Bus route colours data source

[miklcct]

Google Maps and UK Bus Checker have colours on the bus routes in their journey planner. I am looking for the source of this information.

I have downloaded some TransXChange data sets and also GTFS data sets from various sources, including Bus Open Data Service (BODS), Traveline, the operator direct such as morebus, etc., but I have found no reference of these colours from these data sets.

Where are these colours obtained for their journey planners, for example, those on morebus routes?

 

[WibbleWobble]

Where are these colours obtained for their journey planners, for example, those on morebus routes?

Operator submits to a third party who manages the data on Google's behalf.

 

[borage]

I believe Ito World is the third party who provides this "enhanced" data for Google and Apple Maps, probably quite expensively.

The website gtfs.pro also provides some (free/open) mysteriously enhanced timetable data, which has *some* colours in the routes.txt:

Datafeeds LLC Content-management team manually collects and updates enrichment tables which includes:
in routes: route short name, route type, route color

But it's not great, the colours chosen can be a bit random, e.g. the First Norwich _ Line routes don't have colours except for the (Charcoal Line) 40 which is inexplicably purple.

 

[Roger1973]

I can find a reference in TXC documentation (it's somewhere in a 130 page document) to 'line colour' being a thing. Whether all schedules software packages have the ability to export that as part of a TXC, I would not be able to say. Also, it may be that if it's not in the data, it doesn't show as a field in the TXC export.

Yes, someone else handles UK (or England at least) bus data for Google, I'm aware some bus operators and local authorities do talk to them, but not sure how many do. There can be a 'not our problem' attitude, although ultimately having duff information about your services out there in the public domain doesn't do operators any favours even if it's not their fault.

With some routes, Google seems to show a colour per operator (e.g. Arriva blue) which their people may have set up.

May be worth investigating Reading Buses' data (I can't face downloading a huge load of TXC files and going through them) - they are fairly hot on route branding and a colour per route / linked pair of routes.

Google seems to show them in colours that match Reading Buses' own route colours (routes 80+ are school buses, so I don't think they have a colour)