In my InBox

Tuesday 3rd November 2026

Time for another delve into my in-box from the past month.

BustimeFiinder.com

Narendhiran Vijayakuma, the founder and administrator of a new website called BustimeFinder.com, emailed me to let me know about the work he’s been doing to develop an “independent, advertising-supported bus-information website. It brings route and stop search, published timetables and available vehicle reports into a browser without requiring an account.”

It’s impressive to see what he’s done so far (in not only the UK, but Internationally) with the website combining the best bits of bustimes.org as well as Google maps.

Clicking on the live map icon brings up the location of almost 50,000 buses and services, over a million bus stops and almost 1,300 operators. I particularly like the ability to click on a vehicle icon in real time mode and the route for that bus appears. It just seems incredible to me you can go from seeing every bus in the UK out on the road (assuming it’s transmitting data through GPS as required by law in Bus Open Data) and zoom right down to the detail of a particular journey – how it’s running compared to the timetable and even the livery of the bus.

Definitely one to watch as Narendhiran develops it further although at the moment a glitch means it doesn’t work in Safari but is fine in Google Chrome.

What’s the time in Sheffield?

My thanks to blog reader Chris who recently noticed while on platform 5 at Sheffield how the time on the departure listing display (on the left) at 7:43.18 is four minutes and nine seconds later than the time shown on the next train departure sign (on the right) at 07:39:07. How strange. I wonder if last week’s clock change for BST/GMT has corrected that.

Next Stop End

Thanks also to blog reader Duncan who sent me these photos following a member of staff playing around with the way next station information is displayed and announced on Thameslink trains.

Duncan explains “Thameslink have updated their customer information screens for no apparent reason and included a circle on the left of the screen saying ‘end‘and ‘destination’ – it makes zero sense at all? Unless I’m missing something? Also, they’ve changed the audio announcements from “we will shortly be arriving at XYZ” to be “we are now approaching XYZ” and ‘this train terminates at XYZ’ to be ‘this train is for XYZ’. So what customer benefit does any of the above bring”, Duncan rightly asks? “It’s tinkering for the sake of it for zero benefit! Just crazy!”

And all the more so, as Duncan got in touch again with examples of how the new displays are now messed up.

Leave well alone is what I’d say. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Don’t mention the hospital

Glyn emailed to tell me he “travelled to Torbay Hospital today on the relatively new route 27 from Paignton. This was heralded as a vital new link yet nowhere in Paignton bus station does it say the bus goes to the Hospital just says the Willows or just the route number.”

On the positive side, Glyn added the “bus had about 10 passengers on the way out, five for the hospital and five on the way back including three from the Hospital including me. Quite a few people were confused on the way to the hospital as it is not routed via Torquay and if the timetable cases are anything like those at Paignton I can totally understand why.”

At least Stagecoach’s online timetable for the 90 minute frequency service does mention the hospital.

Slinky levels up

Readers may recall last month’s In-Box roundup contained criticism, passed on by Peter, printed in the Somerset Leveller weekly publication about the Council’s DRT service branded as Slinky. Peter kindly sent me the follow up edition which showed how Slinky’s PR people had been at work heralding a more positive spin on the service. “Somerset Council, which operates the Slinky service, said journeys sometimes could take ‘longer than expected’ but that problems were not common. And in response, Leveller readers have spoken of their support for the Slinky, among them was 74-year old recovering cancer patient Margaret Clarke. “Before, I couldn’t get the bus because if there’s a step, I can’t get on” said Margaret. “If I had to get to Taunton, I had to struggle to get a bus to Yeovil I could get on, then get a bus to Taunton. Then the Slinky comes along and I can go to Taunton, to Langport, to Somerton, even Bridgwayter if I wish. It’s marvellous, it’s a lifesaver.”

Peter also added in his email “Somerset appear quite keen on bus franchising, they currently run a large fleet of minibuses, including the 68 to Yeovil Junction. The other Sunday the rail replacement service from Yeovil Junction collapsed mid afternoon due to the Excelsior coaches returning to base having run out of hours, no replacement coaches were available leaving passengers to try and get a Taxi to Crewkerne, also leaving the YJ person in a difficult position. It appears to be due to the lack of accessible vehicle availability. The Exeter service is still 2 hourly due the track condition.”

