Arriva's revamped website

[upasalmon]

IT SUCKS

Arriva have made it harder to locate timetables. Bus operators seem to think one is only interested in the one bus route that goes nearest to ones front door at a particular time. I want to see OTHER routes as well. Transport for Greater Manchester have gone down this retrograde road after having the best timetable websites

 

[overthewater]

Why?

The new website at first glance look far better than the old one.

 

[507021]

IT SUCKS

You're entitled to your opinion, but I don't think this is a particularly constructive way of expressing it.

Why don't you like it?

 

[507021]

Arriva have made it harder to locate timetables.

Not really.

Hover over "Services and timetables" and then click on "Find a service" before either typing in the service number you're interested in or stating your intended start and end points.

Bus operators seem to think one is only interested in the one bus route that goes nearest to ones front door at a particular time.

Personally, I think it's common sense that bus operators prioritise showing the passenger which route is the most convenient for their planned start and end points for the day the time which they intend to travel. I don't really see the point of showing a route which starts a mile away when there's another which is much closer.

 

[freetoview33]

Arriva have made it harder to locate timetables. Bus operators seem to think one is only interested in the one bus route that goes nearest to ones front door at a particular time. I want to see OTHER routes as well. Transport for Greater Manchester have gone down this retrograde road after having the best timetable websites

https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/download-timetables
Gives a list of every service

 

[AB93]

https://www.arrivabus.co.uk/download-timetables
Gives a list of every service

Yes exactly - an eight page list of every single service in the UK, in incorrect numerical order. What possible use is that of to anyone?!

 

[GusB]

I have merged the original post with @upasalmon 's subsequent post to make it slightly clearer. I'm afraid that opening a new topic saying "IT SUCKS" simply isn't good enough and had it not been for other forum members contributions this thread would have been deleted from the outset.

 

[Hophead]

Good grief! Timetable presentation is is still laughably hopeless. They do seem determined to run their own subsidiaries out of business, don't they?

I've just downloaded a few timetables to see both Monday-Friday and Saturday times bizarrely divided into 2 random sets of times; it looks like every single stop is listed, so the timetables go on for ever and, where stops are close together, you get 2 or 3 duplicate times. The Sunday timetable for route 53 (Ewhurst - Guildford) apparently never even runs on a Sunday, as all journeys are noted " 1 Only During Bank Holidays "! There are no summary times, so you need to check 5 sections on 3 different routes to get the full picture of the service between Cranleigh and Guildford.

I don't think I've ever seen anything like it.

 

[Volvo142]

Checked a couple of Derby routes - they are nothing like the real versions - I don't even think they're the previous Covid version from before the last changes.

 

[Darandio]

It is fair to say that the OP could have been a bit more specific, but they do sum it up rather well!

Maps are a complete mess, at least the ones i've looked at. The 63 from Redcar to Middlesbrough being a case in point.

 

[alex397]

Hopefully some teething issues will be ironed out, but my first impressions is that it’s not really any improvement from the last website. Although it does at least look much better and less garish than the last one.

I think the list of every single Arriva bus service is flawed, especially without a search facility at the top of the list. And it is in computer number order, rather than the more human-friendly number order, e.g 1,11,101,2 rather than 1, 2, 3.

 

[Statto]

It's horrific, the timetable format is a mess as it has 1/10/100 to 109/10A/10B then 2/20 ecc, rather than 1/2/3 & so on, you used to be able to filter network area for timetables, network maps & the network maps seem to have disappeared, service updates is a joke, showing no updates for your region[North West] when they're major Arriva North West changes next weekend

 

[NorthOxonian]

It is fair to say that the OP could have been a bit more specific, but they do sum it up rather well!

Maps are a complete mess, at least the ones i've looked at. The 63 from Redcar to Middlesbrough being a case in point.

View attachment 82728

I noticed that as well - the X93/X94 are slightly better, but there are still bizarre straight lines between Scarborough, Whitby, Guisborough, and Middlesbrough. Very odd, and not present on their maps before the change.

