Transport For Cornwall Web Site

The Transport for Cornwall project is slowly coming along and I see they have now updated their web site and separated it out from the Go Cornwall page. Screen shot from the new site is below. The white space in the middle does contain a diagrammatic map on the site which hasn't come through onto the screen shot sadly.       

Its still clearly a work in progress and it will be interesting to see how it develops over the coming months and hopefully will be completed before the summer season so it will be a lot more useful for holiday makers.

Simple is Best

All to often these days perfectly good web sites are being replaced by ‘new’ sites which supposedly offers lots of bells and whistles but are actually really awkward to use and more often than not less useful than the sites they replaced. Plymouth Citybus, Traveline and First have all suffered from this over the years. The Stagecoach issue is slightly different in that the current web site is an improvement on what was before, but it is still unnecessarily hard work to find what you need.

One local operator has redesigned their web site and has achieved the holy grail - a site which just works! Its easy to find what you want and its all very simple.

So lets see how Country Bus manage to get so much right:

very simple clean home page with links to timetables maps etc along the top. This is where it usually starts to go down hill…

Timetables

Nothing fancy, just a list of all their services in number order with no distractions.

so lets see what the 75 timetable gives us

Nice and simple and clean. There is even the ability to download a PDF of a print friendly version of the timetable. Excellent!

Now it would be nice to have a link on this page to go to the map - but otherwise it has everything you need.

Talking of maps - the maps link goes to a page that looks exactly the same as the timetable page - a very clean list of all their services including the 75 - so lets see what these maps look like

Again, a nice clean look with no distractions like massive bus stop icons that obscure most of the map (Traveline!). The web site seems to contain maps for all of their services too - another bonus.

You can get the latest news where they explain service changes. All too often this is missing from the smaller operators sites. 

and there is another page of live service updates

once again, keeping everything very clean and simple. I have also checked the site on my mobile - and again - it all just works. Probably the only thing which is missing from the site is bus fare information but that's missing from most operators anyway.

Congratulations to Country Bus - they have managed what so many operators big and small just don't get close to.

a decent web site that just works

http://countrybusdevon.co.uk/

Country Bus wisely don't have pictures on their web site - so here is one of mine!

Information at your fingertips? Part 2

It used to be difficult to get timetable information. You had to reply on being able to get printed booklets and leaflets and more often than not they were never available. There were reasonable full timetables stuck on some more important bus stops which were quite handy but otherwise you had to try and phone the bus company who seemed to take ages to answer but sometimes would then post you timetables. (Western National was always pretty good at this if you asked them)

Of course its all a lot better now. Now we have the Internet. A massive resource which all bus companies and local authorities, big and small have taken advantage of to supply bang up to date information on all their bus services along with plenty of notice of any coming timetable changes

The amount of time I have spent trying to put my regular Devon & Cornwall Transit post together and all the additional information which goes into PT Bus Services which aims to be the full service history for bus services in Devon & Cornwall has shown me that statement is far from the truth, and if anything, its actually getting worse…

The big three - Go Ahead (Plymouth Citybus), Stagecoach (Stagecoach Devon) and First (First Kernow) have all had updates to their web sites making them more corporate along the way which has left us all with a worse local experience than we ever had before. The aim seems to be set everything up to look good on mobile phones but in the process loose all the good stuff that was available on proper PCs. New all singing mobile apps which offer so much but deliver so little seem to be the way things are now. National web sites which local companies seem to struggle to keep up to date.

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So lets see how First Kernow are doing? They were having all sorts of problems with their service changes this weekend earlier with nothing appearing until very late in the day.

 

So lets have a look at News and service updates as this wasn't working recently

so 4 options - I would guess either Planned changes is the best one to start with - and yes - there is now a note about the changes due. Unlike Stagecoach the links to the timetables go to PDF pages that you can open and view rather than just download. Interestingly if you select the News and Service updates you also get the planned changes page along with a twitter feed which is a nice touch too - but then wouldn't it be easier just to have them all one page anyway so its clearer where to look? Not a big issue but it always helps to make things as easy as possible.

