• Bus app

    From Harry Bloomfield Esq@21:1/5 to All on Sat May 31 18:55:37 2025
    Has anyone found, one single, local bus time table app, which works for
    the entire country?

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  • From Theo@21:1/5 to Harry Bloomfield Esq on Sat May 31 19:19:17 2025
    Harry Bloomfield Esq <[email protected]> wrote:
    Has anyone found, one single, local bus time table app, which works for
    the entire country?

    https://bustimes.org/

    Also has live tracking of some buses.

    Theo

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  • From Harry Bloomfield Esq@21:1/5 to Theo on Sat May 31 19:44:37 2025
    On 31/05/2025 19:19, Theo wrote:
    https://bustimes.org/

    Also has live tracking of some buses.

    I already have that one, but I was looking for an app, which allowed the planning of a route city to city, rather than just within a city.

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  • From Tim+@21:1/5 to Harry Bloomfield Esq on Sat May 31 18:49:04 2025
    Harry Bloomfield Esq <[email protected]> wrote:
    On 31/05/2025 19:19, Theo wrote:
    https://bustimes.org/

    Also has live tracking of some buses.

    I already have that one, but I was looking for an app, which allowed the planning of a route city to city, rather than just within a city.


    Google maps…

    Tim

    --
    Please don't feed the trolls

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  • From Custos Custodum@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Sun Jun 1 00:36:38 2025
    On Sat, 31 May 2025 19:44:37 +0100, Harry Bloomfield Esq <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 31/05/2025 19:19, Theo wrote:
    https://bustimes.org/

    Also has live tracking of some buses.

    I already have that one, but I was looking for an app, which allowed the >planning of a route city to city, rather than just within a city.

    https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

    Covers most major destinations, and a few along the way.

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  • From Harry Bloomfield Esq@21:1/5 to Custos Custodum on Sun Jun 1 06:00:07 2025
    On 01/06/2025 00:36, Custos Custodum wrote:
    https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

    Covers most major destinations, and a few along the way.

    No, just one which works out local city to city routes, via local bus services...

    It seems that every city area, has it's own system, and the only way is
    to download the local app for that one area, despite there being local
    buses that run from one area to another.

    I was seeking an app which enabled the planning of a complete route, end
    to end, without having to resort to multiple apps.

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  • From Nick Finnigan@21:1/5 to Harry Bloomfield Esq on Sun Jun 1 10:48:55 2025
    On 01/06/2025 06:00, Harry Bloomfield Esq wrote:
    On 01/06/2025 00:36, Custos Custodum wrote:
    https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

    Covers most major destinations, and a few along the way.

    No, just one which works out local city to city routes, via local bus services...

    It seems that every city area, has it's own system, and the only way is to download the local app for that one area, despite there being local buses that run from one area to another.

    I was seeking an app which enabled the planning of a complete route, end to end, without having to resort to multiple apps.

    https://www.traveline.info/ manages some long journeys using several buses,
    but may give up with too many legs (e.g it will do Manchester to
    Northampton and Northampton to Great Yarmouth, but not the single journey).

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  • From Jethro_uk@21:1/5 to Harry Bloomfield Esq on Sun Jun 1 09:32:17 2025
    On Sat, 31 May 2025 18:55:37 +0100, Harry Bloomfield Esq wrote:

    Has anyone found, one single, local bus time table app, which works for
    the entire country?

    Don't be stupid.

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  • From Andy Burns@21:1/5 to Nick Finnigan on Sun Jun 1 13:04:01 2025
    On 01/06/2025 10:48, Nick Finnigan wrote:

    On 01/06/2025 06:00, Harry Bloomfield Esq wrote:

    I was seeking an app which enabled the planning of a complete route,
    end to end, without having to resort to multiple apps.

    https://www.traveline.info/ manages some long journeys using several
    buses, but may give up with too many legs (e.g it will do Manchester to Northampton and Northampton to Great Yarmouth, but not the single journey).

