I can see how well to time, or not, National Express coaches are running on Bustimes.org, and I am intrigued as to how they do this, in a similar way to Real Time Trains, when they don't have loads of timing points like the railways.
Now they could have certain points they can time between and work out if the coach has taken longer than it should take at 60-62mph, and if it has taken longer, (say its 2 mins late etc), but their timings seem too accurate for this. Do they have live feeds? And does the data they get take into account things like a coach stuck behind a lorry for 5 miles doing 56mph so it adds on say a minutes delay to the coach, then the coach keeps steady 62mph for the next 15 miles, so it's then say 3 mins early etc?
The timings aren’t just at last stop, but they change every minute or so. So they are obviously moving with the coach and even timed on busy, urban main roads etc. So it's interesting to follow a coach and see how its doing, whether it's losing time or gaining time etc. It is a clever tool, and where do they get their live data from? Is it a central office or direct from the coach etc?
Now they could have certain points they can time between and work out if the coach has taken longer than it should take at 60-62mph, and if it has taken longer, (say its 2 mins late etc), but their timings seem too accurate for this. Do they have live feeds? And does the data they get take into account things like a coach stuck behind a lorry for 5 miles doing 56mph so it adds on say a minutes delay to the coach, then the coach keeps steady 62mph for the next 15 miles, so it's then say 3 mins early etc?
The timings aren’t just at last stop, but they change every minute or so. So they are obviously moving with the coach and even timed on busy, urban main roads etc. So it's interesting to follow a coach and see how its doing, whether it's losing time or gaining time etc. It is a clever tool, and where do they get their live data from? Is it a central office or direct from the coach etc?
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