The twitter feeds at the moment includes links to the new timetables which is a nice touch…

if it worked! (to be fair they normally do work)

The timetables which do have links working are nice and tidy and print out as nice colourful PDF pages to a fairly consistent design.

You can just search for timetables and unlike stagecoach there is just one easy search box

so not as fussy as the Stagecoach search. The box did initial default to 251 when I tried to get the 25 as I that one is not yet in the Cornwall Transit as its taken First so long to sort things. However the results are clear and also give easy to read date ranges so you should be able to see which timetable to use. I am still not convinced you need a separate timetable for both Saturday and Sunday but I can kind of of see why some would like that.

The timetables they link through to are different to the PDF linked files. These are quite plain but they are pretty clear.

So - what about the routes themselves - are there any maps.

That looks promising

Routes and Maps link gets you this

so just a few town centres (still could be useful) and a network diagram (still for the summer times but most services don't change till later in September) so you clearly need the Route Maps link

Oh well!  I guess some First Group ops do have something on this page otherwise its not needed

All in all its a much better web site and easier to use than the Stagecoach site. There are gaps in map provision and the company do seem to have had issues keeping this site up to date at times but at the moment its not too bad. The next lot of timetable changes come up in mid September - so lets wait and see how long that takes.

While I am talking about First Group I have also had a look at First Wessex as some of their services creep into Devon. As you would expect the web site works in the same way and there is a good list of the services and changes from this weekend

which includes brief details and links to the new timetables

although, at the moment these links don't work!

One area that Wessex are doing better is with maps - click through to the Network Maps and you get a nice collection of bang up to date area maps and more…

The screenshot above does not do it justice as it has not captured the full page that well

Most impressive is the full local timetable book for September with all the times and maps. Excellent!

So come on Kernow - if you can produce something similar for your network for the winter timetable later in September then it will make life easier for everybody who needs to use your services. If they can just get the updates uploaded on time for the next changes…

Target Travel Updated!

Target Travel have finally launched their new web site! There are still a few rough edges (links to the maps go to the timetables)  but it does on initial viewing seem pretty decent and a lot better than the old one. If they keep it up to date then it should prove to be a lot more useful than the old one too!

Now also seems a good time to note their services over Christmas:

Thanks to Tristan at Target Travel for supplying the information!

The Information Age?

Plymouth Citybus finally have the planned timetable changes for 1st May on their web site:
Plymouth Citybus and Go Cornwall Bus Network Changes from 1st May 2016
To meet the changing  needs of passengers the following network changes will take place from 1st May 2016:

11/11A- Changes to timetable

Revised timetable- Minor changes to timetable to improve connections with through services from Padstow, also later evening trips diverted into Trago Mills due to their amended opening hours

27/27A/27B- Changes to timetable

Revised timetable- Morning and evening peak journeys amended to improve arrival & departure times at Derriford Hospital for shift workers.

42/42C- Changes to timetable

Revised timetable- Additional early morning trips added on a Saturday between City Centre & Woolwell

70- Changes to timetable

Morning school trips from Millbrook re-timmed so buses use the cliff road rather than Hounster Hill

71/71A- New Route- Summer Timetable

This summer will see the short 71's to HMS Raleigh extended to Looe & Polperro (renumbered 71A) This new summer service will combine with the existing 72 to provide an hourly service between Plymouth and Looe and Polperro
**Due to St Martins Hill being closed in Looe between 3rd May - 27th May an alternative timetable will be available on our website**

73- Changes to timetable

An introduction of a summer and winter timetable to reflect the extra volume of visitors in Looe over the summer period. Winter timetable will then commence on 1st October 2016. 

