Stopping patterns in timetables

Pick up and Set Down

Picking up and setting down restrictions can be part of the registered timetable and usually intended to manage the capacity on the vehicle by preventing travel over short distances. Timetable systems provide means to mark the activity at the stop. The effect of doing so should be interpretted correctly by journey planner systems and NextBuses. Roadside timetables should not list times that are set down only.

As well as "pick up only" and "set down only" TransXchange and ATCO CIF also have a category "pass" which means that the time at the stop is recorded but the bus will not stop either to pick up or set down. One use of this can be in real time systems to monitor the progress of a limited stop bus and give better predictions for stops further along the route.

Another use of pick up and set down restrictions is as a work around in systems which cannot handle terminal loops on routes. (see the "overlapping section" method below).

Terminal Loops

It is quite common for a bus routes to terminate in a one way loop. This may be around a housing estate, but can also be a city centre loop, as in Nottingham. No one bus stop in the loop is the terminal point of the journey.

There are a number of methods of coding such journeys:

Through journeys - it is usual for the out and back journeys to be presented as one through journey. This is satisfactory for journey planning. The drawback is that the destination of the outward direction may be shown as the terminal point of the inward journey. The other methods attempt to overcome this.
Overlapping Section - the outward journey terminates, usually at the last stop in the terminating loop and the stops in the terminal loop are set down only. The inward journey starts at the first stop in the terminal loop. This works fairly well in journey planning, in roadside displays, and the destination of the outward journey is based on the last stop in the loop. A drawbacks is that mileage calculations are upset by the duplication of a section of the route, so operators don't usually submit journeys in this format in electronic data they supply.
"Stay seated" connections - The through journey is split at one stop in the loop, into outward and inward sections. QX records can be used in the CIF format to ensure these connections are made at a stop selected in the terminal loop. The advantages are that there is more flexibility as to which stop is selected and the destination of the outward journey is in the loop. A disadvantage is that downstream systems need to be able to interpret the QX records. If they do not then the journeys will not be able to be planned properly either to or from stops in the loop, except that is, the stop that has been chosen as the terminal point.
Dynamic Destination Display - this is a facility that is supported by the TXC format. The journey is maintained as a through journey and at each stop along the route it is possible to vary the destination that is displayed. The intention is that the same destination can be displayed on the bus as appears in roadside displays. This solves the destination issue as well as enabling journey planning to work correctly. The downside of this is that the CIF format does not support it and it is rarely populated.
timetable header - this is a somewhat flawed method that has been visible in the SMS and NextBuses systems. The idea was that if no dynamic destination display was set, the destination of the journey would be shown as the last point in the timetable header. This was particularly suitable for circular services as the circular nature of the service could be mentioned at the end of the header. This was reliant on the header being set suitably in every case. However the main problem was the tendency for short journeys ie those only operating part of the route to display the ultimate destination of the route and this was usually misleading.

Circular services

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Flexible Transport

It is possible to give a partial representation of flexible transport in current journey planners. The most important requirement is that you have in the journey planner a means of indicating that a journey must be booked in advance. This may be as a note to the service, a special version of the operator name, or a special bus stop whose name indicates that services must be booked.

For registration purposes Vosa have identifid three types of flexible service. These should be coded into journey planners as follows:

Many to One services are where the service picks up from several places and takes passengers to one location, possibly a local hospital, or to make a connection with a another bus or train. In this case the arrival time is known.
It is possible to create a series of non stop journeys, one from each place on the route to the destination. The time allowed for each journey should assume that there are the maximum number of bookings on the service and each journey should be marked to show that you must telephone to book the service.
In this way travel from each of the locations can be found in the journey planner and connections made onto a bus or train at the interchange.
One to Many This is the reverse of Many to One and can also be modelled by a series of non stop journeys. This time the departrure time is known and anyone booking may be given an earlier arrival time at their destination than would be shown in the journey planner.
The Many to Many type of service cannot be easily represented in the journey planner, except by routing passengers via a terminal point. This does indicate to the enquirer that at service is available and when they book the exact details offered are likely to be for a shorter direct journey. There may be no fixed timing points and the service operates only when it is booked. In this case services at regular intervals, perhaps hourly or half hourly, can be assumed.

Instead of a series of single non-stop journeys it is also possible to achieve a similar effect by using pick up and set down restrictions if these are available in your journey planner system. Inward journeys will have pick ups only until the terminal point or points, which are set down only. Outward journeys will pick up at the terminal point or points and set down at all the other places.

Because of the extra time allowed inward journeys may seem to leave before the outward journeys have arrived at each point. When passengers phone up, the person alighting will be given an earlier time than given on the journey planner and the passenger boarding a later time. In both cases the time at the point of booking will be derived from the schedule being planned for the vehicle that day.

In the longer term, there are broadly three approaches that could be taken to the integration of flexible transport into a journey planner:

Show that a flexible service is available This could be by means of a label attached to a stop, a map or a journey. The disadvantage of this is that it can raise expectations in a context where the person is enquiring against a specific date and time. If someone calls the drt service and is not able to get a journey anecdotal evidence is they will only do so a couple of times before giving up and telling friends that "you can never get a booking".
Develop a "real time" feed from the flexible transport booking system This approach envisages that regular feedback to the journey planner on the state of bookings could indicate whether (1) a particular journey request is likey to be bookable, because no booking have been taken at that time, (2) there is a strong possibility of a journey being provided because it is already booked to a specific point nearby, or (3) the service is booked to operate elsewhere so cannot fulfil any journeys to meet the particular request. This approach would help get multiple occupancy on flexible services by alerting the journey planner to parts of the operation that have become fixed through the bookings already taken.
Fully integrate the journey planning and flexible transport booking This approach would allow the user to make a booking through the journey planner or call centre. It would fully integrate the systems. The disadvantages are that it would require new and different call centre and internet software and may require the traveline and flexible transport services to be reorganised; the searching process may take longer because it would interrogate another, possibly distant, system; and additional information would be required from the user in order to confirm the booking.

It may be some time before options can be progressed because of the uncertainty over the long term funding of flexible transport and the need to establish whether it has a substantial role in policies to increase accessibility.

Diverts on request to the driver

This type of service is common in rural areas but not really allowed for in the regulations which say that flexible transport must be booked before joining the vehicle. However where this is a historic arrangement in an old bus registration or allowed by the discretion of the Traffic Commissioner, then this can be modelled by putting an additional version of the journey in the data that terminates in the diversion. Alternatively set down only restrictions can be used. It is important to ensure that the passenger knows to ask the driver to divert.

Timing Points, All Stops and Interpolation

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Limited stop services

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