County Council, ten district councils, and the local operators, have a similar interface to Borders Buses. There isn't fare information but the various Intalink multi-operator tickets are well publicised (though their validity on services outside Hertfordshire isn't clear).

 

[Class465pacer]

Sure loads of people would know how you do that, I am sure you have heard it but it is just not possible to do, imagine how boring youtube would be if anything someone doesn't like can be removed for no good reason.

That’s what I think about it as well. An enthusiast on youtube is the one who is claiming this ban exists but not sure if its true really.

Wonder why? Do they have printed timetables?

Not sure but it’s on bustimes.org

 

[L401CJF]

Helms of Eastham/ Aintree Coachline (Wirral/Chester) do have a basic website now, however is more aimed toward their hire market rather than the routes they provide. I can't find anything about their routes or fares anyway. The times show on bustimes website but they don't have realtime as they are still using TGX150 machines (for now).

Could be worse could have an abomination of a website like Arriva have, Arriva has got to be the worst public transport website on the net

Couldn't agree more, the old one wasn't too bad, easy to find ticket prices etc, new one is a complete joke!

 

[Boo_]

Open Bus Data is now a Mandatory requirement.

31 December 2020	Obligation to provide bus timetable data to the Bus Open Data Service.
7 January 2021	Obligation to provide vehicle location and basic fares and tickets data to the Bus Open Data Service.
7 January 2023	Obligation to provide complex fares and ticket data to the Bus Open Data Service.

Bus open data policy

The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) provides bus timetable, vehicle location and fares data for every local bus service in England.

www.gov.uk

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

Open Bus Data is now a Mandatory requirement.

31 December 2020	Obligation to provide bus timetable data to the Bus Open Data Service.
7 January 2021	Obligation to provide vehicle location and basic fares and tickets data to the Bus Open Data Service.
7 January 2023	Obligation to provide complex fares and ticket data to the Bus Open Data Service.

Bus open data policy

The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) provides bus timetable, vehicle location and fares data for every local bus service in England.

www.gov.uk

There are still lots of operators - including National Express West Midlands/Coventry - not providing their timetable data to the Bus Open Data Service (BODS).

It'll be interesting to see how many (or little) operators have submitted a vehicle location feed to BODS by next Thursday.

 

[Statto]

There are still lots of operators - including National Express West Midlands/Coventry - not providing their timetable data to the Bus Open Data Service (BODS).

It'll be interesting to see how many (or little) operators have submitted a vehicle location feed to BODS by next Thursday.

To be fair, National Express West Midlands/Coventry have there own websites, which they recently revamped, which have a full timetables & all fares[including single fares] they charge up on there site.

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

To be fair, National Express West Midlands/Coventry have there own websites, which they recently revamped, which have a full timetables & all fares[including single fares] they charge up on there site.

Yes, that's not the point though. It is now a legal obligation for all bus operators to provide timetable data to the BODS, which NXWM (and many, albeit smaller companies) do not.

 

[Cesarcollie]

Yes, that's not the point though. It is now a legal obligation for all bus operators to provide timetable data to the BODS, which NXWM (and many, albeit smaller companies) do not.

But DfT have advised that due to various problems with the software which have restricted time available to implement, there will effectively be 12 months ‘period of grace’ prior to any enforcement, until end of 2021.

 

[py_megapixel]

Open Bus Data is now a Mandatory requirement.

31 December 2020	Obligation to provide bus timetable data to the Bus Open Data Service.
7 January 2021	Obligation to provide vehicle location and basic fares and tickets data to the Bus Open Data Service.
7 January 2023	Obligation to provide complex fares and ticket data to the Bus Open Data Service.

Looks like they (DfT) have a publicly available API... a quick skim of the documentation suggests that it's not too complex to write code to interface with it, so maybe I'll give that a go at some point and see what I can cobble together using the newly available data!

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

But DfT have advised that due to various problems with the software which have restricted time available to implement, there will effectively be 12 months ‘period of grace’ prior to any enforcement, until end of 2021.

Interesting - I didn't realise that. Thanks.

 

[Boo_]

Issues with Software. mmm sounds "like my Homework got eaten by the Dog". Many of the firms have allowed the data to expire and to say they have not had the time - well, how have so many done it already? It's just like PSVAR; the DFT don`t want to deal with it so they kicked the can down the road. All of this can be sorted if money was spent. Like PRM-TSI on the railways they could have buses/coaches owned by the TOC. How long would it take one person to input the data into the system at each depot? And most firms have planning software that could export the data.

 

[M60lad]

While First Manchester tracks on their own website (albait without showing Vehicle ID) their vehicles for some reason dont show up on BusTimes.

 

[MrTurbostar170]

Does anyone know the best way to open the XML files that are used in the Open Bus Data? I'm struggling with it a bit.

 

[Hophead]

Sussex Coaches (of N8 notoriety) have a rudimentary website, but this only promotes the coach hire business. The bus services (68, N8 & Sunday 17) each have to make do with a dedicated Facebook page.

 

[RomeoCharlie71]

While First Manchester tracks on their own website (albait without showing Vehicle ID) their vehicles for some reason dont show up on BusTimes.

The AVL feed is probably down, or not available. It 8should* be available by 7th January, though!

Does anyone know the best way to open the XML files that are used in the Open Bus Data? I'm struggling with it a bit.

Any text editor. Notepad, Notepad++, etc. They are difficult files to decipher!

 

[Contains Nuts]

Does anyone know the best way to open the XML files that are used in the Open Bus Data? I'm struggling with it a bit.

You need a TransXChange viewer which will open them in a traditional ‘timetable’ format. They are not cheap though - the licence fee would probably set you back £1,000 per year.

 

[py_megapixel]

You need a TransXChange viewer which will open them in a traditional ‘timetable’ format. They are not cheap though - the licence fee would probably set you back £1,000 per year.

That's not entirely correct.
If you run Windows, the Department for Transport appears to have a freely available tool which will convert them to a human-readable HTML document which can be opened in any web browser.
(note, I have never used this personally and can't vouch for the authenticity/security of any particular piece of software)

 

[PeterC]

Does anyone know the best way to open the XML files that are used in the Open Bus Data? I'm struggling with it a bit.

They are plain text files, most browsers will interpret them and format them out in a readable manner. A text editor will usually show the file unformatted which can be difficult to read.

 

[Ken H]

Does anyone know the best way to open the XML files that are used in the Open Bus Data? I'm struggling with it a bit.

try internet explorer.

 

[PeterC]

try internet explorer.

Any browser should do but there may be differences between how a file presents when viewed online and when held locally.

I used to work regularly with XML and found that Firefox would throw a wobbly if it found escape characters when the file was held locally but interpreted them correctly when they were on a web server. I can't remember if I replicated the problem on other browses.

 

[Ken H]

Any browser should do but there may be differences between how a file presents when viewed online and when held locally.

I used to work regularly with XML and found that Firefox would throw a wobbly if it found escape characters when the file was held locally but interpreted them correctly when they were on a web server. I can't remember if I replicated the problem on other browses.

you are right. chorme does OK too.
excel isnt bad but it does make a difficult spreadsheet to work with.