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I did think it was odd that it had taken Citybus so long to get the details on their web site, especially when they have always been so good in the past, but I have been given this explanation:
We have been having some major issues loading our new timetables to our website. We have been chasing our web provider all week to fix the issue but yet this has not been resolved. We have been able to load our customer notice that has gone out in the buses which give some information, but yes it is not good enough and for that I can only apologise. We hope to have this fixed by the weekend. 
The issues clearly have not been fixed completely yet as although timetables are now available on their site there are still problems.
The timetables for the 27 services are only available for journeys from City to Derriford, and not the return run.
The timetables for 42 42C are available for both directions but when you choose the day - you only get a choice of Saturdays!
There is a bit of potential confusion with the new 70/71s with one option for services “70/70A/70B/71/71A from 1st May 2016”  which offers Monday - Saturday times, then there is “70A/71 from 1st May 2016” which offers Sundays services. It could just be a little bit clearer!
There does seem to be a general trend these days with bus companies to revamp their web sites with supposedly more bells and whistles and fancy features but the end result is all to often less reliable information which is harder to find. This is more often the case with the big groups who often impose central solutions to local operators. The Plymouth Citybus site being a good case in point. There was nothing much wrong with the old website. It was easier to find things and the timetables were easy to read. The new site is clearly designed for mobiles but at the expense of larger PCs. I dont actually use the new site on my mobile at all, as I still use the First Bus App (!) which is great for its next bus facility and still works in Plymouth.
It just seems odd that that when there is more and more information available, it becomes even harder to get the information you actually want in a form that is useful. If you still dont understand what I mean by that - just read practically any post on the excellent and often controversial Public Transport Experience Blog!

Stagecoach reinvent the web

You wont have to look back through too many of my posts to pick up a few hints as to what I thought about the Stagecoach web site. It was quite frankly awful and extremely difficult to find anything without going through so many unnecessary steps and drop down selection boxes. They have been promising a new web site for a few months, but now a new one has finally launched. So lets have a look…

The Home Page

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/

Well straight away its a big improvement in that it looks clean and bright and once you have selected your location it offers a nice picture header.

So lets go Find a bus

So I search for the 3 and get a choice of several journeys which of course split the 3 into the two separate routes it now is.

Then you get this nice little page:

You get a full summary of the next journey on the route, and a map which you can zoom in . There links to download the page as a pdf or just print / email it. There is also a nice section for any planned service updates for the route.

So what about Planning a journey?

So we are looking for a bus from Derriford Hospital to Tavistock in the morning.

OK., so its not perfect, but its a lot better than the old site. It couldn't find Tavistock, but at least it offered me the alternative – “Tavistock Devon” which is close enough!

so lets ‘Plan my journey…

A very tidy chart with suggested routes, and even a good idea of the fares with a selection of tickets available

 

So last for now lets have a quick look at the Timetables page:

Nice and friendly and pretty easy to use.

You can even get a personalised timetable planner

 

which gives you handy links to alternative journeys, full timetable downloads and the option to save as a favourite which means you get easy access to the info you need.

 

I have found one or two little quirks but all in all it just works pretty well. It will be interesting to see how I get on with it over the coming weeks when I start using it ‘in anger’ rather than just playing around with it, but on first impressions its a winner for me. It does have to be said that the old site was so bad that this couldn't really fail to be an improvement, but all in all its a good job so far!

Citybus on the net - looking better on the smaller screen

You may have noticed – Plymouth Citybus have a new web site:

Initial impressions are fairly good with a nice clean design. Its not always clear where you need to click – actually the red +Read More lines are links. These make a bit more sense on the mobile version, which this site is clearly designed for, sadly slightly at the expense of those of us who use big screens. Citybus / Go Ahead are not alone in this by any means.

So, most importantly, what are the timetables like?

