Some bus WTTs are never visible on the TfL site. These include the 108 Sa and Su schedules and the 481 FrSc and MTSc schedules.
Although at first sight they appear to be present, on closer inspection the files relate to the subsidiary double deck elements 108D (which only runs in the evenings) and
481D (a handful of school journeys). There may well be others.
My guess is that files for the major route are created but disappear faster than a sub-atomic particle at CERN because the file for the minor route is created almost immediately afterwards and overwrites it.
I have pointed out this issue several times since the new format bus WTT system came in about fifteen months ago. If the same file name is used by two quite different files it is asking for trouble. It didn’t happen in the old system (files for the 108D included 108D in the name, same for N108, 281R…).
Two other oddities I might as well point out. Route N83 has Sa and Su WTTs as well as SaNt and SuNt. If you open the Sa or SA file up it clearly is the current night service. They should have been loaded as SaNt and SuNt, overwriting the obsolete files which are presented as SaNt and SuNt. Route N89 had new WTTs last weekend. Unfortunately for four new timing points, the alpha code and description just repeat the stop name and description.
@MScanlon
To add to my last sentence, one of the timing points on the new 188 WTTs shows the same issue as the N89. Specifically this is stop1047 at the Old Vic, which should have alpha code WLOOOV but just repeats the 1047 instead.
Like last week’s N89 stops, this is a new timing point. This suggests to me, admittedly on limited evidence, that something is going wrong when new TPs are being added. In which case it needs to be tackled now before it necomes endemic.
@MScanlon
If it is genuinely difficult to stop files being overwritten (as it might be if the designers had assumed that something as daft as permitting two routes to generate a file with the same name would never be allowed to happen), would it be possible to make the genuine 108 MT/Fr and 481 MTSc/FrSc WTTs available via some other mechanism? I really don’t want to go down the FOI route if I can avoid it,
The issues with the N83 and the 188/N89 timing points have not been resolved either.
Hi @mjcarchive I have to say uploading the PDF versions of the buses WTTS is not my area, this is updated by members of the bus performance team, but this is something we can raise with them
Regards
Matthew (cc @jamesevans @GerardButler )
Sorry, @MScanlon. I’d got it into my head that you were the best contact. Is there someone more appropriate that I can, er, assist in improving the quality of the output, whether it is done on or off this forum?