GoTimetable Seaton (2)

Going Deeper

But first, fbb went to search for the new service 9 and 9A from Stagecoach Devon; the 9A being the former 52A extended to Lyme Regis and renumbered.

Calling up "9" on Stagecoach Devon's super-smashing (and ludicrously expensive) new web site offered only the following.

Clicking on the first "9", we get:-

But, helpfully, the second "9" reveals:-

But do not be dismayed, the very latest timetable is delivered from the third click.

fbb understands that the company is considering offering a prize to anyone who can discover the difference between the three timetables and when each is operating. Such is the delight of searching for timetables on line. Such is the delight of searching for timetables on line. Such is the delight of searching for timetables on line.  

Back to the comparative sanity of the GoTimetable app for Seaton, availabler  FREE  at the Google Play Store from Monday 11th April.

Yesterday we saw the basic provisions of what we must call "this exciting new app" (read again).

 Detailed search 

Android phone aficianos will be familiar with icons at the top of the screen

The table ternnis bat is, fbb has been infromed, a "search" icon. All we have to do is tap it and ...

... search. If you enter a number it will find the tables showing that route number.

Input a place name (or part of a place name) and ...

... you are given ALL the routes that serve that stop. Search for "ham" and you will get all tables service places with "ham" in their name.

Silly, but such a text search can be helpful; if you can only remember a bit of the name.

This powerful facility with fast speed delivery can only work so well because the app has been downloaded; all the data is stored on the "device" and roaring to go. fbb leaves his reader to experiment with this useful thingey once the app goes live on Monday.

 Detailed select 

Now we move to the three dots icon at the head of the service list. Android users will expect some sort of menu and they will not be disappointed. Once you have chosen your timetable tap the three dots and this menu appears.

At First glance, it looks just like the facility for tapping on a stop name in the timetable itself. But it is here that a GoTimetable app really Goes the extra mile

Tap "Choose Departure Stop" asnd you get a "Main Stops" Menu. This is the timing points from the timetable with extra useful stops shown in italics. These italicised locations are not in the basic timetable that we have examined before.

Tap Health Centre for Hospital and sim-sala-bim it will be added to the timetable and highlighted.

We can do the same for any "main" arrival stop, e.g. Sowton Park and Ride ...

... and it, too, will be duly inserted into the standard display.

Wowsers!

 Advanced time 

We can, of course, choose a departure time as before ...

... and the next available journey will be highlighted.

You will have to scroll down to see the arrival point. But GoTimetable Seaton Goes one better.

Tap the DEPART NOW checkbox ...

... and the app will show the next available journey based on the internal clock of the Android device. fbb tapped at about five minutes past five.

The next departure from the Health Centre is 1721. Now comes the really clever bit. As is usual on the app, the little black bar at the bottom of the screen reminds the user what he has chosen ...

... what the time "now" is; and ...

... how long you have got to wait until the bus is due.

Time for another cup of coffee!

And what happens when the 1721 comes and you have missed it?

Woo; it just hops over to the next journey and starts counting down again.

Time for a bundle of fish and chips!

 All stops? 

But finally, for today at least, readers may remember the "main stops" menu. Alongside it was an all stops option. Its purpose is obvious from the name. The user can now tap "All Stops" and choose from every stop along the route ...

... but because stops are close together, the time is now given for the previous "main" stop.

Yes, GoTimetable is an electronic timetable book, but it Goes much further.

Tomorrow, maps.

 Next "GoTimetable" blog : Friday 8th April 

GoTimetable Seaton (1)

Is This the Answer?
It all began with this:-

See "Goodness Gracious Me! (episode 1 indeed)" (read again)

See "Goodness Gracious Me! (episode 2 indeed") (read again)

The idea of having public transport information available on a downloadable app seemed a winner. This idea was reinforced when fbb and No 3 son paid a visit to Sheffield last year. Son, having travelled around, was astounded by the poor information available; or, more correctly, NOT available. "We need to do something about this," he announced.

Between November 2015 and February 2016 work proceeded apace, allowing the newly formed team to have a working version available for demonstration to the powers that be.

The reaction was mixed, ranging from, fbb believes, a genuine interest from one high-up, via overt enthusiasm from some middle management (who were, strangely, bus users!) to another boss's politely expressed view that it wasn't necessary.

It was obvious that a real live demonstration for real live people was needed to help the "campaign" along.

GoTimetable for Seaton will be available  FREE  on the Google Play Store from Monday 11th April.

Tell us more, we hear the cry over the ether.

But first, a caveat.

As this blog was prepared, final tweaks were being made to the presentation, and so the detail may vary slightly on the release version. Nevertheless, let us take a look around.

 Downloadable 

This is the key to the success and power of the app. Software and timetable data are all downloaded onto the user's Android phone (iOS and laptop versions are coming soon) and is then ready for use at any time. It does not need "a good signal" - it is already there. It takes just seconds to download, by the way. Once in place, just click on the app's logo ...

