Bus Travel Where is the bus stop?
Where is the bus stop? Online bus stop enquiry service - just input your location, road or post code, for a list of bus stops within 1000 meters, select the stop and receive the next ten buses timetabled. The description and the map indicate which side of the road the bus stop details relate to. This site also has by far the most useful bus mapping - it works, no script or flash required- unlike those below- and shows all bus stops within a km of your location (or a specific stop if you prefer). Use the location flag symbols in preference to the blue Google bus stop markers which may be slightly off-place.
Bus times
Jump to Timetables links
I have included a form to use for National journies. Most of the journey data is fairly up to date but some elements (bus stop locations) may not be refreshed for some months. Live bus journey problems are only covered by individual operator web sites or twitter feeds.
Many map services require javascript - use the bus stop location service above for a plain no-script map. Traveline will also offer a PDF form of map.
Online general mapping services now link to UK travel information but require javascript (use the link at the top of the page for none javascript bus stop maps). Google maps uk -zoom in and then click the blue bus stop icon. Google can offer walking routes as well as bus services select the option Directions. Somewhat imperfect- in 2015 suggested I walk for 30 minutes instead of taking a direct bus due in a few minutes.
Immediately below, an input form for East Midlands England traveline for journeys to and from anywhere. They have restricted fare and timetable information. See next section for other timetables. Warning Beware the "towards" indications from Traveline, to travel from Stockport to Stepping Hill they suggest a bus "towards Manchester" - WRONG! Try "away from Manchester" instead. Traveline depends upon data supplied via a national arrangement and some sources may supply incorrect or corrupt files from time to time. Few operating SMA (Manchester) buses were listed for 2nd Jan 2017 and SMA were operating top secret timetables Jan 3rd to 6th- not even available on their own website leaving many people waiting for buses that were not running. Many bus diversions occur (sometimes for weeks) without any local notice or advice to Traveline.
National Journey Details
Do try not to call Travelines 0871 telephone number which is a premium call- as at 7/15 it cost 12p per minute PLUS the operators charge which may be over 40p per minute- total over 50p per minute! Definitely a premium charge. And they couldn't assist me when I was waiting for buses that never came either.
saynoto0870
BUS TIMETABLES East Midlands (places South of Cheshire and Yorkshire excluding TfL London area) ||
A useful site is tfgm - formerly GMPTE- timetable page covering all buses in Greater Manchester (timetables in pdf format)- these are the official timetables and you will see that the high frequency services still have the restrictions i "at least every 10 minutes" (no detailed data) and ii No part route services within those ten minutes. NB: This TfGM website is due to be closed and to be moved to an incredibly badly coded Groovy site which is rubbish, when that happens I will lose almost all local bus information.
The old county of Cheshire was split in two in 2009 (on 1st April no less) and subsequently subsidised bus services virtually disappeared, notably journies to neighbouring counties almost ceased.
High Peak Twitter
Bus route maps
Maps of bus services:
Cheshire West local area maps
|| Cheshire East does not believe in transport maps at all.Derbyshire ||
Greater Manchester bus route maps - the large area is split into several overlapping maps.
Lancashire have now joined Cheshire East and ceased to make bus route maps readily available on their web site. They have a javascript only web map that I am unable to use.
Free buses in Greater Manchester: :-
Important Note: Manchester roads are subject to wholesale closure for tram works, road works and special events. The shuttle buses divert without notice (in one case for 5 months) and without any indication of diverted routes. Cessation of routes for events may be marked on stops. Diversions are usually not indicated on stops. Treat the online maps as indicative and be ready for a long walk.tfgm metroshuttle maps
Travelling in Manchester? Note that the tram and rail networks are subject to significant works. The tram service between Piccadilly Station and Victoria Station has been cut back to one tram every 12 minutes (Route Bury-Etihad, Line G) but is augmented by Metroshuttle bus 2 which runs daytime only every 12 minutes. Trams are subject to frequent bus replacement which is not always clearly indicated or signposted. The tram web site can be wrong. Additionally, there are frequent road closures and bus diversions in Manchester. It is best to avoid Manchester or assume an extra hour on your journey and note it is often faster to walk due to severe traffic congestion. Public transport across Manchester in 2017 is not very good.
Twitter feeds for: Stagecoach Manchester ||
High Peak buses
UK Train times and fares:
CARE- There are a lot of engineering rail closures especially at weekends - and none of the following sites are fully up to date as the track owner is not telling the
operators in time. Treat all sources of information with doubt especially if your journey is more than a week in the future! Take plenty of food and drink as even a local one hour
journey could end up taking four hours (discovered the hard way...).