 

[BradK2017]

It's horrific, the timetable format is a mess as it has 1/10/100 to 109/10A/10B then 2/20 ecc, rather than 1/2/3 & so on, you used to be able to filter network area for timetables, network maps & the network maps seem to have disappeared, service updates is a joke, showing no updates for your region[North West] when they're major Arriva North West changes next weekend

The maps are still available (if slightly hidden) if you go to locations > select your area > select your town & city it gives you the option of the areas route map or ticket zone map

 

[Statto]

The maps are still available (if slightly hidden) if you go to locations > select your area > select your town & city it gives you the option of the areas route map or ticket zone map

I got you, you can filter town or city too, by going to the locations & selecting a network area

 

[duncombec]

If I had to guess, I'd say the completeness or not of the "local" websites might be down to whether the relevant staff are still on furlough or redeployed. Some areas certainly seem more complete than others.

It looks cleaner and smarter than the old one, and ther are some bits they seem to have handled very well, but other bits (such as timetable presentation) is still shockingly bad. Fundamentally, though, it's new, and very different in look and style to the old one. It is going to take some getting used to, and it will probably be adjusted in time. Look out for one of those "how do you like our new website" surveys in the not too distant future...

 

[NorthOxonian]

If I had to guess, I'd say the completeness or not of the "local" websites might be down to whether the relevant staff are still on furlough or redeployed. Some areas certainly seem more complete than others.

It looks cleaner and smarter than the old one, and ther are some bits they seem to have handled very well, but other bits (such as timetable presentation) is still shockingly bad. Fundamentally, though, it's new, and very different in look and style to the old one. It is going to take some getting used to, and it will probably be adjusted in time. Look out for one of those "how do you like our new website" surveys in the not too distant future...

Fare information is somehow even worse than the old site - now you can't even find out the price of many period tickets, to say nothing of singles and returns.

As you point out, hopefully they will adjust it when they realise it isn't very good - but it's miles behind the Stagecoach site, for example. And that's far from perfect!

 

[Contains Nuts]

The format that the maps and timetables in seems illogical unless you have knowledge of the quirks of modern bus scheduling systems.

The entire website looks to me to be driven by a data format called TransXChange, which is a national standard that allows the export of timetable and route data into a common format.

In many cases for the data on this website it probably makes perfect sense to whoever is setting up the data for the vehicle schedules, but they may not realise (or understand, or care) that when placed into a different format (such as a PDF timetable or if used to create a map) then the results can look bizarre.

This is likely to become more prevalent over the coming months and years as the responsibility for providing data such as this moves from the local authority to the operator under the Bus Open Data scheme.

It would be a good website if they had taken the time to get their data in order before putting it into the public domain.

 

[43055]

Looking through the 8 page list of routes it seems that the routes which begin with a letter are not listed.

While the website design is better than the old one the timetables seem to have gone backwards. Looking at one of the Derby routes (1a) it starts off with 3 early evening journeys before going to the start of the day. Also the bus station arrival times are missing so if anyone is not use to the route may think the route finishes at the stop before and along with other routes the pdf thinks the route does not run on Sundays but does on bank holidays.

 

[Megafuss]

Can they not just use the timetable pdfs generated by the Scheduling software if they can't tart them up as those pdfs from the TXC files are horrific, like "Traveline" horrific

 

[Andyh82]

I wish they and others would stop doing websites that are ultimately national websites where you have to keep constantly filtering to select your region, it just makes it needlessly complicated. Most people in real life are not interested in timetables, fares, news etc etc from another region.

They should have arrivabus.co.uk/[region]

Although First's website isn't perfect, at least once you filter the region at the top, you are then firmly into your local operator from that point forward.

Those timetables are an embarrassment, some have so many stops listed, one journey goes across 2 pages, they are totally useless

 

[Non Multi]

"You can find all our timetables in one place!"

Quite literally!

 

[James H]

Roger French has a detailed write up of the “abomination”:

Arriva’s new website. A brutal review.