“The latest Somerset Leveller contains the timetable for the Glastonbury-Castle Cary service. We were on holiday near Rye in July, and one of the local parish magazines, can’t remember which one, had the local bus and train timetables in it. We did use the local buses and trains, as we do when on the North Norfolk coast, where possible.”

£11.90 compensation for a night in Manchester

Harry emailed me following my updates on experiences using Delay Repay with his own recent awful experience, and what a sorry tale it is.

“I was travelling between Leeds and Liverpool after attending a conference. Due to Transpennine upgrade works the line through Huddersfield was shut with services diverted via Dewsbury. I boarded my train at 19:30 and after several minutes at the platform the conductor said over the tannoy we were waiting for a red signal. Nothing especially unusual.

“A couple of minutes later the conductor spoke again to announce that the train was being cancelled and all passengers must disembark and await further instructions due signal failure (theft of cabling) at Dewsbury. After waiting on the platforms for a good hour with no communication, information was given advising passengers to board a Northern service to Manchester via Halifax. This train duly truddled into the station and typically was only 2 carriages leading to the inevitable chaos. At this point I took the opportunity to check connecting services in Manchester (they were running). I boarded and we made the slow journey to Manchester standing the whole way.

“On arrival in Manchester Victoria station I eventually managed to track down a staff member who advised all onward services to Liverpool from the station had been cancelled with no rail replacement service provided. This is where everything started to go wrong. I asked for advice on what to do (it was already after 10pm). I was told to catch the tram to Piccadilly and board a service to Liverpool there. Typically the trams were shut for engineering works so I and several other passengers formed a walking train to piccadilly. By the time we reached the station it was 11pm. Glancing up at the departure board, suspiciously I spotted none listed for Liverpool. I managed to find what seemed to be the only Network Rail staff member on duty. He informed me that all onward services to Liverpool had been cancelled and no rail replacement would be provided and I should speak to staff at Victoria. He was very apologetic but I wondered what to do as I was fed up with traipsing back and forth.

“No taxis were willing to drive to Liverpool for anything resembling a reasonable price. After much hurried searching I managed to find a cheap hotel room and decided to wait until the morning to travel back.

“In the morning I walked down to Victoria to see if my ticket would still be valid but was faced with the perennial problem of “I only deal with northern trains mate” at the ticket office with no TPE staff on duty. This despite them both being publicly owned. Fortunately the staff at the information point were more helpful and managed to dig out a paper form however this could only be used for Northern services so was no good. Eventually they found a form which could be used on TPE services. I arrived in Liverpool 16 hours after I set off. Later I tried to claim the hotel cost (less than the price of a taxi) back to the rail operator but it was declined so instead I was repaid the princely sum of £11.90 after contacting customer services.

“It just struck me as very disjointed and systematic of the lack of information available to passengers. Whilst the cable theft was largely unavoidable, the resulting chaos was. Fortunately I am reasonably familiar with rail travel, I pity those who aren’t. I dearly hope that GBR will lead to more joined up thinking and working but I’m not holding my breath!”

More on Chathill

John emailed following his recent experience using Borders Buses route 918 to and from Chathill. “I wrote this in response to your Chathill blog before I realised the Comments were closed! I tried the morning journey as part of a day out on our annual holiday at Seahouses, starting off to Newcastle. Since your blog the 918 has been revised so that the morning journey starts back from Berwick at 0549. Instead of returning to Belford it now returns dead to Seahouses forming an 0730 to Alnwick. The evening journey from Chathill is incorporated into a peak hour departure from Alnwick. I think the minimal train service has more to do with the inertia from franchising. We have the same on the Norwich to Ely line with the sparse service to stations such as Harling Road which I’m convinced would be better used.

“The total journey time to Newcastle is obviously tempered by the trains being recessed to be overtaken. For a short while connections from the Northumberland coastal villages were improved by the trunk X18 serving Alnmouth station but they then reverted to missing it by half a mile. I was however pleasantly surprised to see that the summer increase from 4-hourly to 2-hourly service is being continued after the end of the season. For all practical purposes long distance journeys such as ours, Sheringham to Seahouses, are served better by going further north changing at Berwick. Except that last December’s changes on LNER spoiled the best connections!”

