Digital systems 'causing misery' for bus commuters

Bus cancellations are not being digitally displayed due to a bus company not using the "correct format"

A problem with the system that tracks live bus journey times and displays them at bus stops is causing "misery for commuters", a councillor has said.

Labour's Andrew Crichton said bus users in Banbury, Oxfordshire, were waiting more than an hour for cancelled services, without any information on the display screens.

Stagecoach West, which runs the service, said it was aware of the problem and was "working hard" to resolve the issue.

Oxfordshire County Council, which provides the bus stop screens, said Stagecoach was failing to use the "format required" for the displays to work.

Mr Crichton described real time bus information as a "game changer" but only when the data provided was accurate.

"In this weather and at this time of year, it really is causing misery for commuters," he said.

"I hope that Stagecoach takes swift action to address this. If we want people to use public transport, it needs to be predictable and run as people expect it to."

Chris Hanson, managing director of Stagecoach West, said: "We are sorry that this is impacting customers using our service.

"Our reliability for services in this area remains high and we are also working to allow our cancelled journeys (that appear on our app) to link with real time information screens provided by Oxfordshire County Council."

As part of the council's bus service improvement delivery plan, £1m will be spent on new and upgraded real time passenger information displays at bus stops and key public transport hubs across Oxfordshire.

These include 70 new displays, providing live service updates at more than half of the bus stops in Oxford.

But the systems will only be effective if the technology is active on the buses running on the network.

The council said the accuracy of its roadside displays was "significantly dependent upon bus operator inputs".

Stagecoach West said it was aware of the problem and was "working hard" to resolve the issue