    The google maps app will do Manchester to Great Yarmouth on National
    Express via London

    I have no idea whether that's a better journey than via Northampton
    (probably, because it suggests Northampton to Great Yarmouth via London
    anyway)

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  • From Nick Finnigan@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Sun Jun 1 16:34:07 2025
    On 01/06/2025 13:04, Andy Burns wrote:
    On 01/06/2025 10:48, Nick Finnigan wrote:

    On 01/06/2025 06:00, Harry Bloomfield Esq wrote:

    I was seeking an app which enabled the planning of a complete route, end >>> to end, without having to resort to multiple apps.

    https://www.traveline.info/ manages some long journeys using several
    buses, but may give up with too many legs (e.g it will do Manchester to
    Northampton and Northampton to Great Yarmouth, but not the single journey).

    The google maps app will do Manchester to Great Yarmouth on National
    Express via London

    Yes, but if Harry really want to use bus, and not coach, google does not seems to allow the extra filtering.

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  • From Sam Plusnet@21:1/5 to Harry Bloomfield Esq on Sun Jun 1 20:42:43 2025
    On 01/06/2025 06:00, Harry Bloomfield Esq wrote:
    On 01/06/2025 00:36, Custos Custodum wrote:
    https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

    Covers most major destinations, and a few along the way.

    No, just one which works out local city to city routes, via local bus services...

    It seems that every city area, has it's own system, and the only way is
    to download the local app for that one area, despite there being local
    buses that run from one area to another.

    I was seeking an app which enabled the planning of a complete route, end
    to end, without having to resort to multiple apps.

    Next you will be wanting a single parking app which works, reliably,
    pretty much anywhere in the country.

    --
    Sam Plusnet

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  • From SH@21:1/5 to Sam Plusnet on Mon Jun 2 21:54:52 2025
    On 01/06/2025 20:42, Sam Plusnet wrote:
    On 01/06/2025 06:00, Harry Bloomfield Esq wrote:
    On 01/06/2025 00:36, Custos Custodum wrote:
    https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

    Covers most major destinations, and a few along the way.

    No, just one which works out local city to city routes, via local bus
    services...

    It seems that every city area, has it's own system, and the only way
    is to download the local app for that one area, despite there being
    local buses that run from one area to another.

    I was seeking an app which enabled the planning of a complete route,
    end to end, without having to resort to multiple apps.

    Next you will be wanting a single parking app which works, reliably,
    pretty much anywhere in the country.



    Clickety Clack into Google....... Tada!

    https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/05/parking-payment-app/

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  • From Nick Odell@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Tue Jun 3 10:31:18 2025
    On Sat, 31 May 2025 18:55:37 +0100, Harry Bloomfield Esq <[email protected]> wrote:

    Has anyone found, one single, local bus time table app, which works for
    the entire country?

    Are you thinking about cross-country journeys such as described in Bus
    Pass Britain (ISBN 9781841623764) or Bus Pass Britain Rides Again (9781841624655)? Most of the journeys in those books are actually
    single bus routes rather than linked and so far I haven't come across
    any books or web sites that do the linking for me but I'd like know if
    anybody else has.

    There's the Moovit app but it won't let me use it on the PC without my
    turning off ad blocking and I don't have an up-to-date-enough mobile
    phone to use it on that. There's Rome2Rio too which is quite good and
    fairly accurate but I struggle to make it insist on bus-only journeys
    rather than a hybrid approach and on the now rare occasions I want to
    bus long-distance, I usually sweat over a computer screen and scribble
    the routes down on a piece of paper.

    Nick

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  • From Sam Plusnet@21:1/5 to All on Tue Jun 3 19:52:52 2025
    On 02/06/2025 21:54, SH wrote:
    On 01/06/2025 20:42, Sam Plusnet wrote:
    On 01/06/2025 06:00, Harry Bloomfield Esq wrote:
    On 01/06/2025 00:36, Custos Custodum wrote:
    https://www.nationalexpress.com/en

    Covers most major destinations, and a few along the way.

