As well as degraded GPS signals, a key reason for using the beacon of system was the then availability of PMR analogue radio. On certain wavebands it was free to operate with a licence, a big consideration when mobile networks charged for every text! London comandeered most of the PMR frequencies thwarting plans for similar sysems in SE England.
I'd rather see 'live tracking lost' than a bus vanish from the list. Those tell a waiting passenger very different stories, even if the underlying data failure is identical.
Thankyou James for a superb, very informative and really interesting article.
Like most people, I've also seen all kinds of gremlins on these countdown displays. For example, once when waiting for the Tiverton bus outside Exeter Central railway station, the bus actually split into two identical parts for a while, showing different times, before both disappeared off the screen altogether! Fortunately, the bus managed to glue itself back together, and eventually turned up albeit a few minutes late.
Like any technology, countdown displays can undoubtedly be useful, but only of course if they are reliable. I wonder how much user testing is done on such systems when installed, and whether there is any real commitment outside of TfL to improve them? Or is it considered more cost expedient to install a system, however good or bad, just so the box can be ticked to say that realtime information is now being provided across the network, regardless of how accurate this information actually turns out to be?
It would be great if buses were made far more reliable and frequent, then perhaps we wouldn't have to place so much reliance on realtime indicators anyway?
On footnote 11 then TfL has worked with Fix My Street for years about the boundaries between them and the respective boroughs so I think that part of this is a solved problem.
Fantastic piece, thank you. I’m interested in the switch to 4g or 5g. Given the difficulty both of those often have in providing a reliable connectivity /signal for phone use in London, will that be reliable? Or is it a different thing?
Other websites were using the TfL API to provide bus info long before Citymapper and Google Maps, although I suppose those are the ones that won the larger audiences.
The card readers currently in use are life-expired and also need replacing, so it'll be next-generation card readers being developed through a scheme named Project Hina that'll interface with iBus2. Their delivery is long-delayed too with the software side of things being a sticking point.
As well as degraded GPS signals, a key reason for using the beacon of system was the then availability of PMR analogue radio. On certain wavebands it was free to operate with a licence, a big consideration when mobile networks charged for every text! London comandeered most of the PMR frequencies thwarting plans for similar sysems in SE England.
I'm excited for this upgrade, understanding and improving London bus arrival times is one of my pet projects: https://pitchingbot.com/busmodel.html
Should have been a Collab with London centric
I meant to write could have been a Collab with London centric. Do Collabs exist on substack?
I'd rather see 'live tracking lost' than a bus vanish from the list. Those tell a waiting passenger very different stories, even if the underlying data failure is identical.
Thankyou James for a superb, very informative and really interesting article.
Like most people, I've also seen all kinds of gremlins on these countdown displays. For example, once when waiting for the Tiverton bus outside Exeter Central railway station, the bus actually split into two identical parts for a while, showing different times, before both disappeared off the screen altogether! Fortunately, the bus managed to glue itself back together, and eventually turned up albeit a few minutes late.
Like any technology, countdown displays can undoubtedly be useful, but only of course if they are reliable. I wonder how much user testing is done on such systems when installed, and whether there is any real commitment outside of TfL to improve them? Or is it considered more cost expedient to install a system, however good or bad, just so the box can be ticked to say that realtime information is now being provided across the network, regardless of how accurate this information actually turns out to be?
It would be great if buses were made far more reliable and frequent, then perhaps we wouldn't have to place so much reliance on realtime indicators anyway?
On footnote 11 then TfL has worked with Fix My Street for years about the boundaries between them and the respective boroughs so I think that part of this is a solved problem.
Fantastic piece, thank you. I’m interested in the switch to 4g or 5g. Given the difficulty both of those often have in providing a reliable connectivity /signal for phone use in London, will that be reliable? Or is it a different thing?
I think once 2G is switched off, 5G will become more reliable as the spectrum will be reused, so here's hoping it will get a bit better at least!
Other websites were using the TfL API to provide bus info long before Citymapper and Google Maps, although I suppose those are the ones that won the larger audiences.
The card readers currently in use are life-expired and also need replacing, so it'll be next-generation card readers being developed through a scheme named Project Hina that'll interface with iBus2. Their delivery is long-delayed too with the software side of things being a sticking point.
Recent board papers (https://board.tfl.gov.uk/documents/s27211/pic-20261007-item-13-part%201-Project%20Hina%20Update.pdf) rehash the scheme's background/aims but beyond the exempt portion of that document they're keeping mum on actual progress.