Finally live on the web! Woohoo!

Nice easy to use interface too.

Not sure how well it works on mobile phones yet.
http://countdown.tfl.gov.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14779558

I can already think of ways that it can be improved, but I'm just bloody
grateful for it finally being available.

--
Paul G
Typing from Kentish Town

Hmm. Stops dead on the London border despite my nearest route
continuing on...and no way to link directly to a given bus stop. Makes
it fairly useless on a phone!

....and has tiny tiny buttons. TfL could do with some usability
experts ...would be nice if it used the browser's location API to
give you a choice of bus stops near to where you are too...

In message
,
Jamie Thompson writes
Hmm. Stops dead on the London border despite my nearest route
continuing on...and no way to link directly to a given bus stop. Makes
it fairly useless on a phone!

...and has tiny tiny buttons. TfL could do with some usability
experts ...would be nice if it used the browser's location API to
give you a choice of bus stops near to where you are too...

I sort of agree (but I can cope), but there's a very clearly shown "text
version" button at the top. Also if you however above the bus stop on
the map then then click on the bus stop name itself it takes you to a
permalink.

e.g.

http://countdown.tfl.gov.uk/#|searchTerm=trafalgar%20square|stopCode=7769
4
(wonder what's happened to the 87 bus route?)

I'd like it to link to the specific bus timetables page directly; could
be useful; would advertise that feature and people could work out first
and last bus times.


--
Paul G
Typing from Kentish Town

[x-posted to uk.transport.buses]

On Sep 4, 7:13*pm, Paul G wrote:
Finally live on the web! *Woohoo!

Nice easy to use interface too.

Not sure how well it works on mobile phones yet.
http://countdown.tfl.gov.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14779558

I can already think of ways that it can be improved, but I'm just bloody
grateful for it finally being available.

Woohoo indeed - this is really great stuff!

Despite the Countdown element of the URL, they seem to call it "Live
bus departures" on the webpages themselves - I'm sure we'll continue
to call it Countdown nonetheless.

Seems to work pretty well - the pages for individual bus stops can of
course be bookmarked, and there's also a cookie-based 'My Stops'
option for stops one regularly consults.

AFAICS the mobile version isn't currently accessible from the TfL
mobile front page (at http://m.tfl.gov.uk), presumably because it's
still in the testing phase...

....*however*, it can be accessed by going straight to the following
address - http://m.countdown.tfl.gov.uk - which has a nice, clean,
text-based interface for mobiles (mapping is available but optional).

(Mildly) Interesting that the mapping isn't Google Maps based, unlike
the new-ish dynamic Bus Maps on the TfL website [1] - indeed at
present there's no link from said Bus Maps facility to this new
Countdown service, again presumably because the latter is still in a
testing phase.

Could have made use of this today - I had a long-ish wait for a bus,
though I did pop to the shop whilst waiting and could perhaps have
missed one whilst I was in there. (Though if I'd been awake I could
have also realised that another route would have taken me around the
corner from where I wanted to be, but I wasn't really thinking at the
time.)

Fantastic.

-----
[1] http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/gettingaround/maps/buses/

On Sep 4, 8:42*pm, Jamie Thompson wrote:
Hmm. Stops dead on the London border despite my nearest route
continuing on...and no way to link directly to a given bus stop. Makes
it fairly useless on a phone!

See my other post - there's an m-prefixed mobile version.

Also not sure what you mean about linking directly to a given bus stop
- you can bookmark each bus stop's individual page, and you can also
search for a specific bus stop using either the bus stop's name or
unique 5-digit code.


...and has tiny tiny buttons. TfL could do with some usability
experts ...would be nice if it used the browser's location API to
give you a choice of bus stops near to where you are too...

The latter is provided for with the mobile version of the site, as
there's a "Show stops near me" button on the Front page - though
whether that option is shown or not might depend on whether or not
such a location service is available using that connection / device
(note that one can also view mobile sites by using the "wmlbrowser"
add-on in Firefox).

On Sep 4, 11:59*pm, Mizter T wrote:
See my other post - there's an m-prefixed mobile version.

Indeed, I just saw the link in the London Reconnections
comments...lovely!

Also not sure what you mean about linking directly to a given bus stop
- you can bookmark each bus stop's individual page, and you can also
search for a specific bus stop using either the bus stop's name or
unique 5-digit code.

On the desktop version it's unfortunately all Javascript-heavy with no
real hyperlinks anywhere, so no pages to bookmark.

...and has tiny tiny buttons. TfL could do with some usability
experts ...would be nice if it used the browser's location API to
give you a choice of bus stops near to where you are too...

The latter is provided for with the mobile version of the site, as
there's a "Show stops near me" button on the Front page - though
whether that option is shown or not might depend on whether or not
such a location service is available using that connection / device
(note that one can also view mobile sites by using the "wmlbrowser"
add-on in Firefox).

