National Express Coach Tracker

[telstarbox]

National Express have launched a real-time coach tracking service on their website at http://coachtracker.nationalexpress.com. It's pretty nifty, with a map showing the live position of any coach as well as the Google Street View from the current coach position:

 

[tbtc]

That's me guaranteed to waste yet more of my life now!

Looks a great feature, as an enthusiast - not sure how practical it'll be for your average passenger, but I could spend a long time playing with it

 

[NLC1072]

That's me guaranteed to waste yet more of my life now!

Looks a great feature, as an enthusiast - not sure how practical it'll be for your average passenger, but I could spend a long time playing with it

Perfect if you are waiting to meet a friend off of a coach, you can see where they are and guestimate their time of arrival from it, or if you want to see how much further you have to go if you of the impatient type.

 

[34D]

Does anyone know what type of equipment is used to operate this functionality?

I wonder whether it is compatible with any of the realtime screens (or text systems) used in any of the different RTI used for buses?

 

[jopsuk]

You can marvel at how f@*£$%€g long the 787 takes between Cambridge and Luton Airport in real time!

 

[Deerfold]

You can marvel at how f@*£$%€g long the 787 takes between Cambridge and Luton Airport in real time!

Well you could probably cut 20 minutes off the 1h35 time if you didn't bother gong via Luton town centre - I suspect that's to give Luton - Heathrow connectivety?

 

[jopsuk]

as the crow flies it is 31 miles from Cambridge to Luton Airport. The Coach has an effective average speed of less than 20mph. And that's still the quickest way by public transport between the two...

 

[Deerfold]

as the crow flies it is 31 miles from Cambridge to Luton Airport. The Coach has an effective average speed of less than 20mph. And that's still the quickest way by public transport between the two...

As the crow flies, yes. The shortest road route is 40 miles though - and the coach makes a couple of minor diversions to make sure it serves Trump(ing)ton and Hitchin Station.

Google reckons it's an off-peak drive of 70 minutes so given the extra stopping the coach has to do, I don't think it does too badly.

 

[185]

Does anyone know what type of equipment is used to operate this functionality?

I wonder whether it is compatible with any of the realtime screens (or text systems) used in any of the different RTI used for buses?

A little bird tells me that some years ago, the original NavTrak system used by NX was attached to vehicles in the form of round magnetic discs.

A little bird also tells me that some tinkers one night in Digbeth at 3am pulled nine tags off nine buses and stuck them all on the roof of a Birmingham Coach Company motor parked on the back stand which was out of service for the night.

An even littler bird tells me of the chaos this caused in NX control for months on end afterwards.

Almost as naughty as changing the "hows my driving" phone numbers with a marker pen to a double glazing company's number.

Allegedly

 

[Martin nx]

Well you could probably cut 20 minutes off the 1h35 time if you didn't bother gong via Luton town centre - I suspect that's to give Luton - Heathrow connectivety?

Believe me, every one of us that has done 787's would rather not go anywhere near Luton town center for the rest of our lives! After 20.00 we serve the station instead of the resident joke that is the Galaxy Centre stop, what a waste of time that is as well as MASSIVE aggravation to get through, especially with a Tri-Axle Levante. Don't forget we also have to observe timing points at Harston, Royston, Baldock, Hitchin Station and St Marys Square before going into the rathole. Have not done one for a couple of years now but it is no better.