New technology aims to tackle ghost buses

Passengers have complained about buses failing to show up despite digital timetables indicating a service was on the way

New technology should reduce the number of “ghost buses” which show up on digital timetables after being cancelled, transport bosses said.

Bus operators said they were working to speed up the reporting of cancelled services after commuters were left waiting for buses that never turned up.

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority transport committee launched a working group to look at the problem in January 2023 following complaints from passengers.

A report to Monday's committee meeting said an upgrade of electronic ticket machines to 4G mobile technology should improve the tracking of vehicles.

Speaking at the meeting, councillor Oliver Edwards asked bus operators Transdev and First for a commitment that future cancellations would be reported immediately.

Mr Edwards, who represents the Guiseley and Rawdon ward on Leeds City Council for Labour, said: “It’s a big issue in the area I represent and it’s an issue in many wards, especially outside of the city centre.

“It can be very serious for people if they don’t know whether the bus is coming.”

Mr Edwards also criticised First for not sharing bus performance data, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

He said: “When we’ve asked for data, we’ve either been told it will be provided, but several months later we are still waiting for that, or we’ve been told it can’t be shared because of commercial sensitivity.

“What commercial sensitivity is it when there’s no competition on that route?"

'We do pretty well'

Brandon Jones, head of external relations at First, said the reporting of cancellations was improving after computer software changes.

“There are some issues around data flow," he told the meeting.

"We are very aware of these issues that occur for customers - the vast majority of the time it works well.”

Responding to the criticism about performance data, he said: “We do provide a lot of data through the combined authority already and we have had conversations around opening that up. ”

Paul Turner, Transdev commercial director, said cancellation systems were being upgraded at his company.

“I think we do pretty well at getting our cancellations up to date," he said.

“We certainly aren’t perfect at doing it, but rest assured we do keep on top of that and ensure that we are getting the processes right behind it.”