Now this is where we see that the site has clearly been designed for mobiles over anything else. The grey route information panels look great on mobiles but it all looks a bit too big and clunky on a full size screen. Anyway we click on a route to view timetables, Lets see the 72:

Now on my home PC using Chrome this isnt too bad but when I accessed this at work on a Firefox machine it didn't line up at all well. Hopefully for most people it will work better. You can see that you need to scroll the page left and right to view the full timetables. On a mobile it works really well. There is also a nice handy guide on where to catch the bus on Royal Parade which is a nice touch.When I tried earlier there was no way of downloading printed versions but this has now been sorted. This link does download a full timetable along with other detail and is designed as a double sided A4 landscape printout which can fold into a pocket size timetable.

The map is interesting as what you get are simple route diagrams rather than full maps:

On the mobile these dont show up at all at the moment. I am sure this will be fixed soon but its a shame that better maps can not be made available. If you click on route info you do get a full street by street description of the route which is handy.

So what else can we find?

 

and some pretty good information on the vast range of ticket options now available

 

We also get a link to their twitter feed but don't expect to see a lot on there. First are better at this than Citybus but they probably have a bigger team covering the larger area. (There were reports that First are scaling back their twitter updates on the railways though…)

Its early days so hopefully the few minor bugs will be sorted out (several of the minor pages have missing images at the moment – like the “Dennis Dart” page etc. It would be nice to see better mapping too.

One thing it would be good to see soon, especially as their site is designed for mobiles, is much better integration with the Citybus app. Surely it cant be too difficult to link to the new timetables etc from within the app? And then maybe one day we can start to see reliable real time information on all routes?

At the moment I use the First bus app which is by far the best app I have come across and is useful for all routes in Plymouth, not just First – I use it for the 50 all the time! Occasionally you get real time info but otherwise you can get next bus timetabled info for any stop.

What do other think about the new site?

The Dog is Back Online

Western Greyhound.com

After being off-line for a week or so, the brand new Western Greyhound web site is now up and running:
Our new site has been designed from the ground up to make the things you do most on our site easiest. Timetables, maps, departures times and even this news system are all designed to display information clearly. Be sure to have a good look around our new site and let us know what you think. Here at Western Greyhound we're trying to make travelling with us as stress-free as possible, and that's exactly what this site is here to do.

Initial impressions are pretty good. Its a clean design and all the useful links see to be available from the front page.
The News section is pretty much what you would expect. They will need to keep it up to date though, something which too many companies seem to forget.
The Tickets section is less than useful.
We do not currently maintain a comprehensive list of fares on our web site, but details of the various tickets available to you are outlined below.
For information about the cost of a specific journey or ticket (except Season Tickets) please don't hesitate to get in touch with the Passenger Information Team and they will do their best to help. For information about season tickets, please email ticketing@westerngreyhound.com and give details of the journey you want to make and the desired duration of the ticket.
I am not sure why they can't put full details on their season tickets on the web site. Its exactly the sort of information that potential passengers will be looking for when they come to the site. If those same potential passengers visit another bus company web site, say First Kernow for example, they will soon find out exactly what tickets are available without having to wait for a reply to an email.

Clicking through on the 593...

As you can see they use the Traveline timetables rather than their own. I know some don't like these at all, but in general I find them ok. They are not as good a some operators own productions but then they are a lot better than some others. If you click through on the large Print Version (PDF) you do get a timetable you can indeed print out, and has been designed to print on a A4 page. Something you can't do with Plymouth Citybus, and is also a bit rubbish on First.
So lets have a look at the map...

Oh dear! They would have been better linking through to the Traveline Maps, whilst not brilliant they do at least generally follow the roads.

The Coach Hire and Advertising pages are as you would expect them to be. The Links page is interesting...

