How often bus timetables change, and why your usual time moved
Timetables are republished constantly. Here is what drives it and how to avoid being caught out.
Lucy John
Writer, NextBusTime
22 guides
Where England's bus times come from
How timetables and live positions are published, and why different websites can disagree.
Why your bus doesn't run in the school holidays
School-day journeys are a normal part of the timetable. Here is how to spot one before the holidays start.
Saving the bus stops you use every day
How saved stops work, where they are kept, and when they disappear.
Why the same bus number exists in different towns
Route numbers are not national. Here is why the 1 in one town has nothing to do with the 1 in another.
Found a wrong bus time? What to report and what happens next
How to tell a data error from a late bus, and what actually gets fixed where.
How to read a bus route page
What each part of a route page is for, and which one to use for the question you actually have.
How live bus tracking actually works
Where the positions come from, how an expected time is worked out, and why some buses are never tracked.
How early should you get to the bus stop?
What a timetable time actually means, and how much margin to leave at different kinds of stop.
Finding your nearest bus stop in an unfamiliar place
How to find the right stop when you do not know the area, and how to be sure it goes your way.
Planning a journey that needs two buses
How to build a connection that survives a late first bus, and what to check at each end.
How to check the last bus home
The checks worth doing before you rely on a late bus, and the mistakes that strand people.
Checking bus times when you have no mobile signal
What still works offline, what does not, and what to note down before you lose reception.
What the codes on a bus stop mean
ATCO codes, SMS codes and stop names — what each one is for and when it is worth using.
Bus stop accessibility: what the published data does and does not tell you
What can be checked in advance, what cannot, and where to get an answer you can rely on.
Bus stations and street stops: what is different
Stands, departure boards and why a bus station stop behaves differently from one on the road.
What to do when your bus doesn't turn up
How to tell whether a bus is late, cancelled or already gone, and what to do next.
What the destination on the front of the bus is telling you
Short workings, via points and why the display may not match the timetable you looked up.
Bee Network buses: one brand, several operating companies
Why Greater Manchester buses all say Bee Network, and what that means when you are looking up who runs your route.
Bank holiday bus times in England
Why bank holidays change the timetable, which dates are affected, and how to check before you travel.
What does "live" actually mean on bus times?
Scheduled times, live vehicle tracking and real-time predictions are three different things. Here's how to tell them apart.
How to get from Durham to Newcastle by bus
Which buses run between Durham and Newcastle, how long the journey takes, and where to catch them — including the night bus.