When travelling, beware of using the so called "information points" at railway stations. Some of these are operated by National Rail and will only make a time restricted telephone call to their off-shore call centre, where English is poor, and information is less than is available on line. They can offer no assistance if you need help and no information on any operating problems. Only the current timetable. The calls are automatically disconnected, usually before you receive any information. After our own nightmare we heard of a family in Norfolk similarly stranded with a no-help-at-all help point who were forced to call the police for assistance when stranded with a young family for several hours and an entirely unhelpful off-shore call-point service. Use a mobile phone or phone kiosk to call the station operator- the number may be on a poster at or near the station.
To access the official railway data, no javascript or cookies required- use Accessible UK Train Timetables National Rail (Mobile) website HAS a mobile version but will redirect most devices to the none-mobile site if it doesn't think you really are using a mobile phone.
Enjoy reading
Today's UK
train delays -and Cleared incidents - note
that the 2004 revamp of the site seems to have caused it to miss a lot of serious delays,
or report them later. Local North West delays seem almost never to appear. Northern
Rail have now contracted out their own journey problem reporting to
Journeycheck but they don't always show a resumption of services. Current service updates may be well down the page- search for "service update".
WALES : Also having cancellations not always listed on Nationalrail are Arriva, whose passenger information displays are often wrong, whose information points have none, and whose web site is unuseable. They are also overwhelmed with passenger complaints, in 2015 taking sometimes over six months to respond, well outside their ten working day target. Travel by train in Wales at your own risk! 2016- However... an email to their web supplier seems to have resulted in this Arriva train disruption page. Note however that despite Arriva Wales SAYING they will improve passenger information on disrupted services, they have in reality actually reduced that information and you will often find yourself on a bus you didn't know about (or standing on a platform as a replacement bus whizzes past outside!) or stranded in the middle of uninhabited countryside with no assistance.
UK Live Arrival and Departure Boards has the web equivalent of the tv monitors you
see at railway stations, giving arrivals and departures in the next few hours. NOTE a train shows as NO REPORT until it passes a reporting point. From NationalRail
but you do need the absolutely correct station name (or code).
An alternate using Open Rail data is Trains.im which lists trains arrivals and departures in scheduled order- click the blue train code at far left to find out its current times.
An interesting site with details of booked train paths including freight and steam specials! - this details trains booked to use the line. The train may not run or may be delayed or cancelled. Generally, engineering works will be allowed for a day or two before the journey, but not emergency works. The headcode (eg 1G45) indicates the class of train- starting with a 1 or 2 for passenger, and 4,6,7,8 for freight while 5 is empty carriages. The Ind code may be Working TimeTable(WTT), Variation (VAR), Short Term (special- generally needs up to an hour to be passed around the system once started) (STP), or CANcelled. Click on the headcode for route information. Enter a station, site or junction name. Pass means it passes the point without stopping. NR means No Report- if you see this at a station the train is meant to stop at, the train may have been diverted at short notice.
As an alternative, requiring javascript to work but with more data than the above- Open Rail (Charlwood House) live rail - requires TIPLOC code or station 3 letter code for best results (see next link). Better at tracking diversions- you need to locate the train on its scheduled route then select the train to find out where it really went.
Station codes - eg three letter station (TLS) codes used for example by manual ticket office or train crew machines, useful if you are told they can't issue a ticket to a station. For example in Manchester a ticket to TLC /CRS/NRS MCZ (which may print on the ticket as Manchester CTLZ) includes travel on central zone Metrolink trams from your central Manchester rail station of choice to the city centre. TLC codes originally referred (as CRS or NRS) to Reservation Systems and are now used under the generic title "three letter codes" for station locations.NLC code for Manchester with central Metrolink travel is 0451 (sometimes as 045100), compared to Manchester Stations which is 0438. Link to Phil's web site with list of CRS (aka TLC and also NRS), NLC , TIPLOC and STANOX codes. .
Railway fares in the UK are a nightmare, and very often the headline price - the one you will probably be charged- is not the cheapest fare available, despite regulations to the contrary. You can also lose a lot of money in penalty fares if you accidentally get on a train not appropriate to the fare you have paid- and it is very none obvious. While I don't like linking to sites that require javascript, hurrah for a US based website that gives FULL details of ticket restrictions and fares.
"Any permitted route" appears on a lot of tickets - but what routes ARE permitted? Not easy to find out and not all obvious routes are permitted while some odd ones are- ATOC routeing guide to the rescue. A set of PDF files which, if you work through them carefully and as directed will tell you just how complex routeing really is - and what is and isn't permitted. Be sure to check the "easements" section as some are negative easements, forbidding journeys more generally permitted. Unfortunately permitted routes seem to be changeable without notice and apparently without any formally recognised procedure.
Twitter feeds for: Northern Rail ||
Metrolink (Manchester)
If you are looking for UK tourist information, best of luck, there are many content-less web sites out there with just a few really useful ones for specific localities. Generally I find the various UK tourist information centres something of a waste of space, the useful TIC is a rarity to be treasured.