Note the inclusion of First Devon & Cornwall, their main competitor! (but NOT Plymouth Citybus - who are supposed to link up with their 593 at Liskeard...). Well done Western Greyhound for this comprehensive list. I cant see First linking back to them though!
The Enthusiast link such gives you a mailing list you can join for now, and then we come to the FAQ page

A great idea but some of this is a bit out of date...
Who is Western Greyhound? Western Greyhound is a locally-based, family-run business that has been operating since 1998. We run an extensive bus network throughout Cornwall and into Devon, offering services which frequently connect together to provide excellent journey opportunities in the region. Our fleet can be identified by a smart green and white livery and our routes are numbered in the 500 series. Our buses are reliable because we take immense pride in ensuring a high quality of service, resulting in us recently receiving the prestigious national award for Operating Excellence for Small Fleets for two years running. The company continues to grow from strength to strength, having just taken over the Corlink service and also beating off stiff competition to earn the new Truro Park and Ride tender. If you would like to read a more detailed history of Western Greyhound, wish to view our fleet list or archive photographs visit our enthusiasts and photos webpage. (dont - its not there anymore)

Conclusion

All in all its a pretty impressive effort and a nice looking web site. There are a few issues which could be fixed quite easily, such as the missing information on bus tickets, and the maps clearly need a bit of work if they are to be of any real use. Its very early days for the new site so there are bound to be a few missing links and out of date information. As long as the company keeps the site up to date with news and timetables then it should be a successful web site. Its certainly a lot nicer to look at than the First Cornwall site, and a lot easier to use then the awful Stagecoach site.

The News

• Focus Transport: Wetherby man launches Supreme Court bid in bus access row
  A disabled man who won a court ruling over bus wheelchair access which was later overturned has launched a bid to take the case to the Supreme Court. Doug Paulley, from Wetherby, was denied access to a First Group bus when a woman with a pushchair refused to move

Recommended Reading

• The Circle of London Blog: Route 488
• Humber Transport: Lambwath Road regains bus service
• Ipswich Bus Blog: DAY TRIP TO NORWICH
• Norwich Buses: 2005 week specials - The Finale
• Norwich Buses: Around the UK
• Norwich Buses: New Sanders timetables released
• Norwich Buses: Sunday odds and ends
• Public Transport Experience: Silliness at Stranraer [2] From Train to Boat : but which Boat?
• Public Transport Experience: Replace a Pacer? (1 of a series) A Universally Reviled Train
• Public Transport Experience: Please Trace a Pacer (2 of a series) Birthday Burblings
• Random Streets: Gran Canaria, Canary Islands, Spain
• Steves Bus and Train Page: Ollie Video
• Steves Bus and Train Page: Weekly News Round Up

Target Derriford via the council

So we are looking for a timetable for the Derriford Hospital Park & Ride service as we are not happy with the poor information given to us by Target Travel themselves. Lets try the Plymouth City Council web site as they are pretty good these days. The home pages gives us a link to the Public Transport section

That's a useful link there for Park & Ride sites...but that only gives you the maps and details for the main Park & Ride services with no mention of the Derriford service at all. So lets go back to the Public Transport page. There are actually three links above all of which seem to point to bus timetables

 

Looking promising is the link in red. I shall ignore the link below as it warns you of a large download.

Looks quite professional and more importantly it seems up to date. There is an instruction panel so it seems to be reasonably easy to use so lets try the search button. How about entering “Derriford Hospital” in the keywords box – 14 results returned so lets scroll down through the list

60 George Interchange – Derriford Hospital – that sounds familiar Trouble is that link does not work! (Its just as well as its not been a 60 for a while). Maybe if we search “The George” 0 results! If you search on just “George” you see that its called either George Interchange or George Junction but you still just get the 60 route in the results – which still does not work. OK Lets try a different tactic – lets use the Contents button

If we click the button we see a filter box  stick the word Derriford here and you see a nice list of services down the side including PR3 – it seems we are getting somewhere at last so lets click the link

At last! Now I should point out that the first two times I clicked the link either nothing happened or it went to the wrong page but that maybe a one off as this time it worked and I got a nice easy timetable. Now why couldn't Target Travel have that timetable up on their site?

The service itself is very popular and seems to be running well. The drivers are friendly and the buses are nice and smart and comfortable new Enviro 200s.

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