TRACKING !

Bus and Coach operations, new or changed services and timetables for First Midland Red Buses Limited or its predecessor, Midland Red West Limited.
DD12
Posts: 1650
Joined: 19:49 Monday 4th July 2016

Re: TRACKING !

Post by DD12 » 18:43 Tuesday 19th March 2019

willr7 wrote:
17:08 Tuesday 19th March 2019
The latest odd thing to appear on the tracker is that apparently one of the training vehicles was used on the 35 at 13:30 yesterday (18th March)... :? :lol:
I spotted that too, and wondered if it might have been a training exercise to teach someone how to programme a ticket machine and test that it was sending a proper signal (?) but the "GPS trace" is only around Padmore Street, and I think it's a shame the records show service 35.
I had never thought that a training vehicle might get fitted with a ticket machine, but I suppose that's a possibility (?) -- -- perhaps from an early stage, a trainee driver could start every trip by checking whether the ticket machine is programmed for a single-decker- ONLY - route, or a DD-suitable route, (for safety) ? (something like that :) )

The tracking records for First Midland's Worcester vehicles are much more useful so far, than for the Potteries fleet, where the records suggest that only half the fleet is in service !

bustimes.org have improved the system so that when the system has actually seen the bus, it records a single horizontal line of information -- often incomplete or false (like 144 to B'ham) -- but has added a "show map" button which gives a GPS trace for a part of a journey, or a whole journey, or a whole return trip, (or a single location/time ), and allows one to build-up an accurate picture.

So far, the only "serious" discrepancy I've spotted was when then the ticket machine from 42892 claimed to be on the 144 (and has a GPS trace to prove it !!) whereas the GPS traces help sort all the other discrepancies.

DD12
Posts: 1650
Joined: 19:49 Monday 4th July 2016

Re: TRACKING !

Post by DD12 » 10:25 Wednesday 20th March 2019

42892 has now been removed from the records / fleet list !

(47519, 47520, + 67652 still incorrectly listed).

DD12
Posts: 1650
Joined: 19:49 Monday 4th July 2016

Re: TRACKING !

Post by DD12 » 11:04 Tuesday 2nd April 2019

The "Worcester Spare" (ticket machine) was tracked by the system on the 675 yesterday morning, therefore it would be interesting to know what the bus was !

Mind you, it was April 1st, so maybe someone was playing around ??

willr7
Posts: 527
Joined: 21:53 Friday 11th August 2017

Re: TRACKING !

Post by willr7 » 14:09 Tuesday 2nd April 2019

DD12 wrote:
11:04 Tuesday 2nd April 2019
The "Worcester Spare" (ticket machine) was tracked by the system on the 675 yesterday morning, therefore it would be interesting to know what the bus was !

Mind you, it was April 1st, so maybe someone was playing around ??
Yes, all of FMR vehicles that are IN SERVICE are already shown, so I can’t get my head round this one... :?

DD12
Posts: 1650
Joined: 19:49 Monday 4th July 2016

Re: TRACKING !

Post by DD12 » 12:30 Thursday 4th April 2019

A new "quirk" this morning was 33405 being shown on the main live map in two different places at 10.41 -- -- at Padmore Street (white "vehicle"), and at St.Peters (barbie "vehicle").

-- My guess is that it had it's ticket machine changed, and that the "old" one was sending a signal from Padmore Street -- ???

DD12
Posts: 1650
Joined: 19:49 Monday 4th July 2016

Re: TRACKING !

Post by DD12 » 14:40 Friday 17th May 2019

An interesting "phantom" on the main live map today was a "Midland Classic Test Bus No.4" which appeared to be parked at Padmore Street for about 5 minutes !!

I decided to go and check, as there has been plenty of interest to see in recent times -- and of course when I got there, there was nothing like that !

Also, I didn't see the expected coach !

willr7
Posts: 527
Joined: 21:53 Friday 11th August 2017

Re: TRACKING !

Post by willr7 » 16:23 Friday 17th May 2019

DD12 wrote:
14:40 Friday 17th May 2019
An interesting "phantom" on the main live map today was a "Midland Classic Test Bus No.4" which appeared to be parked at Padmore Street for about 5 minutes !!

I decided to go and check, as there has been plenty of interest to see in recent times -- and of course when I got there, there was nothing like that !

Also, I didn't see the expected coach !
It also appears that there are Worcester related trackings on Midland Classic's fleet list!

https://bustimes.org/operators/midland-classic/vehicles

Scroll to the bottom of the page and you will see - There is lots of random stuff from Worcester showing up on there such as "Worcester_Spare33" and SK68 TXN is also on there OR maybe it is TXO...!!! :lol:

It also states that each vehicle has operated a Midland Classic route but when you click on the 'Show Map' button it shows that the vehicle was in fact in the Worcester area (mostly places like Padmore street and the bus station as they all seem to be listed as being used for training or Test purposes)

My theory is that when a 'test bus' is on a Test Run then the driver keys a random service number into the Ticketer machine and has therefore been mistaken for another operators service - which in this case it seems to be Midland Classic! (Forgive me if I'm wrong as I don't know much about how the ticket machines work)

I guess a similar mistake/error has been made with one of their ticket machines hence why it was spotted/appeared on First Worcester's fleet list/tracking system.

But I may be wrong with my theories... :? :lol: (Also, ignore my half-finished post above)

DD12
Posts: 1650
Joined: 19:49 Monday 4th July 2016

Re: TRACKING !

Post by DD12 » 19:22 Friday 17th May 2019

Thanks very much Will -- I would never have thought of doing that check of Midland Classic !!
-- That has got to be one of the weirdest "bus things" I've ever seen !! :shock:

bringstybeast
Posts: 49
Joined: 18:17 Saturday 9th July 2016

Re: TRACKING !

Post by bringstybeast » 20:05 Friday 17th May 2019

Maybe not weird. Could be that Midland Classic’s machines have similar or consecutive serial numbers and just been misassigned/mistyped on bustimes. Pretty sure that First, and Midland Classic, will know exactly where all their buses are! (And doubt they refer to bustimes for that information!)

DD12
Posts: 1650
Joined: 19:49 Monday 4th July 2016

Re: TRACKING !

Post by DD12 » 13:36 Sunday 19th May 2019

bringstybeast wrote:
20:05 Friday 17th May 2019
Maybe not weird. Could be that Midland Classic’s machines have similar or consecutive serial numbers and just been misassigned/mistyped on bustimes. Pretty sure that First, and Midland Classic, will know exactly where all their buses are! (And doubt they refer to bustimes for that information!)
Good post, thanks bringstybeast !

For anyone who has got the the time to waste (like me) looking at the tracking info and map, - it has just been made more interesting by the addition of National Express coaches !

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