... currently a clock, but this may change.

Immediately, as in the Sheffield version (above) you get a list of all the service in Seaton, Beer, Colyford and Colyton and selected connections available at Axminster.

 Timetables 

Click on the 52A "service card", for example and immediately we can see that there is a warning of impending change ...

... and information about where to look for a replacement.

The full timetable 52A scrolls vertically ...

... and horizontally.

The complete timetable is there (not just bits), plus the all-important reminder of the future change. Apparently the clever programer has made Android scroll up/down and left/right all on the same screen which he says is "challanging". fbb has no idea! Also, please note, all pages work properly in portrait or landscape mode and on Android tablets.

 Searching 

But we can do more than that.

Where is the journey planner, you may ask.

There isn't one.

By far the majority of bus users want to access a timetable. For the last few years "The Industry" has gone potty on journey planning but most passengers will only make simple one-leg journeys. They just want to know when the bus leaves, when it will get there and when to come back. "The Industry" has decided than there is no demand for a printed book any more; so it is more and more difficult for people to find what they want.

This was, and still is, the big beef in Sheffield after the disastrous changes last autumn. But the GoTimetable app can make some simple yet powerful searches.

Tap a departure stop name ...

... and the location will be highlighted.

Tap an arrival stop name ...

... and it, too, will be highlighted.

 Time 

Then the little bar at the bottom ...

... will invite you to  CHOOSE  a time. fbb is told that this procedure is a standard Android feature - even the chubby one can understand and work it!

Click OK and all the scrolling works automatically taking you to your chosen journey. Slidey, slick and quick.

It is so easy for an inexperienced user to see what is available, when and where. Why, people might choose to nip off to Waitrose to pick up some delectable comestibles on the bus. eople might (surely not?) start using the bus

And that illustrates the basics of a GoTimetable app.

 Locations

fbb's contribution to the project involves managing the data input, ensuring that stop names make sense to the user rather than fit in with some programer's obscure needs. So, for example, in yesterday's blog, fbb revealed immense confusion and misinformation about the "Museum" stop in Colyford. But there is no museum.

He has renamed the stop as The Wheelwright Inn ...

... and remembers stopping there (aged 10) with his parents for coffee. It was served in chunky brightly coloured coffee cups ...

... not very much like these.

But a cry goes out, "surely the only timetables stop in the village is Colyton The Elms?"

Indeed it is. But this is where a GoTimetable app Goes one stage (or even two stages) further.

As we shall see tomorrow.

 Next "GoTimetable" blog : Thursday 7th April 

Part 2 - Colyford; It's Worse ...

... at the Other Stops.

Mike, fbb's churchy chum, has a low opinion of public transport information as we saw yesterday. If he were to stroll eastwards from Colyford The Elms, he would come upon this view. On the left is the Wheelwright Inn and just peeping out from behind the first white cottage on the right is ...

Colyford's "Motoring Memoirs" is a museum packed with loads of old car "stuff"'

Only it isn't!

The museum, Motoring Memories, in Colyford, contained vehicles, pumps and motoring artefacts from the 1900s. Curator Robin Barnard said the costs, overheads and the time it took to run the museum had forced him to close the facility. He said hoped a buyer could be found for the collection. If not, the items will be sold at auction in 2012.

He didn't and they were.

But there are stops there according to Google Maps. There are stops there according to fbb's piccies.

The Museum is now an antique shop. But what stops there at the stops? The flags carry the X53 label, as we have observed before, and nothing else. There is no timetable frame. A tedious trawl through Traveline's stops lists reveals that the following services do or do not claim to stop at the (ex) Museum:-

First Bus X53 eastbound YES

First Bus X53 westbound NO

Stagecoach 20 eastbound NO

Stagecoach 20 westbound NO

Axe Valley 885 eastbound NO

Axe Valley 885 westbound YES

Axe Valley 899 eastbound NO

Axe Valley 899 westbound YES

Kingsholme, by the way is just after the left hand turn made by buses running from Colyford to Colyton. In the Colyton direction there is no stop pole or flag, but coming back via Colyford to Seaton we have a new variety.

It has a very fetching yellow stripe marked ...

   bus stop both     

 sides of the road  

... and below that:-

www.journey devon.info

There is no mention of Traveline. What is Journey Devon? fbb knows, but would Mike be prepared to find out?

We have already seen that X53 journeys to Exeter are near useless with just three trips at inconvenient times. But if Mike were very brave, he could walk westbound ...

... to Harepath Road. He needs to walk down Harepath Road to the stops at the small industrial estate where, yet again he is told that the X53 stops. Yet again there is no other information.

But fbb knows that Stagecoach 52A running every hour to Exeter stops here.