    No, just one which works out local city to city routes, via local bus
    services...

    It seems that every city area, has it's own system, and the only way
    is to download the local app for that one area, despite there being
    local buses that run from one area to another.

    I was seeking an app which enabled the planning of a complete route,
    end to end, without having to resort to multiple apps.

    Next you will be wanting a single parking app which works, reliably,
    pretty much anywhere in the country.



    Clickety Clack into Google.......   Tada!

    https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/05/parking-payment-app/

    Don't you just love 'news articles' that start with:

    "You should soon be able to pay for parking across the UK"

    Where "soon" is doing an awful lot of work in that sentence.

    However, I was more intrigued by this:

    "The system is being developed and run by parking trade body the British Parking Association (BPA), though parking payment apps JustPark,
    PayByPhone and RingGo have all been involved in the process."

    So the people who earn money from the existing apps, are involved in a development which will put them out of business?
    I wonder what "involved" means here?

    --
    Sam Plusnet

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  • From Andy Burns@21:1/5 to Sam Plusnet on Tue Jun 3 20:00:24 2025
    Sam Plusnet wrote:

    Don't you just love 'news articles' that start with:
    "You should soon be able to pay for parking across the UK"
    Where "soon" is doing an awful lot of work in that sentence.

    Also the phrase "provided operators sign up to it"

    However, I was more intrigued by this:

    "The system is being developed and run by parking trade body the British Parking Association (BPA), though parking payment apps JustPark,
    PayByPhone and RingGo have all been involved in the process."

    So the people who earn money from the existing apps, are involved in a development which will put them out of business?
    I read it that the BPA is providing a common framework, and existing
    apps, or new apps can sign-up to use it, so eventually the number of
    parking apps will shrink to a handful through survival of the fittest?

    So far, I've got exactly zero parking apps installed.

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  • From Clive Page@21:1/5 to Nick Odell on Wed Jun 4 11:58:45 2025
    On 03/06/2025 10:31, Nick Odell wrote:
    There's the Moovit app but it won't let me use it on the PC without my turning off ad blocking and I don't have an up-to-date-enough mobile
    phone to use it on that. There's Rome2Rio too which is quite good and
    fairly accurate but I struggle to make it insist on bus-only journeys
    rather than a hybrid approach and on the now rare occasions I want to
    bus long-distance, I usually sweat over a computer screen and scribble
    the routes down on a piece of paper.

    I made the mistake of installing Moovit on my phone, but it was awful -
    huge numbers of pop-up ads that made it almost impossible to use, so I uninstalled it again. I have been using UK BusChecker but the latest
    version also imposes full-screen video ads that I find very
    objectionable, and it also doesn't have up-to-date bus info for my area.
    The timeliness of information is easy to check as the local bus
    company has changed the number of a local service twice in two months,
    just to be helpful.




    --
    Clive Page

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  • From Harry Bloomfield Esq@21:1/5 to Nick Odell on Wed Jun 4 12:37:04 2025
    On 03/06/2025 10:31, Nick Odell wrote:
    Are you thinking about cross-country journeys such as described in Bus
    Pass Britain (ISBN 9781841623764) or Bus Pass Britain Rides Again (9781841624655)? Most of the journeys in those books are actually
    single bus routes rather than linked and so far I haven't come across
    any books or web sites that do the linking for me but I'd like know if anybody else has.

    That is exactly what I am attempting to do, I have had a free bus pass
    for a while now, and just trying to make good use of it, deliberately
    going on the back road, to see the countryside.

    We did Leeds to Whitby, Whitby to Scarborough, Scarborough to Leeds, on
    three buses, last week and quite enjoyed it, not having to drive.

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  • From Nick Odell@21:1/5 to Clive Page on Thu Jun 5 08:58:05 2025
    On Wed, 4 Jun 2025 11:58:45 +0100, Clive Page <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 03/06/2025 10:31, Nick Odell wrote:
    There's the Moovit app but it won't let me use it on the PC without my
    turning off ad blocking and I don't have an up-to-date-enough mobile
    phone to use it on that. There's Rome2Rio too which is quite good and
    fairly accurate but I struggle to make it insist on bus-only journeys
    rather than a hybrid approach and on the now rare occasions I want to
    bus long-distance, I usually sweat over a computer screen and scribble
    the routes down on a piece of paper.