Indeed. That's what I call service. Not bad for a few hours

I still have to use the bus stop at the other end of the High Road as
my data point though, as that's where the boundary with London is. OK
for buses heading towards you from it...not so useful for those
heading towards it. The system clearly has to operate all the time
(otherwise how would it know when buses beyond the boundary were due
to reach the first stop past it!), so I'm disappointed they seem to be
hiding the stops beyond the boundary. Guess I should be grateful I
have a single stop where the two TfL routes converge so I can get both
sets of data at once...not including major interchanges like Watford
Junction and Bushey station does seems deliberately awkward though.

Thanks for the advice! A seriously useful web page.

"Jamie Thompson" wrote:

On Sep 4, 11:59 pm, Mizter T wrote:

See my other post - there's an m-prefixed mobile version.

Indeed, I just saw the link in the London Reconnections
comments...lovely!

I just took a guess as to the address and voila, it worked!


Also not sure what you mean about linking directly to a given bus stop
- you can bookmark each bus stop's individual page, and you can also
search for a specific bus stop using either the bus stop's name or
unique 5-digit code.

On the desktop version it's unfortunately all Javascript-heavy with no
real hyperlinks anywhere, so no pages to bookmark.

Not true, as Paul G has already pointed out - if you click on a particular
bus stop, then the bus stop's unique code will appear as part of the URL in
your browser's address bar (well it does for me) - you can then bookmark
this (and also delete the "|searchTerm=xxx" part of the URL if you want).


...and has tiny tiny buttons. TfL could do with some usability
experts ...would be nice if it used the browser's location API to
give you a choice of bus stops near to where you are too...

The latter is provided for with the mobile version of the site, as
there's a "Show stops near me" button on the Front page - though
whether that option is shown or not might depend on whether or not
such a location service is available using that connection / device
(note that one can also view mobile sites by using the "wmlbrowser"
add-on in Firefox).

Indeed. That's what I call service. Not bad for a few hours

I still have to use the bus stop at the other end of the High Road as
my data point though, as that's where the boundary with London is. OK
for buses heading towards you from it...not so useful for those
heading towards it. The system clearly has to operate all the time
(otherwise how would it know when buses beyond the boundary were due
to reach the first stop past it!), so I'm disappointed they seem to be
hiding the stops beyond the boundary. Guess I should be grateful I
have a single stop where the two TfL routes converge so I can get both
sets of data at once...not including major interchanges like Watford
Junction and Bushey station does seems deliberately awkward though.


Shame it doesn't stretch beyond the GL boundary - however I'm wondering
whether this is the result of some sort of agreement with/ between the
Traveline providers to not step on each others toes - i.e. as and when
Traveline South East provides a similar service, then perhaps the idea is
that TfL London Buses travelling outside the GL boundary will feature as a
part of that service?

In article
,
(Mizter T) wrote:

[x-posted to uk.transport.buses]

On Sep 4, 7:13*pm, Paul G wrote:
Finally live on the web! *Woohoo!

Nice easy to use interface too.

Not sure how well it works on mobile phones yet.
http://countdown.tfl.gov.uk
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14779558

I can already think of ways that it can be improved, but I'm just bloody
grateful for it finally being available.

Woohoo indeed - this is really great stuff!

Despite the Countdown element of the URL, they seem to call it "Live
bus departures" on the webpages themselves - I'm sure we'll continue
to call it Countdown nonetheless.

Seems to work pretty well - the pages for individual bus stops can of
course be bookmarked, and there's also a cookie-based 'My Stops'
option for stops one regularly consults.

AFAICS the mobile version isn't currently accessible from the TfL
mobile front page (at http://m.tfl.gov.uk), presumably because it's
still in the testing phase...

...*however*, it can be accessed by going straight to the following
address - http://m.countdown.tfl.gov.uk - which has a nice, clean,
text-based interface for mobiles (mapping is available but optional).

(Mildly) Interesting that the mapping isn't Google Maps based, unlike
the new-ish dynamic Bus Maps on the TfL website [1] - indeed at
present there's no link from said Bus Maps facility to this new
Countdown service, again presumably because the latter is still in a
testing phase.

Could have made use of this today - I had a long-ish wait for a bus,
though I did pop to the shop whilst waiting and could perhaps have
missed one whilst I was in there. (Though if I'd been awake I could
have also realised that another route would have taken me around the
corner from where I wanted to be, but I wasn't really thinking at the
time.)

Fantastic.

When I tried looking at this from my mobile at home it "remembered" the last
bus stop code I had entered which is actually for one in Cambridge. Is this
part of a larger national project?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

wrote:
[Countdown on the (mobile) web]
When I tried looking at this from my mobile at home it "remembered" the
last
bus stop code I had entered which is actually for one in Cambridge. Is
this
part of a larger national project?

Yes, I think it is - at least I think it's being co-ordinated with the wider
Traveline provision of live bus running information (or RTI - real time
information).

I'm guessing you were looking at the Cambridge information via Traveline's
"NextBuses" interface at http://mytraveline.mobi, or is there another
interface?

The NextBuses service doesn't appear to be taking a live feed of the
Countdown information (yet) - it just shows the timetabled departures for
particular stops - nor does it appear to accept London bus stop codes (yet).