Targeted bus search

Mrs OBumble

The Sticky with the list of private bus operators, the hassle of searching each one, and the difficulty of finding bus services in Google, got me thinking.

I've had a go at a "targeted bus search" - that includes all the privates in the sticky, and the public operators too.

I've got a bit more work to do: the list really should be based on licensed services rather than the sticky, and it still looks kinda ugly. And I'm thinking about how exactly to promote a site like this that has very little contents of its own.

But I'm feeling a need for a bit of feedback before I do much more work.

So ... would be grateful if a few people could try out this tool and let me know what you think.

(I've put this in a separate thread in case it doesn't work. If it does, will add it to the sticky later on. If not, then this will gently fade into the past

Victor

Hee, hee. You need to remove Dublin Bus for counties outside the franchise area. I got a Dublin Bus hit for Athenry - http://www.dublinbus.ie/About-Us/Projects/T21/

Well done, is the search based on the list I have in the sticky or an everything?

Mrs OBumble

Victor wrote: »

is the search based on the list I have in the sticky or an everything?

It's currently:

• the contents of the sticky, with the ones mentioned as "uncertain" checked and if appropriate removed
• companies I know about for Galway,
• and Bus Éireann and Dublin Bus and Ulsterbus.

I'm certain that there are the makings of a really, really useful tool here for, mainly for people who live here but also for visitors who want to escape the tourist circuits.

But it's about finding the right combination of what to include. Maybe even several combinations. More work to do methinks!

It would be great if being a licensed bus-service here involved contributing to the cost and data-feed of a central public-transport-finding system. I wonder if such a scheme is anywhere near the Department of Transport's thinking.

Victor

Any update?

Mrs OBumble

Yup!

After a fair bit of exploring and testing, I've concluded that there is now way to include the state-owned companies AND to get a manageable/useful set of search results.

(Did they try to flood their web-sites with so many irrelevant pages to as to overwhelm Google et al, or is it a happy co-incidence! Who knows ...)

Anyways: here's a Private-bus-company-search, which gives useful results as far as I can see.

I'm going to start promoting this soon, I think, so any feedback very welcome.

So far, it only covers:

• the contents of the sticky, validated (meaning checked by me against the www and the licensed-operators list) for Galway and Cavan.

This list will grow ...

marmurr1916

JustMary wrote: »

Yup!

After a fair bit of exploring and testing, I've concluded that there is now way to include the state-owned companies AND to get a manageable/useful set of search results.

(Did they try to flood their web-sites with so many irrelevant pages to as to overwhelm Google et al, or is it a happy co-incidence! Who knows ...)

Anyways: here's a Private-bus-company-search, which gives useful results as far as I can see.

I'm going to start promoting this soon, I think, so any feedback very welcome.

So far, it only covers:

• the contents of the sticky, validated (meaning checked by me against the www and the licensed-operators list) for Galway and Cavan.

This list will grow ...

Hi, typed in Galway into your search link but got no hits for GoBus (www.gobus.ie).

Victor

gobus may not have been on the list - I only added it Friday night.

Mrs OBumble

marmurr1916 wrote: »

Hi, typed in Galway into your search link but got no hits for GoBus (www.gobus.ie).

:eek:

Thank you: this is exactly the sort of feedback I need.

I'm getting the same thing, and it's got me stumped so far: GoBus is in the list ('cos it was in my Galway list from before the sticky), and when I search for "gobus", it brings back results. Ditto when I do a regular Google search for "galway" with site:.gobus.ie

More research to be done, me thinks. Tomorrow, not right now.