Highland Council Register New Bus Routes

[markymark2000]

Pretty much all the new timetables from the 3rd of January for the contract changes in the Highlands are missing from the online data, thus sites such as Traveline and Bustimes.org don't show them, this not only includes Highland Council but also Aaron's Of Wick, George Rapson Travel and unusually D&E Coaches.

In fact the only trace of timetables for Aaron's Of Wick i've been able to find is on their facebook page, while nothing exists at all publically online for the new services in the Tain/Laird area operated by George Rapson Travel. It's almost as if they don't want people to use these services. D&E Coaches do at least have their new timetables on their website.

Traveline Scotland and Traveline Cymru are the two worst at updating information.

The amount of public money they get and they can't even manage basic data entry, it's bonkers.

 

[Volvodart]

The Highland Council timetables are shown here:-

https://www.highland.gov.uk/info/1526/public_and_community_transport/111/public_transport/5

 

[PG]

Story featured on local STV news tonight. However the only shots of the council buses saw them in the background parked up in the sunshine in a yard while the reporter did a piece to camera. 3 plain white single deckers and 1 red ex-London decker visible. The only buses in service shown were Stagecoach buses, obviously too much trouble to film one of the council buses in service!

 

[Jordan Adam]

Story featured on local STV news tonight. However the only shots of the council buses saw them in the background parked up in the sunshine in a yard while the reporter did a piece to camera. 3 plain white single deckers and 1 red ex-London decker visible. The only buses in service shown were Stagecoach buses, obviously too much trouble to film one of the council buses in service!

Perhaps they couldn't find any timetables?... Although saying that since my last post in this thread I've realised that the Stagecoach timetables on Traveline and Bustimes are also outdated and don't account for the changes from the 4th of January!

 

[markymark2000]

Perhaps they couldn't find any timetables?... Although saying that since my last post in this thread I've realised that the Stagecoach timetables on Traveline and Bustimes are also outdated and don't account for the changes from the 4th of January!

On Butimes, Stagecoach Highlands data comes from Stagecoach itself. This data is the same data that they use to power their own journey planner and therefore it's probably worth checking on their website to see if their own stuff is updated.

 

[GusB]

We're discussing Highland Council routes here, not Stagecoach's. Stay on topic, please.

 

[PG]

I note that Bustimes now lists 4 bus services being operated by the council, hopefully the remaining 6 will appear soon. I haven't had the chance to look during the day so don't know if the buses track on the map in realtime?

 

[JKP]

For smaller operators, Bustimes tend to take their data from Traveline Scotland so it may be that Highland Council have not yet uploaded the data for the remaining routes. Rapsons routes have similarly not appeared last time I looked.

 

[GusB]

The Inverness Courier reports that Highland Council is looking at the possibility of running a shuttle between the railway station at Dalcross and the airport.

Shuttle bus service in pipeline for airport and new railway station?

Highland Council is eyeing up extending its in-house bus services to create a new airport shuttle – and may also buy more electric buses too.

www.inverness-courier.co.uk

A NEW electric bus shuttle service could be launched by Highland Council to connect the region's newest railway station with Inverness Airport.

The local authority is exploring a number of options to expand its current pilot for in-house bus service operations.

It was launched earlier this year on several routes in a bid to save up to £1.4 million in costs that would have otherwise been spent on school-run subsidies or contracts to private operators.

The council's fleet of buses already numbers 13, with 10 of them in daily use on eight different routes across the area – covering the likes of Nairn's town service, a number of communities on either side of Loch Ness and several local schools. The remaining three buses are being used as cover for maintenance of the rest of the fleet, and to capitalise on additional work as and when it comes in.

And in an update to next week's council redesign board, councillors will be told that the pilot scheme now has a base of operations in Cromwell Road, Inverness – and is eyeing up potential opportunities to expand its routes.

These include the possibility of a new shuttle bus service connecting Inverness Airport with the new railway station on the outskirts of the transport hub.

It is also considering a bid to replace its entire fleet with fully-electric buses using the same government funding that recently enabled Stagecoach to launch a raft of such vehicles in and around Inverness.

Other expansion options include the introduction of fully-electric buses for new in-house services in the Cairngorm National Park around Aviemore.