As he trudged down Harerpath Road, weary and frustrated at the appalling lack of useful information, his anger may have caused him to miss something at the very top of the road, on the right.

This stop is such a closely guarded secret that none of the Traveline timetable admits to its existence. Thus it will not appear on any of the journey planners either. 

But fbb thinks that the 52A for Exeter stops here as well.

Now, wouldn't it be nice of you could search for "Colyford The Elms" on your phone and get an instant list, independent of signal strength, of all services calling at that stop ...

... get a full timetable ...

... and select the journey you want?

That might actually help bus-non-user Mike to realise what his options might be without a gargantuan struggle.

So fbb will reveal, from tomorrow, how the residents of Seaton, Colyton, Colyford and Beer will be able to do just that from next Monday 11th April.

Exciting isn't the word (?)

 Next "GoTimetable" blog : Wednesday 6th April 

Part 1 - A Good Friend Recently Asked ..

... Why is it So Bad?

Seaton chum Mike is not an idiot. He is now retired but held an important senior post in industry and was in the forefront of installing computer systems overseas. He is older than fbb, fitter and more mobile than fbb, has a car and would only use the bus if either he were forced to at gunpoint or, possibly in the future, were unable to drive.

He is just the sort of person that "The Industry" should be wooing.

"Why," he asked of fbb at a church coffee morning, "after over 100 years of bus operation in the UK, is it so difficult to travel by bus?"

Mike lives in Colyford where he has a wide choice of bus stops. By far the best equipped is "The Elms".

It has lavish shelters in both directions.

Both stops have a "flag" which tells him that a service X53 stops there. There is also a label which reads "X53 Jurassic Coaster".

Is that the same as the bigger X53 above it? It might be if only Mike could read the small print.

Which is almost impossible from the "waiting position"

There is also a label for "Traveline" and a phone number. Even more helpfully, there are some timetables. fbb sallied forth and photographed them yesterday.

The X53 panel tells Mike that if He is stupid enough to want to go to all the way to Poole, He gets there at 1504 ...

... but he cannot come back on the same day. What the timetable tells Mike is that the X53 is an utterly useless service in whichever direction it runs.

But also we can see other services to Lyme Regis and the bus to Axminster.

These are headed AVMT; which begs the question, "how can Mike get in touch with these bus companies to make enquiries?" What IS AVMT? What exactly IS Traveline?  Can Traveline tell Mike the fare?

There's a customer service number on the First timetable.

What IS "customer service"? Can they tell Mike the fare? How would he feel if he knew that he was ringing an office in Southampton, just under 90 miles away?

And we must remember that this stop, The Elms, is the best equipped stop in Colyford. We will look at other stop options tomorrow but, for the time being, let us assume that The Elms is a suitable place for Mike to wait for a bus. May we also assume that he has a rough idea where he might be able to travel to from this stop?

Will the Village stores and Post Office be able to help? Might they stock copies of the excellent Devon timetable books?

Even if Mike could get one, it will soon be out of date. 

From  2nd May  the 52A becomes 9A. It doesn't serve Colyford the Elms, but Mike might find it useful.

The pathetic X53 becomes a less pathetic X52 on  8th May 

The 899 to Lyme Regis runs its last trip on  27th May 

The new East Devon booklet is valid from  31st May 

Mike is very computer literate, so he would perhaps go on-line for seek information. What would appear on screen if he typed in Bus Times Colyford?

885 - Traveline South West - English

Local bus, coach and rail information for Colyford - Carlberry.co.uk

Bus Timetable – Musbury Village

885 - Seaton -Colyton - Axminster – Bus Times

[PDF] 885 - Cartogold

[PDF] Exeter - Devon County Council X53 and X31 Jurassic Coaster Bus Services - Jurassic Coast

[PDF] Timetables for Service Number: X53

Colyford to Honiton by line 20 bus, taxi, car | Rome2rio

First Bus Service Timetable - Get Bus Routes, Schedules & Fares

[PDF] X53

[PDF] Local area map Buses Taxis - National Rail Enquiries Exeter to Colyford by bus, taxi, car | Rome2rio

Several of these links connect to (very!) out-of-date information; and nowhere in the first two pages of a Google search can we discover that the fount of all on-line bus knowledge is supposed to be Traveline.

But what is this?

Colyford to Honiton by line 20 bus, taxi, car 

Form a site called, scarily, Rome2rio.

When we exploresd the stop at The Elms, we found information for services 885 (Seaton to Axminster), 899 (Seaton to Lyme Regis) and X53 (Exeter to Poole if you don't mind being stranded there).

Nowhere in Colyford is there any indication that route 20 exists. Here it is.

A complete secret kept hidden from Colyfordians.

"Why," Mike asked of fbb at a church coffee morning, "after over 100 years of bus operation in the UK, is it so difficult to travel by bus?"

He's got a point, you know!

 More Mike's blog : Tuesday 5th April