According to AppEffrctsUK, who make apps for London Bus times, there are currently issues with the reliability of TfL data feed, which means live timings might not be available, especially during peak commuter periods.
This has been the case for the past week.
However there are no issues on TfLs Web Site, so what do they use for their own site, that app developers don't have access to?
AppEffrctsUK made two apps, London Bus Tracker and London Bus Tracker Pro. By paying for the Pro version you got no adverts. They appear to have discontinued development on those, having not updated the pro version since 2015.
Instead they have released London Live Bus Times. This contains ads and has no Pro version but is more modern and regularly updated. I only found this out by chance.
So it seems in this case what you pay for isn't always what you get!
What makes them interesting, compared to some other London Bus timing companies, is that they don't refer at all to the published timetables in either app. So when the live data services go down, they display nothing. Other apps do incorporate the timetables and thus display something.
I can see why they wouldn't want to use the published timetables, when on some routes they won't be that accurate most days. Equally though I can see why displaying something might at least give an approximation.
This has been the case for the past week.
However there are no issues on TfLs Web Site, so what do they use for their own site, that app developers don't have access to?
AppEffrctsUK made two apps, London Bus Tracker and London Bus Tracker Pro. By paying for the Pro version you got no adverts. They appear to have discontinued development on those, having not updated the pro version since 2015.
Instead they have released London Live Bus Times. This contains ads and has no Pro version but is more modern and regularly updated. I only found this out by chance.
So it seems in this case what you pay for isn't always what you get!
What makes them interesting, compared to some other London Bus timing companies, is that they don't refer at all to the published timetables in either app. So when the live data services go down, they display nothing. Other apps do incorporate the timetables and thus display something.
I can see why they wouldn't want to use the published timetables, when on some routes they won't be that accurate most days. Equally though I can see why displaying something might at least give an approximation.