    I made the mistake of installing Moovit on my phone, but it was awful -
    huge numbers of pop-up ads that made it almost impossible to use, so I >uninstalled it again. I have been using UK BusChecker but the latest
    version also imposes full-screen video ads that I find very
    objectionable, and it also doesn't have up-to-date bus info for my area.
    The timeliness of information is easy to check as the local bus
    company has changed the number of a local service twice in two months,
    just to be helpful.

    Thanks for that, Clive. Now I know not to accede to Moovit's request
    to remove the ad blocker.

    Nick

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  • From Nick Odell@21:1/5 to [email protected] on Thu Jun 5 09:11:05 2025
    On Wed, 4 Jun 2025 12:37:04 +0100, Harry Bloomfield Esq <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 03/06/2025 10:31, Nick Odell wrote:
    Are you thinking about cross-country journeys such as described in Bus
    Pass Britain (ISBN 9781841623764) or Bus Pass Britain Rides Again
    (9781841624655)? Most of the journeys in those books are actually
    single bus routes rather than linked and so far I haven't come across
    any books or web sites that do the linking for me but I'd like know if
    anybody else has.

    That is exactly what I am attempting to do, I have had a free bus pass
    for a while now, and just trying to make good use of it, deliberately
    going on the back road, to see the countryside.

    We did Leeds to Whitby, Whitby to Scarborough, Scarborough to Leeds, on
    three buses, last week and quite enjoyed it, not having to drive.

    That's a superb route Harry - or it certainly was last time I tried
    it. It doesn't leave much time to enjoy either Whitby or Scarborough
    though. Or at least not for me since I actually start from
    Huddersfield. Leeds - Whitby only or Leeds - Scarborough only leaves
    me a bit more time to enjoy the coast.

    Due to Huddersfield railway station being closed for much of the time
    recently due to the Trans Pennine Rail Upgrade, I'm trying to find the
    best bus route between Huddersfield and Glossop for visiting family
    there. There's a bus I've already used between Holmfirth and Glossop
    but it only runs a few times in the middle of the day one day per week
    so I'm planning to soon try Huddersfield - Oldham - Ashton - Glossop
    and see how that works out. That's available all week round.

    All the best with your bus-hopping, Harry!

    Nick

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  • From Marland@21:1/5 to Nick Odell on Thu Jun 5 09:16:25 2025
    Nick Odell <[email protected]> wrote:
    On Wed, 4 Jun 2025 12:37:04 +0100, Harry Bloomfield Esq <[email protected]> wrote:

    On 03/06/2025 10:31, Nick Odell wrote:
    Are you thinking about cross-country journeys such as described in Bus
    Pass Britain (ISBN 9781841623764) or Bus Pass Britain Rides Again
    (9781841624655)? Most of the journeys in those books are actually
    single bus routes rather than linked and so far I haven't come across
    any books or web sites that do the linking for me but I'd like know if
    anybody else has.

    That is exactly what I am attempting to do, I have had a free bus pass
    for a while now, and just trying to make good use of it, deliberately
    going on the back road, to see the countryside.

    We did Leeds to Whitby, Whitby to Scarborough, Scarborough to Leeds, on
    three buses, last week and quite enjoyed it, not having to drive.

    That's a superb route Harry - or it certainly was last time I tried
    it. It doesn't leave much time to enjoy either Whitby or Scarborough
    though. Or at least not for me since I actually start from
    Huddersfield. Leeds - Whitby only or Leeds - Scarborough only leaves
    me a bit more time to enjoy the coast.