Wednesday 26th August 2020 It’s been trailed on social media as making “it easier than ever to connect with the people and places that matter to you”. Arriva’smuch vaunted n…

busandtrainuser.com

It gets a one star rating from me, and that’s being generous. Bring back the previous website famed for its mediocrity and clunkiness. At least it wasn’t offering comlete gobbledygook. This new abomination is the most unfriendly transport website I’ve ever come across. It’s clearly been designed and signed off by people who simply don’t use buses.

 

[carlberry]

Roger French has a detailed write up of the “abomination”:

Arriva’s new website. A brutal review.

Wednesday 26th August 2020 It’s been trailed on social media as making “it easier than ever to connect with the people and places that matter to you”. Arriva’smuch vaunted n…

busandtrainuser.com

I think he quite liked it really!

 

[Statto]

Roger French has a detailed write up of the “abomination”:

Arriva’s new website. A brutal review.

Wednesday 26th August 2020 It’s been trailed on social media as making “it easier than ever to connect with the people and places that matter to you”. Arriva’smuch vaunted n…

busandtrainuser.com

I've been reading that blog & that's brutal & he's not wrong, i have the same sentiments too, the timetables are cluster youknowwhat, every route Arriva operate is listed but the way they've done it is annoying as hell, you have to find each individual timetable for routes like 11/11A Chester-Holywell & 11X Holywell-Rhyl when they should be on the same timetable, & the full list of stops are listed in the pdf, making the timetable quite bulky to read, i prefer just main stops listed.

 

[Redmike]

Why can't they just put up pdfs of the timetables. First Eastern Counties have managed it even with changes due to the pandemic. Including route maps, fares etc.

https://www.firstgroup.com/uploads/maps/FEC-Ipswich%20Reds%2088%20-%20Bus%20Times%20from%2028-06-20.pdf

 

[Megafuss]

Thought I would give it another go this morning. Tried looking for a network map and gave up. Planned a journey from Hexham to Berwick Upon Tweed, no trips found despite them running the services.

If regular buses users can use it, god help them trying to get new customers

 

[Statto]

Thought I would give it another go this morning. Tried looking for a network map and gave up. Planned a journey from Hexham to Berwick Upon Tweed, no trips found despite them running the services.

If regular buses users can use it, god help them trying to get new customers

For the network maps you have to go to locations, click on the location you want, North East, scroll down to choose a town/city, & next to it is a box with select which is easy to miss as its the same color as the main page, click select that brings you a new menu &Y scroll to bus travel in Berwick Upon Tweed select & click go, you'll find network maps near the bottom of the page.

 

[Andy Pacer]

Looking through the 8 page list of routes it seems that the routes which begin with a letter are not listed.

While the website design is better than the old one the timetables seem to have gone backwards. Looking at one of the Derby routes (1a) it starts off with 3 early evening journeys before going to the start of the day. Also the bus station arrival times are missing so if anyone is not use to the route may think the route finishes at the stop before and along with other routes the pdf thinks the route does not run on Sundays but does on bank holidays.

Buses are currently not able to drop passengers in the bus station at Derby due to social distancing, they are using stops outside which may be the reason for the stop being omitted. I agree something kore meaningful could be used.

IT SUCKS

Arriva have made it harder to locate timetables. Bus operators seem to think one is only interested in the one bus route that goes nearest to ones front door at a particular time. I want to see OTHER routes as well. Transport for Greater Manchester have gone down this retrograde road after having the best timetable websites

In fairness would anyone have ever said they liked it even if they did?
New website = excuse for a moan!

 

[Tetchytyke]

The generated PDF timetables have always been terrible on the Arriva website, and these new ones are no different. It's why auto-generated timetables don't work. It's the same on the First website, their auto-generated timetables don't work either. The X93 is a mess, it doesn't even properly show the same-bus working hours fudge connections.

Sadly the Best Impressions designed literature for the likes of the X93 in North Yorkshire seem to have gone.