I have had a user report that two bus stops are not reporting arrival data, even though the buses are still stopping there on the 410 route (and then one stop is incorrectly being reported as on the 410 route).
The two missing stops:
Towpath Way (490013760E & 490013760W)
Christie Drive (490005240E & 490005240W)
The stop which is being reported instead (incorrectly as per this user):
Beckford Road (490002160ZZ & 490002160YY).
Looks like a change which was supposed to happen but has been delayed. If (for the sake of argument) a necessary infrastructure improvement fails to get signed off the day before a change, it is probably too late to correct the data in the system.
Michael
Some non-technical background:
TfL, and various third party online services, were displaying a notice dated 17/1/2020, claiming that from 25/1/2020 the 410 double runs down Towpath Way and Christie Drive were being withdrawn and replaced by new stops on Davidson Road near Beckford Road. As you have noted, the Beckford Road stops are on the system. It was not totally clear if this was to be a permanent or temporary change. Against permanent is: the stops are most certainly not on the ground; no sign of any preparation for them; no notices on the existing bus stops; no sign of any planning applications; no mention of this change locally; not a sniff of it on the internet; and TfL Customer Services know nothing of it. Against temporary is: it sounded permanent.
The notice did have an expiry date of later this month but was withdrawn before 25/1/2010. The londonbusroutes.net first displayed the change after this time, but now displays the wonderful message which was dated yesterday: ‘Change did not actually take place as operator not informed.’
Welcome @OrangeBucket
You might have notcied that TfL data on bus routes it contracts is somewhat short of what developers are expecting.
Just for reference, the APIs drive the TfL site, so look at 410 bus route - Transport for London for details of what the official “line” is.
I’m going to suggest that there might be some … interesting leaway … between a permanent for-ever change to a bus route and a temporary change which last for many years.
Another option is that Hail and Ride might being used. See Using buses in London - Transport for London, but these areas normally get excluded from the iBus system
At the last fixed stop before a Hail and Ride section starts, there is an announcement of the stop name and shortly after leaving the stop passengers are informed that they are entering a Hail and Ride section. Passengers are informed when they are leaving the Hail and Ride section by another announcement.
It is not a hail and ride section. I like the stop name “Davidson Road” when the road is best part of a mile long. I would like to bet that it is not actually in Davidson Road at all, so you could traverse the entire length before getting to the stop you think you want. That is one of the problems with stop naming; what works for one route and/or purpose does not work for another.
Changes known to be long term usually get updated timetables. For short term (several weeks, say) it appears to be pot luck. For example, when there were diversions in the Islington area a couple of years ago, some routes got fresh timetables showing the stops on the diversion while others did not. There seemed no logic to this. I have no idea whether TfL or the operator calls the shots on this.
Michael
I was simply attempting to provide some context to support the assertions of the OP’s user. Nothing has actually changed on the 410, which continues to do a double runs to Towpath Way and Christie Drive, as detailed on 410 bus route - Transport for London, and there are not any Beckford Road bus stops being served.
The bottom line is that no arrivals data is currently available for the Towpath Way or Christie Drive stops, which are still being served. However arrivals data is available for the Beckford Road stops, despite the stop data stating they are not serving any routes, and more to the point not actually existing outside of the API.
Oh and ‘Davidson Road’ stop is in Davidson Road, about a third of the way from the south end. It was once called ‘Davidson Road Shops’ and eventually the name was changed to reflect that the shops had long gone. The stops are actually closer to Stretton Road than the ‘Stretton Road’ stops are. The name is a bit unfortunate but I can’t offer a better suggestion.