Thoughts on information feeds in the bus industry

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Our Coffee Shop concerns in the recent bad weather have been train focussed (hey - we're a rail forum) but there have been lots of issues on the buses too .. and one of the things that I've noted there is an (even greater ?) lack of joined up an current information.   Our "Bus Queen" has been busy keeping people informed in her regions - posting reports from Berry's, FareSaver, First (multiple sub-companies) and Stagecoach - to help people know what is and isn't running and to help them decide - if they make it out - will they be able to get back.  http://favbug.blogspot.co.uk and also Facebook amongst other groups.   And my personal "THANK YOU" too for expanding across the border into Wiltshire.

Two things strike me:

a) How community groups CAN work together across boundaries - we're seeing it more and more, both with linking up and helping each other like this, and our (TransWilts) links with other CRPs^▸ (Community Rail Partnership) too.  Companies look to a greater extent at protecting their own routes / markets / interests, and councils look to the benefits for their areas, but the communities can take a slightly wider look without loosing their focus.

b) That if we thought there was a bit of a problem in getting joined up rail information ... buses are much worser.  The Bus Services Act of 2017 requires open data to be available.   When and how will we have feeds available to us to produce maps and information pages covering all operators / all services at a particular point?

[Bus Queen]

It has been my pleasure to keep bus users updated about the weather/ bus situation. It also comes in very handy  being  a member of 7 FB bus user groups across Somerset & into Wiltshire. I have also had the help of a few  volunteers posting updates to our Someset catch the bus campiagn group. One of the volunteer FB posters being  a bus driver who couldnt get to work. I have also had a bus driver message me via FB to update me about the  bus operator that he works for.

I  assume that bus users would  want to find weather/ bus updates  all in one place. All i & others have been doing is sharing the bus operators info onto other FB pages. I have been sharing various updates to various pages so that users will be kept updated & keep looking for info on that page. It is a real pity that SCC^▸ (Signalling Control Centre, or Somerset County Council, depending on context) & other Councils don't share bad weather updates directly from the bus operors to a set page. SCC did post a weather update they had omitted The Buses of Somerset so not to helpful for bus users  living on their doorstep. 

I always share information to my bus user group & any others directly from a bus operators page that way the information will be accurate.  I thank all of the bus operators for keeping bus users updated during the bad weather.