S3 The prescribed information

What should be included?

In order to ensure that the information to be provided under the new Regulations is beneficial to passengers, and potential passengers, we are seeking views on what bus users would like to know about bus services and why.

The Traveline National Data Set already publishes route and timetable data for bus services in Scotland. However, that dataset is based on the requirements of bus registration and is not always detailed enough for use in journey planners.

We propose that the new Regulations will require operators provide, in a digital format, their timetable(s) with information provided at bus stop level, (using NaPTAN bus stop identification) and route data to be provided as a list of points that allow the route to be drawn with sufficient detail to follow the associated road geometry (as opposed to presuming a route between bus stops). This information needs to be provided initially and then must be kept up to date. By ‘kept up to date’ we mean that, as is the case in England, any change to timetables, routes etc must be made not less than two weeks prior to a change taking place, but even if no changes take place, a submission will be required at least once every 12 months.

We intend to ask for the following information:

• The trading name of the operator, their licence number and National Operator Code
• Route information including the service number/name, route registration number, each bus stop called at in order
• Timetable information including the arrival and departure time at each bus stop, the days it does and does not run.

Fares and ticket information is essential to the public in journey planning, as well as for making informed choices and comparing travel options between providers and modes. Fares information can be used to inform journey planners allowing passengers to make decisions in advance on the cost of their journey. Information on tickets helps to make passengers what potential tickets are on offer that could be used for their journey, and the scope of these tickets.

We recognise that some information about fares and tickets is straightforward, while some information will be more complex to provide, for example, where the price changes depending on factors such as when you get on the bus, or how many stops you pass. We therefore propose to classify fare and ticket information as either ‘simple’ or ‘complex’ and apply separate timescales for the initial submission of this information.

• Simple fare and ticket information would mean adult single and return fares and tickets, child single and return fares and tickets group fares and tickets, period tickets, single operator fares and tickets, multi-operator fares and tickets, zonal fares and tickets, any age restrictions and any time restrictions on those fares and tickets.
• Complex fare and ticket information would mean fares that vary depending on the route taken, the duration of the journey, the type and the number of passengers, the method of payment, the amount of subsequent travel undertaken in a given period, and whether or not a discount or a cap is applied to the fare.

And for all ticket types, the information we would require is as follows:

• For single and return tickets, the service(s) the ticket is valid on,
• For zonal tickets, the service numbers, routes and bus stops included in the range of the ticket,
• For all tickets, the ways that fares can be paid (cash, contactless, etc) by ticket type,
• The ticket medium (paper, smartcard, digital, tap on/off etc),
• For all tickets, the fares available and if they are different depending on how they are paid for or the ticket medium, and also;
• Which tickets can be bought in advance (and whether that can be done online, or in person) and which can only be purchased on a vehicle
• A ‘user friendly’ name for the ticket.

Real time information has the power to significantly improve the journey experience of passengers with additional access needs, and will give passengers a greater level of assurance about the availability of services than assumed location information.

Real time information falls into two broad categories, ‘Location Information’, which means vehicle locations, live arrival and departure times from stopping places, live timetables and disruption updates, and ‘Facilities and Accessibility Information’, such as capacity, availability of Wi-Fi, power/charging capability, audio/visual capability.

Location Information

• Live vehicle location
• Live Bus stop arrival and departure times
• Live timetables
• Live disruption updates

Facilities and Accessibility Information

• On-board capacity
• On-board wheelchair space utilisation
• On-board facilities – Wi-Fi
• On-board facilities – power / charging
• On-board facilities – toilets
• On-board facilities – audio/visual capability
• On-board facilities – payment methods
• Emissions standard of the bus

Static data (For example, timetable and fares information) will be provided yearly, and must be updated two weeks ahead of any change to that information. This means that in the situation where there are no changes to an operator’s routes, timetables or fares in a twelve month period, operators will only be required to submit the required information once.

Unlike static data, real time information needs to be updated on a continuous automated ‘feed’ basis, and we have assumed that this timescale should be measured in seconds or minutes, rather than months, weeks or years. We are aware that many operators are already fully equipped to provide location information and do so predominately using the ‘SIRI’ standard. We propose that the list of ‘Location Information’ above be provided as real time information in the new Regulations.

The facilities and accessibility information being sought is not something that is currently commonly captured on a real time (in use) basis. We appreciate that it may require time and investment in new systems to be able to provide this.

As a result, we are minded to phase in the requirement to provide this real time information over time. This will start with a requirement to provide information about onboard facilities and accessibility information generally, moving towards to full real time (in use) information over time initially through guidance and eventually as a requirement of the Regulations.

Facilities and Accessibility Information

• What is the maximum capacity of the vehicle
• How many accessible spaces or other accessible features does the vehicle have
• Does the vehicle have Wi-Fi available
• Does the vehicle have power/charging facilities
• Does the vehicle have audio/visual facilities for announcing location and next stop?
• What payment methods are available on the vehicle
• What is the emission standard of the vehicle

• What is the maximum capacity of the vehicle, how close to capacity is the vehicle? (could be expressed as a percentage, a low/medium/high rating etc)
• How many accessible spaces does the vehicle have, and how many are currently in use?
• Does the vehicle have Wi-Fi available, and is it currently operational (working)?
• Does the vehicle have power/charging facilities and is it currently operational (working)?
• Does the vehicle have audio/visual facilities for announcing location and next stop? and is it currently operational (working)?
• What payment methods are available on the vehicle
• What is the emission standard of the vehicle, what is the carbon saving compared to driving between two stops?

Information about bus stops, the facilities available at bus stops and in particular features which enable access for a wide range of passengers, is held regionally, by local transport authorities. In England, there is a legal requirement for local transport authorities to provide this information to the Department for Transport, who hold the UK wide database of public transport access points. This database holds details about all of the places where you can get on or off public transport. In Scotland, this information is currently submitted voluntarily. We believe that the best option for Scotland is to make submission of this information mandatory, as it is in England, and to provide it in the same format and to the same database that is used in the wider UK, rather than running a parallel database which only contains information for Scotland. This would require local transport authorities to provide the following information as is currently done on a voluntary basis.

• The location of the stop;
• The stop code or the nodes code taken from the National Public Transport Access Nodes database;
• The area code, from an established list of area codes for NaPTAN;
• The Ordnance Survey grid reference;
• Any relevant landmarks;
• A topographic reference taken from the National Public Transport Gazetteer;
• Details of stop accessibility features.