Copied from my post in
Lothian Group discussion (Lothian City, Lothian Country Bus and East Coast Buses):
Using
history will limit the results to no earlier than 01/01/2018. If you want to view results from earlier than that you need to use
fullhist instead.
It isn't mandatory to have the registration to look up particular vehicles.
The way I think about it is if you just put in a number (eg.
36) then it'll show the route (in this case it would show all vehicles currently being used on route 36, as well as those which have previously been used on the route today. To view a different day (where you want one day in particular) use eg.
history 36 15-01-2021 15-01-2021. This shows a list of the vehicles which were used on route 36 between the start of the day on the 15th of January and the end of the day on the 15th of January).
If you put in "LRT " and then a number, then it shows you the details of the vehicle/s with that/those fleetnumbers (eg.
LRT 20 would show details for vehicle 20). This also accepts ranges, so you can do e.g.
LRT 1063-1140 to see the details of all the XLBs. While on this page, if you click the registration plate of a vehicle it will show you the estimated time that that vehicle will reach the next stops on its current route.
Another command I use a lot is
Rare, which shows all vehicles operating a route which haven't not operated that particular route for the past two months.
^ ^ ^ old post above - - - new post below v v v
Tutorial for the Lothian Vehicle Finder
I do not own or manage the
Lothian Vehicle Finder (lvf.io). All the information provided below is from my experience of using the site, and/or from the information provided in the "Help" section, except where otherwise noted. All the images are screenshots I took of the website.
Go to the last section of the post (
E) for the "too long, didn't read" summary version.
Long version:
A. Setup & General
- Go to the lvf.io website. If it's your first visit to the website then the header will likely be "London Vehicle Finder" (showing that the current mode of the LVF is for the London area). To set the site to the Lothian area, type MODE LRT into the bar and press "Go". The header should then change to "Lothian Vehicle Finder".
- You should still do this even if you intend on searching for vehicles in any of the subsidiaries (East Coast Buses or Lothian Country Buses).
- If it isn't your first visit to the site, and the last area you used on the site was the Lothian area, then it should remember this and display "Lothian Vehicle Finder" when it loads.
- All the commands entered into the search bar are, as far as I know, case insensitive.
- Additional Notes
- In general, if the Operator* is not specified then the number entered is taken to be a route number. For example entering 30 or HISTORY 30 will give information about Route 30; entering LRT 30 or HISTORY LRT 30 will give information about the vehicle with fleetnumber 30. *Possible operators for the Lothian Vehicle Finder are LRT (Lothian [City]), ECB (East Coast Buses) and LCY (Lothian Country Buses).
- Whenever a vehicle or multiple vehicles are displayed, they are shown with the following information:
- Fleetnumber
- Registration number
- Current destination (as listed in the timetable - if a vehicle is operating an unscheduled part-route service then the intermediate destination is NOT shown on the LVF: thanks to FlybeDash8Q400 for this information, in this post).
- The next location it is due to stop at^
- The time it is due to arrive at the next location^ ^Click the registration number to get more information on these.
B. Find Routes
- Type in any valid route number on its own and the site will return the following information:
- Vehicles currently being used on that route (grouped by direction, ordered by fleetnumber).
- Vehicles which have been used on that route during the day but which are no longer operating that route at the time you search (ordered by fleetnumber) along with the times between which each vehicle was on the route.
- For example, typing in 38 will return something like the following:
- View attachment 89850
- Type in HISTORY followed by a route number followed by a date in format DD-MM-YYYY and the site will show you a list of vehicles which have been used on that route on the date entered.
- For example, HISTORY 38 20-01-2021 returns the following:
- View attachment 89851
- To see a list of vehicles used on a route between two particular dates, add the later date after the above and the site will return the vehicles used between the two specified dates. For example, HISTORY 38 20-01-2021 30-01-2021 (this function wasn't working at the time of writing for some reason).
- If you're trying to view the history before 01-01-2018, you'll need to use the command FULLHIST instead of HISTORY.
- Additional Notes
- As of February 2021, valid routes are 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, X26*, 27, 29, X29*, 30, 31, X31*, 33, X33*, 34, 35, 36, 37, X37*, 38, 41, 42, 43, 44, X44, 45*, 47, 47B, 48, 49, 100, 200, 300, 400, X5, X7, 104, 106, 113, 124, 139, 140, X18, X27, X28, 43, 275, 276, 280, 281, N3, N11, N16, N22, N25, N26, N28, N30, N31, N37, N43, N44, N113. *Indicates a route which is currently suspended. List of routes taken from the Bus & Tram App.
- If there are currently no vehicles being used on a route but there have been earlier in the day, you will only see the "Vehicles that have also been used on the route during the day" section.
- If there are currently no vehicles being used on a route and there have been none all day, then you will see "This is a valid route, but no vehicles have been recorded on it today".
- You can only view one route at a time.
C. Find Vehicles
- Type in the operator code followed by a valid fleet number to see information about that vehicle. For example, LRT 1064, LCY 575 or ECB 20005.
- View attachment 89852
- The registration number can also be used instead of the fleetnumber (but I find it easier just remembering fleetnumbers).
- A range of vehicles can also be requested by entering two fleetnumbers separated with a hyphen. For example LRT 301-350 returns all the vehicles with fleetnumbers between 301 and 350.
- View attachment 89853
- If the list contains a fleetnumber which doesn't exist then that number/row of data is simply omitted from the results (e.g. if you enter LRT 300-350 you will get the same results as above as there is no vehicle with fleetnumber 300).
- As seen above, if a vehicle is currently not in service then you can see when it was last in service.
- Additional notes
- Withdrawn vehicles are sometimes not removed from the system for some time, and the "last seen" date will just be some time far in the past.
- The fleetnumbers are generally allocated as follows:
- <199 - single deck vehicles
- >200 - double deck vehicles:
- vehicles numbered 551-599 are hybrids
- others are plain diesel.
- Clicking a registration plate of a vehicle which is currently in service will show a list of the next locations it is due to pass/stop at, and the estimated time it will do so.
- Clicking a registration plate of a vehicle which is currently NOT in service will show you the history of that vehicle.
- If a vehicle has special branding then this is shown as a letter immediately following the fleetnumber. For example the Zoo branded B5s show as follows:
- View attachment 89855
D: Rare
- Entering Rare will display a list of vehicles currently on routes which they have not worked for the previous two months. For example:
- View attachment 89856
E: TL;DR (short version)
- Go to Lothian Vehicle Finder (lvf.io) site. If the big text in bold says "Lothian Vehicle Finder", go to step 2. Otherwise, enter MODE LRT.
- To see what vehicles are being used on a route, enter the route number.
- To see what a route a specific vehicle is currently operating, you need to know which subsidiary it operates under. If it's Lothian [City] enter LRT then the registration plate or fleetnumber. If it's East Coast Buses enter ECB then the reg/number; if it's Lothian Country then enter LCY then the reg/number.
- To see a range of vehicles enter e.g. LRT 1-50.
- To see vehicles which are operating away from their usual routes, enter Rare.
I've probably forgotten some stuff or mistyped somewhere, I'll edit this if I spot any mistakes or if anyone tells me. If at least one person finds this at least slightly helpful then I've done a good job
