I guess that’s why they didn’t bother doing a directional displacement on the tube map. There would have to be a lot of extra modelling to satisfy those who know the details, with little obvious benefit to the average end user. And it would also be fairly pointless, taking into account it’s all presented on a symbolic layout rather rather than a geographic map.
Though actually, if the layout background was drawn as beziers between stations instead of using what I assume is a bit image, it would be possible to bend the buses to follow the apparent tracks.
I hadn’t previously noticed – there’s an option in the bottom left corner to display the map geographically. With this, trains do indeed appear to follow their tracks between stations. But closer examination shows they have cheated slightly. That’s achieved by drawing straight lines between consecutive stations. A reasonable compromise, because at least we can see what line the train is on at all times. But it does mean it’s not fully geographically accurate. There’s a few obvious anomalies there though. Trains never stop at stations, so passengers need to become athletes to get on or off. That’s surely a violation of the Disability Discrimiination Act. Trains arrive on the Victoria Line at Kings Cross and instantly depart on the Northern Line. All trains are yellow – OK, that could be factually correct according to London Underground’s yellow tube train – but it means that in the opposite direction you can’t tell where the train coming in from the Northern Line will be going next.
Despite those anomalies, I have to say that Matthew has done an excellent job in providing an instant visual representation that gives a good overview of what the available data is capable of providing and in most cases the anomalies are the direct result of limitations of the data available.
I suspect the timings are based on an assumption that if there’s a bus at the bus station and the timetable says it is due to leave or overdue, that it will do so now. But it probably doesn’t take into account reality like the driver is only 5 minutes into a 15 minute regulation tea break so there is no chance of the bus leaving now, or that the driver has told to wait to “regularise” the service – which usually only makes the service less regular than it otherwise might be.
To be fair, TFL’s predictions aren’t as bad as those in Hertfordshire, where the screens at bus stops only show in apparently-real-time what the timetable says should be happening and give no indication of what the buses are actually doing. That’s made worse by the infrequent and almost nonexistent nature of some of the services. I remember waiting for a 310 which was stated to be coming at 9pm. 9pm came, but no sign of a bus. At 9.05pm the screen still said the bus was coming at 9pm. Same again at 9.09pm. Now I start wondering, does that mean the bus is cancelled or is it running more than 10 minutes late? And this is an hourly service, so if it’s cancelled the next bus will not be until 10pm. That’s also the last bus of the night, and if they can cancel a bus on a route with a derisory 1 hour service, who’s to say they won’t cancel the final 10pm service too? Then at 9.10pm the service disappears from the screen – again without explanation, but I assume it means the bus has been cancelled. At 9.12pm, I’m still at the stop checking the weather forecast and trying to work out whether it would be quicker to walk or to wait for the 10pm bus. Suddenly at 9.13pm the “9pm” bus arrives with the screen saying no bus is due until 10pm. If I had started walking 1 minute earlier, I would have been between stops and unable to board. A truly disgraceful service, both on inadequate planned frequency and abysmal passenger information.