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You can search for information by place name, postcode, service number or operator. 
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INFORMATION ON MAIN FUNCTIONS.
Search for Locations
Type in three or more letters from a city/town/village name. Results are shown on the List Locations screen showing all cities, towns and villages that contain the letters that you specified. (For example New will list all Newports, Newtowns etc on the database and you have to select one.)
If the placename you entered is unique then the system will just show the details for that place.
After this the system can show all bus, coach and train services that start from, finish at or pass through that location, or can show all possible destinations from that location. The search by postcode option is very patchy (Mostly towns/cities) and only searchs at the top level of a postcode (i.e. WC1 1AA would search for WC1). The bigger the location the more accurate the information as the number of via points quoted for routes tends to vary between counties/operators. i.e. a small village on two routes may only be listed on one of them giving a false impression whereas larger towns are always listed. A lot of place names are recorded using their welsh spellings as well as the english ones. Clicking on the 'Search for places using welsh names' box will search for the welsh spellings as well as the english ones.
Search for Route Number
Type in a route number to search for. The search is very loose so entering 69 will find 69, 69A etc. The results are sorted in numeric order by route number. Shows a list of routes using the List routes result screen.
Search for Operators
Type in three or more letters to search for operator name, operator location or both. Most companies are recorded by their legal titles, their trading names and also by any well known name that is no longer in official use (Arriva/First companies for example). Shows a list of operators using the List operators result screen.
List Operators
Lists all operators on the systems, using the List operators result screen.
List Counties
Lists all counties on the system, using the List Counties result screen.
INFORMATION ON RESULTS
List Councils
Gives access to:
Council information under the Council column
List of all known routes within the council's area under the Route column
List of all known operators LOCATED within that county under the Operators column (i.e. NOT a list of all operators operating routes in that area which can be found from the Show council screen, obtained by clicking on the council name).
List Operators
Gives access to:
Operator information under the operator column
Contact telephone number where known
List of all routes known to be operated by the operator under the Route column
Clicking on any of the column headers will sort the list in that order (Operator name, Route Number, Location, County or Number of Routes).
List Locations
Lists all known cities, towns and villages that are similar to the location that you searched for.
Click on List Routes to show all routes from that location. The number is the number of times that destination is referenced by the system, this may be slightly more than the number of routes passing the point owing to circular services. Uses a List Routes results screen.
Where only one serice is known at a location the link becomes Show Route and will show the relevant route using a Show Route results screen.
Clicking on either the Location or County column headers will sort the list in that order.
Click on List Destinations to list all possible destinations from that location. Gives a List of Locations, each clickable to show the routes between the two selected points. Displays using either a List Routes results screen or a Show Route results screen if only one route is involved.
Towns with the same names in different counties should be separately listed. Where towns appear in two different counties both will be shown with a short form of the country name after it i.e. Brook, Iowi for Brook on the Isle of Wight.
List Routes
Gives general information about the route.
Clicking on any of the column headers will sort the list in that order (Operator name, Route Number, Start Point, End Point or General Frequency).
Gives links to operator information under the operator column without this is a single operator listing.
Gives links to full information by clicking on the route number or route details columns.
The 'Route' details are brief details of the service, more details will be available by clicking on the link. Specifically services may be shown as 'Town Centre or City Centre Circular', this means that they are a circular service starting and finishing at this point but going via somewhere else in the city/town.
Show County
Gives all information on the system about a county. Includes web site details, a link to show all council produced publicity that this site uses and a link to show all known bus, coach and train services in that county. Also contains links to show all known operators located in a county, or all operators known to be running services within the county and all listed locations (cities, towns and villages) within the county. Where no general county-wide information is available the update information shows which operators information is known to be complete. Other operators may run but no information has been found about them yet.
The 'Number of journeys' figure is calculated using a formula that is explained later.
For details of the 'My comments' section see below.
Show Operator
Gives all information on the system about an operator. Includes web site and a link to show all known routes. The details may include a picture of a vehicle from the operator, and links may be available to show alternative pictures. The 'Number of journeys' figure is calculated using a formula that is explained later, it is purely a guide.
This vehicle is intended to illustrate the fleet colours (for the major groups these will be the old fleet colours, not the latest corporate colours.), and is usually one of the more interesting ones, with a bias towards Bristols. It does not mean that this is likely to operate any of the services, and it may even have left the fleet subsequently. Where the livery or vehicle is no longer in use this is often noted.
Show Route
Gives all information known about a route, including last known confirmation that the route was running and general timetable details where known. Numbers of journeys are based on return journeys. Some special route types are identified:
| Term used | Explanation |
| College terms only | Only operate during school or college terms, usually dedicated to a specific college, however the service operates all day. Usually available to the General public. |
| Early mornings Only | Only operates early mornings, usually before the morning peak journeys. Usually a different service will be available on the same route during the day |
| Demand Responsive | This service will only operate if there are passengers who have pre-booked it. |
| Evenings Only | Only operates during the evenings on the days shown. Usually a different service will be available on the same route during the day |
| Evenings/Sundays Only | Only operates during the evenings Mondays-Saturdays and all day on Sundays. Usually a different service will be available on the same route during the day. |
| Only this direction | Service only operates in one direction. For services with one journey this means that it only operates one way. For services with a good frequency it means that journeys are only possible in one direction on a circular service. Where clockwise and anti-clockwise circular services exist the details are combined and this note does not apply. |
| Park and Ride | Bus operates to provide a Park and Ride service. Usually operates to certain points only and may not be available to non-car users. |
| Peak only | Only operate during morning and/or evening peaks. |
| Private Service | Service is not available to the general public. |
| School holidays only | Only operates during school holidays. |
| School terms only | Only operate during school or college terms, and provide services to a specific school or college at the relevant opening/closing times. Usually available to the General public. |
| Shop Service | Service provided by a local supermarket/business of some kind, often free Carriage usually only available to the business providing the service. |
| Not every week | Service does not operate every week Usually applies to services that only operate on certain days of the week (e.g. Wednesdays only). In this example this means that the service only operates on certain Wednesdays (e.g. the 2nd in the month.), contact the operator for details. |
| Summer Only | Operates during the summer only. 'Summer' is usually one of two different periods either Easter-September or July-August. |
| Winter Only | Operates only during the Winter. Usually an improved service on the same route will be available in the summer as well. 'Winter' could be October-Easter or September-June. |
The lack of one of the codes above does not mean that it may not apply.
