The yournextbus system provides both real time and scheduled bus departure information from any bus stop or bus station in West Yorkshire.

Real time predictions are shown in minutes (e.g. "3 mins"), whereas scheduled times are shown as a 24hr clock time (e.g. "14:47").

There are many reasons why a scheduled time would be given instead of a real time prediction and this page gives you a summary of these reasons.

1. Bus operator not part of system

Real time predictions are only given for those operators which have chosen to become part of the project. The operators involved are First, Arriva, Keighley & District, Harrogate & District, Yorkshire Coastliner and Stagecoach (previously Yorkshire Traction) so real time predictions should be given for all buses run by these operators. For all other operators, scheduled times will be given.

2. Bus stop near the start of the route

For all Arriva, Stagecoach and some First routes, the system only knows which route a bus will take when the driver keys in his journey information into the ticket machine at the start of the route. This means that until the driver has done this, the system cannot generate real time predictions for all the stops down the route.

So if your stop is 5 minutes away from the start of the route, you will currently only get predictions of 5 minutes or less.

However, for all Keighley & District, Harrogate & District, Yorkshire Coastliner and most First services, an increased amount of bus route information from the bus operators means that the system can now generate predictions at the start of the route. This feature was made available in May 2007 and means that the amount of real time predictions overall has increased substantially, compared to scheduled times.

This improvement will continue to be expanded where the bus operators provide the relevant data.

3. Technical Problems

With more than 2000 buses equipped with a complex on board computer and a communications aerial, it is a massive task to keep all the equipment working all the time. The bus operators and Metro are working very hard to ensure that all equipment is properly maintained and each bus is remotely monitored to ensure the onboard equipment is working correctly.

Of course there are some occasions where some of the 2000 buses are not correctly functioning, and this could lead to a scheduled time being given for that bus, not a real time. However, due to the measures above, the proportion of real time predictions being given by the system is increasing.

If you feel you are consistently getting scheduled times when you think you should get real times, please email yournextbus@wypte.gov.uk to ask for further investigation.