Comments on: Welcome news as London transport data opened up

By: Andrew Suffield

Andrew Suffield — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:12:51 +0000

Does this mean the data from my Oyster Card and the journies I make could be released to a commercial company?

No, that would be barred by the data protection act. The Oyster part is about the map locations of the sales machines.

By: Andrew Suffield

Andrew Suffield — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:08:19 +0000

you wait 10mn for a bus that was announced as 3mn when you arrived! and that even when there’s no rush hour traffic :-/

This is more subtle than it appears. There is a significant piece of policy regarding the operation of most busy bus routes in London: they attempt to provide a regular service, rather than one closely matching the scheduled times. This policy is applied to most bus routes which run at 10 and 15 minute intervals, and to a few on longer delays.

This means that when there are problems or delays, they arrange following buses to continue coming at 10/15 minute intervals, rather than attempting to realign on the published schedule.

The trackers in the bus stops are probably using the published schedule. This is completely useless for bus routes run on a regular-interval policy. What you really want is live data from the bus company, but I don’t think that is provided.

By: Keith Williams

Keith Williams — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 09:04:29 +0000

Does this mean the data from my Oyster Card and the journies I make could be released to a commercial company?

By: Mark Pack

Mark Pack — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:18:15 +0000

Sandra: free apps are possible too as far as I understand it from the announcement.

By: John

John — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:56:37 +0000

And, as fate would have it – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_scotland/10318511.stm

By: John

John — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 16:46:46 +0000

Ah well, it works in a compact and manageably sized city!

By: Sandra F

Sandra F — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:56:20 +0000

@John: the bus trackers at the bus stops in London are most of the time frustratingly wrong (you wait 10mn for a bus that was announced as 3mn when you arrived! and that even when there’s no rush hour traffic :-/)., so you basically better off ignoring them.. so I don’t think many people would pay for something so useless!

By: Sandra F

Sandra F — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:47:18 +0000

Nice! we might finally get a useful app for the journey planner (which is a right pain to use on a mobile!).
though I note it says commercial use, which I guess will prevent free apps

By: John

John — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 15:19:04 +0000

Edinburgh did the same on a smaller scale with real-time bus data and it has been a huge success.

2 different free apps have been developed that give bus times from any given point/nearest stop – similar to those bus stops that have bus trackers already installed.

Potentially huge in London.