Frequencies are usually those between 0800 and 1730 each day (1200 and 2030 on Sundays).
Where the frequency is shown as 'Unknown' the route may not operate at all on that day.
If the route description that you are looking at is part of a group of details (for example several routes with the same number to different destinations, common routes with different numbers based on time of day, or the same route with multiple operators) a note will be shown with a link to show all of the connected routes. At present this facility only covers the options mentioned above, it will not highlight routes with many different numbers sharing a common part of their route, or where different operators use different numbers.
If I know of a website with the timetable on there will be a link to this. Clicking on any of the locations on the route offers a list of other destinations known to be available from that location (if any).
All references are to any information that I have, it does NOT mean that this is the most recent timetable available. It the date predates this year then there may be a replacement, which may have altered the frequency, operator etc.
ALWAYS CONTACT THE OPERATOR, OR FOLLOW ANY WEBSITE LINKS, TO CHECK THE SERVICE'S PRESENT OPERATION.
School bus destinations
Because of the amount of data on the system most school names are not stored. This means that most school bus services will be shown with a destination of the local town/city instead of the actual school. The actual school served may be some distance from the normal bus station/terminus, please check carefully before assuming any connections.
Number of Journeys
This figure, that is shown for councils and operators, is calculated using the following:
If a service is shown with a number of journeys then this is counted.
Services that do not run every week are counted as having 1/2 a journey a week.
Services with a Monday-Friday frequency are assumed to run at this frequency 07.30 - 17.30 and at half this frequency 06.30 - 07.30 and 17.30 - 22.30.
On Saturday the frequency is assumed to start at 08.30 and on Sundays it is assumed to start at 10.30, both days finishing at 17.30 as above.
The above will count evening services twice where they are run by a different operator, or under a different route number.
School/college services are counted under 'Schooldays' only.
School holidays only services are ignored.
Services where the frequency is unknown are ignored
Summer only services are counted and for services with a summer variation the Summer frequency is counted.
Figures are shown as an average Monday-Friday figure, a Saturday figure and a Sunday figure.
A figure for unknown routes, if shown, is the number of routes that frequency information is not known for.
The result of this is a very rough figure for the number of journeys operated, it is very unlikely to be accurate and is only of use to scale the operator's size against others on the system.
My Comments
The comments section, if shown, are my impression of how easy it is to find information out about transport in this council's area both on the Internet and in the area. The places tried are the local tourist information centre, the bus/rail stations and, if still unsuccessful and it can be found easily, the library. The basis of the comments is that information about transport should be easily available to strangers in an area, and that the same details should be available on an Internet site. It would be even nicer if information about transport in geographical areas was available, instead of stopping at an arbitrary point dictated for the benefit of government!
The comments are personal and the situation may have changed since I tried (or may have got worse!). If no comments are shown then I haven't tried to do this recently. For the general comments the date I tried is shown, all Internet comments are within the last six months. The results of this 'survey' vary from some where full information is freely available, even outside of the councils area and in all sorts of unexpected places to some areas which appear to be covered by the official secrets act!
Explanation of terms.
| Term used | For websites | For general publicity |
| Excellent | Not used | Stocks publicity from surrounding councils as well as its own. |
| Good | The site has information and timetables for all of the council's area. | Comprehensive timetables are available. |
| Fair | Some effort has been made to include information, however there are no timetables. | Some timetables are available, or comprehensive timetables are available sometimes or with some difficulty. |
| Poor | There is some information on the site, but no great effort has been shown. | Some leaflets/timetables are available or can be seen. |
| Dreadful | I cant find anything useful on the site at all. | Nothing is available. |
Linking to this site
If you want to link to the information on various pages this can be achieved by using the text from your browser's URL line.
(i.e. the reference http:\\www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnshowc.asp?C=BPOL will give the information for Blackpool Council). Some details move over time, this only really applies to operators who stop running bus services and the actual routes themselves if they stop running.
To use the search functions is slightly more complex and details are shown below:
| Searching for | Use URL | Example |
| Buses from a place Name | www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnlistl.asp?L1= | www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnlistl.asp?L1=Reading |
| Buses from a postcode | www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnlistl.asp?L5= | www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnlistl.asp?L5=GL2 |
| Bus operators by name | www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnlisto.asp?N= | www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnlisto.asp?N=jones |
| Bus operators based at a place | www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnlisto.asp?L= | www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnlisto.asp?L=newport |
| Specific bus service | www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnshowr.asp?RN= | www.carlberry.co.uk/rfnshowr.asp?RN=CD021A |
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This page was last changed 13 Feb 2013, the main database was updated on 14 May 2013 |
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