    The Monday to Friday start time of the ENBP varies with which authority
    issues it, most seem to start at 9.30 but some are 9 . The missis and I if
    we do a similar jaunt down into the scenic parts of Dorset don’t mind
    paying the £3.00 each maximum bus fair to get us well into the County . At the end of the day it can still work out cheaper than parking the car.
    The end of the day can catch people out , if you are fortunate enough to be able to use a route that runs late into the night then to use the bus pass
    you must catch a service before 23.00.
    We can get a bus to within 3 miles of home from a station 10 miles at 00.30 which means a day out in London and catching the last train back is
    possible leaving the car in a friends place so no parking charges. Weekends
    the bus pass can be used but weekdays have to pay the £3.00. Still cheaper than a days parking at the station but I have seen a someone else
    embarrassed to find their pass was not valid and moaning at the bus driver.
    Its actually got easier lately as the station forecourt (Salisbury) has
    been remodelled which now allows the bus to start from it rather than a
    brisk 10min walk to the street stop it previously started or terminated at.

    GH

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  • From David@21:1/5 to Andy Burns on Thu Jun 5 10:59:36 2025
    On Sun, 01 Jun 2025 13:04:01 +0100, Andy Burns wrote:

    On 01/06/2025 10:48, Nick Finnigan wrote:

    On 01/06/2025 06:00, Harry Bloomfield Esq wrote:

    I was seeking an app which enabled the planning of a complete route,
    end to end, without having to resort to multiple apps.

    https://www.traveline.info/ manages some long journeys using several
    buses, but may give up with too many legs (e.g it will do Manchester to
    Northampton and Northampton to Great Yarmouth, but not the single
    journey).

    The google maps app will do Manchester to Great Yarmouth on National
    Express via London

    I have no idea whether that's a better journey than via Northampton (probably, because it suggests Northampton to Great Yarmouth via London anyway)

    IIRC in the early days of the bus pass people were using long distance
    coaches to go on holiday for free.
    Coach firms kicked up enough stink that the free bus pass was removed from
    long distance coaches and remained valid for local bus trips only.
    So any route planner needs to be aware of this.

    Cheers


    Dave R


    --
    AMD FX-6300 in GA-990X-Gaming SLI-CF running Windows 10 x64

    --
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  • From Harry Bloomfield Esq@21:1/5 to Nick Odell on Thu Jun 5 12:57:39 2025
    On 05/06/2025 09:11, Nick Odell wrote:
    It doesn't leave much time to enjoy either Whitby or Scarborough
    though. Or at least not for me since I actually start from
    Huddersfield. Leeds - Whitby only or Leeds - Scarborough only leaves
    me a bit more time to enjoy the coast.

    We have been many times to these places, in the car, so this was more
    about the journey, and me not having to drive/being able to see some of
    the countryside.

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  • From Clive Page@21:1/5 to Nick Odell on Thu Jun 5 15:59:03 2025
    On 05/06/2025 08:58, Nick Odell wrote:
    Thanks for that, Clive. Now I know not to accede to Moovit's request
    to remove the ad blocker.

    Nick

    It's just occurred to me that I have here a good opportunity to put
    these various bus time apps to the test, as on June 1st Arriva Bus
    changed our local service from number 31 to number 1 (only the second
    timetable and number change this year). So Apps which lack an
    up-to-date timetable will show the wrong numbers. I've just done a
    Google App store search for something suitable:

    Citymapper: shows only route 31 services.

    London and UK Live Bus Countdown: shows only route 31 services.

    UK bus and train times: shows only route 31.

    UK Bus checker: shows a mixture of 1 and 31 services but the times
    appear to be correct. Bizarre.

    Moovit: not tried again as screen was over-run with popup ads.

    Arriva Bus: needs a user account before it will work, and has 2.9*
    rating. Used before and uninstalled in disgust.

    Meanwhile Google Maps doesn't show either of them, just route 46 which
    is just an hourly service from a nearby village.

    Conclusion: maybe UK Bus Checker is the best of a very poor bunch, but
    the UK is still waiting for an adequate bus time app in my opinion.

    --
    Clive Page

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