Why ‘ghost buses’ appear on Bristol bus stop screens - First Bus finally explains what the problem is

The bus operator has apologised for services vanishing from the bus stop screens
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Passengers waiting for buses in Bristol will be all too familiar with ‘ghost’ buses that mysteriously disappear from screens on bus stops and fail to turn up. But now, operator First West of England has explained what actually happens when the bus you’ve been waiting for says ‘due’ on the screen and then vanishes without trace.

One of the reasons, according to First West of England, is the well-documented bus driver shortage. The operator is also blaming ‘severe congestion’ for buses disappearing from the timetable. But there is another reason why these ‘ghost’ buses seemingly vanish into thin air.

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A spokesperson for First West of England said: “We apologise to customers who are being inconvenienced by services not arriving. The lack of drivers sometimes means a bus starts its journey but is unable to complete it because there is no driver available at the changeover point, which is typically in the city centre.

“The real time information at bus stops further along the route will have counted down the number of minutes to arrival, sometimes reaching ‘Due’, but there can sometimes be a gap whilst the system registers that the bus is no longer running and clears the prediction from the display.

“We appreciate that this can be confusing, and that accurate real time information is very important for our customers as they wait at stops. We are working closely with our partners at the West of England Combined Authority (WECA), who are responsible for the bus stop real time information system, to ensure that the predictions are as accurate as possible.”

WECA Metro Mayor Dan Norris is aware of the situation, and added: “I know how frustrating it is when buses don’t show up on displays or, worse still, ‘ghost buses’ which appear to be on the way and then vanish.

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People need to be able to plan their lives and this is happening far too often. I have raised this with the bus operator and the so-called “Real Time Information” system supplier to investigate why the system does not seem to be showing accurate predictions.”

The explanation comes in the same week First Bus announced it was cancelling more than 500 journeys across 19 routes, just a month after if introduced a new reducted timetable to improve reliability.

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