please empty your brain below
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I saw this on the TV last night, and thought what a great idea. They are talking about introducing a system very much alike in my part of the world. But I was very surprised to learn, that not everybody has a smart phone!
Michael | 18.10.11 - 10:45 a.m. | #
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TfL claim to want feedback, so do tell them about the wrong stop numbers and that signs inviting texts shouldn't be put at terminating stops.
Timbo | 18.10.11 - 11:20 a.m. | #
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i've found this to be the best app out there, and it's been available for the last month!
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/london-bus-checker-live-countdown/id465042992
Geofftech | Homepage | 18.10.11 - 12:19 p.m. | #
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Surely it's breaching advertising regulations to advertise a premium rate text service without displaying the cost? Cost: 12p + standard network rate isn't a lot to add in
Another Andrew | 18.10.11 - 7:02 p.m. | #
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Good grief, what's wrong with the printed timetables that have served perfectly well for generations? They are not that hard to figure out.
Why do people need to know to the nearest minute how long they have to wait anyway? Planning ahead and taking time to smell the roses is becoming a lost art.
The only good reason for the countdown is perhaps when a bus is unexpectedly taken off, either way we have no option but to deal with it!
It's a nice touch, but surely there are better ways to spend their money!
CornishCockney | 18.10.11 - 7:51 p.m. | #
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CornishCockney - where are these timetables that serve the passengers so well? A panel telling me that buses will run every '9-14 minutes between 0630-2400' is not terribly useful - especially when gaps of 20-25 minutes aren't unusual. That is time I could be spending in my warm house with a cup of tea, hitting F5 on a TfL web page. When it gets down to the length of time it takes to walk to the bus stop, plus a minute or two extra, off I head. It has been a gamechanger here, members of this household have started using a (notoriously unreliable) local bus service again thanks to it, instead of taking a bus/tube combination that takes longer.
Sensible planning ahead, I think, especially in parts of London where you don't want to hang around outside at night waiting for a bus for long. There are people who will find that very useful, IMO.
Nico | 18.10.11 - 9:02 p.m. | #
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This is no doubt an excellent innovation, but I have been disappointed a couple of times when a bus that was meant to arrive in a few minutes has not turned up when it was said it would, and updating the countdown has shown it still just as far away as before. If I remember, it took about 15 mins for one bus due in 4 or 5 to turn up. Ho hum.
Andrew | 19.10.11 - 8:59 a.m. | #
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@ cornish cockney. We only have the individual panel timetables at stops and these tend to just show an interval between buses rather than the minutes past each hour when a bus is due. London has not had conventional timetables for many years now. The only place to find something akin to them is the privately run London Bus Routes site.
Countdown is a definite plus as it gives you real time info and allows you make informed decisions about when to go to a stop or to decide to take an alternative route if there is a gap in the service. Alternatively you can be happy a bus is due in 2 minutes or resign yourself to the wait with a degree of confidence as to the arrival time. It is uncertainty that makes people cross about waiting for bus services. Countdown helps to remove the uncertainty.
PC | 19.10.11 - 11:05 p.m. | #
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Totally agree about the lack of publicity for anything other than the revenue-raising SMS Countdown service - which is why I launched this hastily cobbled-together, amateur effort at guerrilla information provision a few weeks ago:
http://www.digitalhome.plus.com/qrcountdown/
It, erm, hasn't really taken off. Nice thought, though, eh? :)
Paul | Homepage | 21.10.11 - 5:56 p.m. | #
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Interesting how this is a 'new innovation' for TfL when an almost identical service has been on offer for a good few years in other areas of the country...
RG | 22.10.11 - 11:44 a.m. | #
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The link to "tfl.gov.uk/terms" actually goes to "tfl.gov/uk/terms", and so does the extract. Also, 3b) refers to the Hancock Road stop as "76063" (which is actually near Kingston), although the link is correct.
Otherwise, good post! And I'm glad I read your preview a month ago if TfL are going to try and defraud passengers like this by getting them to spend money on info available for free.
swirlythingy | Homepage | 22.10.11 - 2:02 p.m. | #
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wish I'd seen this before my new phone was charged £4.50 last month for using the text service! Cheeky Bas****s! .........
Riddlywalker | 07.12.14 - 3:16 p.m. | #
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