Stephensons “need to up their game”

Blog reader Derek who keeps me up to speed with developments in Shrewsbury has recently had issues when in the Saffron Walden area. He told me “I thought I would try Stephensons out, in order to see how things are going on the hourly 301 Bishop’s Stortford to Saffron Walden service. I wish I hadn’t as the 13.26 was cancelled, even though I saw the bus arrive in town that should have worked it. I can only therefore presume that there was no driver. I caught the 14.26 back to Stansted, but that was ten minutes late. A two hour gap on an important service such as the 301, is not good for Stephensons image. I would also add that the 13.30 (316) Saffron Walden to Stansted Airport also never ran. So that was another two hour gap. I just hope that no one lost their flight as a result. Stephensons really need to up their game, otherwise they will end in the same boat as all previous operators have.” Let’s hope they do.

The wrong route 310

Many thanks to to Aaron, Amanda and Guy who kindly sent photos of TfL’s howler of inserting information about the changed route of its route 310 between Golders Green and Stamford Hill into the bus stops at Waltham Cross bus station where Arriva’s route 310 departs for Hertford. As mentioned last time, it’s up for an Award later this year in the ever popular category of Gross Incompetence.

John’s quartet

My thanks to John who sent a quartet of interesting obersavtions he’d recently come across including this intriguing use of platform 2 at Carlisle…

… an out of date timetable display “from 2020 in Dunbar High Street still misleading passengers despite Lothian Buses having taken over services in early 2024”…

… a one minute journey time on this timetable display for Stuarts route 240X between Carluke and Lanark, which John points out, “is 13 minutes faster than the slow coaches at JMB and First” for the same journey.

John also wrote about “the recent improvements at Lanark Interchange. Great to see such a spacious area for buses adjacent to the railway station although with very little in the way of passenger facilities.”

Bus stops accepting bank cards?

John sent me the attached two bizarre images courtesy of Google wanting to know if a couple of bus stops accept bank cards?

Coronavirus is back in Conwy

Stevie kindly sent me the above photograph of a bus stop panel he spotted in Conwy town centre where a number of core routes stop and where the Council and Arriva seem to be dealing with a fresh outbreak of Covid. Oh dear! He also passed on the photo below which is of a splendid mural to be found in a shelter at the station.

Patrick gets a reply WESTlink

Another subject featured last month was Patrick’s struggle to get a journey booked on the WESTlink DRT because the app didn’t recognise the bus stop where he lives. Patrick passed on the good news last week that his perseverance in getting this issue sorted is finally paying off following his involving a North Somerset Council councillor in the lack of any response. The Council’s Customer Services Officer is now investigating why there was such a long delay from it being first raised on 8th September and confirming the missing bus stops are now in the WESTlink system.

Winsford’s missing timetable

Gary emailed to tell me “my wife and I have recently moved to Winsford from Runcorn and I soon realised local bus services are somewhat limited. Nevertheless I noticed a D&G bus go past our house on St John’s Drive and was intrigued as the only bus service serving this area was the daytime stagecoach W7 town circular. I’ve discovered the D&G 37A now runs from Crewe via Sandbach and Middlewich to Winsford performing a small circuit in the north west of Winsford before returning, and this has replaced the W7. I contacted D&G to ask them to update their online map but have had to contact the council to request they amend the bus stop timetables which only show the bus going to Winsford library, which is about a mile away and hardly likely to encourage many people to use the bus. I appreciate that technically Winsford library is the end of the route before it restarts back to Crewe but this seems a missed opportunity to attract passengers for the railway station, industrial estate and on to Middlewich etc. If I hadn’t seen the bus I would never have known it existed as I have found no evidence that its introduction has been publicised to the good folk of Winsford. Such a shame as I fear that there is a very real risk that the 37A won’t get sufficient patronage to survive as it stands.”

And in further news, Gary emailed a couple of weeks later to advise “sadly I haven’t had a reply from my local council about bus stop timetables in Winsford , but in any event for me the bad news is that the works on the railway bridge by the station have uncovered major issues so the bridge now has a 7.5t and 20 mph limit. This means until the bridge is repaired much more extensively the 37 and 37A no longer serve the station. I hope the repairs are completed soon as I quite enjoy getting the bus to the station and the train to Liverpool.”

And Gary ended his email with an intriguing question…..

Does Liverpool Lime Street hold the record…..?

“Interestingly in Lime Street I counted seven different train operators: Avanti West Coast, LNWR, TransPennine Express, Northern, TFW, EMR and Merseyrail (on the subsurface line). I wonder if any other station can beat that?

I couldn’t think of one, but maybe blog readers can help?

Roger French

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