Home Bus Departure What to Do If Your Bus Hasn’t Shown Up

What to Do If Your Bus Hasn’t Shown Up

Last updated on Sep 18, 2026

If a service remains listed as Scheduled on the board and is running 10 to 20 minutes past its due time without appearing, the trip has most likely been unofficially cancelled or withdrawn by the operator.

Why Doesn't the Board Say "Cancelled"?

(Applies to boards prior to the v2.0 Phase 2 update)

Our system relies directly on the Bus Open Data Service (BODS) feed for service alerts, cancellations, and diversions.

  • If an operator cancels a run internally but does not publish a formal cancellation notice to BODS, our system cannot detect the change.

  • Without that data payload, the system defaults to the published timetable, leaving the departure marked as "Scheduled" rather than flagging it as cancelled.

Why Do Third-Party Apps (Like Bustimes.org) Sometimes Show Cancellations Earlier?

Third-party tracking platforms often cross-reference multiple private feeds, crowdsourced reports, or specialized parsing algorithms alongside BODS data. We are actively investigating how these platforms capture unpublished cancellations so we can incorporate similar early-detection mechanisms into future software updates.