National Public Transport Information

Frequently Asked Questions and How to Use www.nationalpti.co.uk

Welcome to www.nationalpti.co.uk , the site for information about travel by public transport across south west England and Great Britain as a whole. See how you can alter the way our site behaves to suit your preferences.

How to Use This Site

The tabs on the Home Page or on top of the Journey Planning box take you to:

Plan My Trip - for door-to-door journey planning, including maps showing bus-stop locations and the route of the trip plan. You can also use the simple journey planner widget on our Home Page to plan your trips. Real Time Information is displayed where available in south west England, for trips in the next hour or so.
Get Departure Times - Choose a stop to show a list of departures from that point; Real Time Information is displayed where available in south west England, for trips in the next hour or so.
Travel Updates - information on planned disruptions (roadworks, diversions) that may affect your journey.
My Regular Trip - Create a downloadable, printable plan for your regular trips to work, school or wherever;
Stop Timetable - Create and display a downloadable, printable list of bus departures from your chosen bus stop;
Route Map - View, download and print route maps of local bus services
Route Timetable - View, download and print timetables of local bus services;

From the Home Page, a tab also takes you to:

Contact Details - How to contact transport operators for more information on lost property, fares or to comment to them about service operations; or how to get in touch with local councils for details of concessionary travel passes, community transport or Park & Ride schemes.

To get back to our home page from any tab on the website, click the small National PTI logo at the top left hand corner of the page.

If you prefer to speak to someone, the traveline enquiry service on 0871 22 22 33 is open 0700 to 2200 daily, calls cost 12p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge. (Closed Christmas Day, shorter hours apply Christmas Eve, Boxing Day & New Year's Day)

Mobile Apps

This website is designed to work well on PCs, tablets or mobile devices. But if you prefer to use an app, National PTI apps are available for free on iOS and Android formats, from the Apple app store or Google Play. Link to these and download from our Home Page.

What if I want Details of Fares and Ticket Prices?

Click on the “Ticket Info” bar in the journey plan result, or use the Contact Details section

on our home page to see how to contact operators for this information. We are continually updating our fares and ticket information but may not have details of everything on offer.

Plan My Trip

How do I enter details of my journey?

You can plan a journey using the “Plan my Trip” widget on our Home Page, the “Plan my Trip” page on our journey planner website or right clicking on the map and choosing “from here” and “to here”.

The journey planner usually gives several options for your journey around your chosen travel time. As operators can change timetables with 6 to 10 weeks' notice, the site lets you plan for up to 3 months ahead.

In the widget or "Plan my Trip", enter your origin and destination in the “From” and “To” boxes to tell the planner about your journey and confirm the choices from the list of suggestions that appears.

Click on the location, globe icon at top right to plan to or from your current location;

Click on the plus icon on the left hand side to open a via option, where you can tell the planner where you want to travel via and even how long you would like to spend there;

Click on the double arrows exchange button icon on the right hand side to swap the “From” and “To” boxes to plan the return leg of your trip.

You can plan a journey by entering any of the following, then clicking “Apply Options”: 

Post codes (e.g. PL6 8BX) Addresses (e.g. 1 Davy Road, Plymouth) A town, village or area locality (e.g. Taunton)  A rail station (e.g. Bristol Temple Meads Rail Station) A bus-stop name (e.g. Exeter, High Street)  A Point of Interest (poi) (e.g. Plymouth University)

In the "Trip Time and Date" area, you can alter the time and/or date for your trip, choose to arrive or depart at the chosen time, leave earlier or later or choose the earliest or latest journey that day.

What do My Trip Plan Results tell me?

Does the website give real time updates?

Yes – Journeys for the next hour or so use real time information whenever they can. A tick shows that the journey is reporting as on time; if the journey is running late, the adjusted time will be displayed and a red, clock icon will be shown:

Choosing “Vehicle Locations” on the “Show on Map” box on the map, will show you where the bus or train on your journey plan is currently.

How does the Travel Options button change my trip plan?

You can choose how the system works out your trips, and save these settings:

Can I plan journeys throughout Great Britain?

Yes - National PTI data covers journey planning throughout Great Britain, travelling by local bus, express coach, rail, ferry and tram services. Underground services in London, schools and demand responsive services across southern England are also included. We produce the data for the south west of England, plus Hampshire and the Solent area, Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Suffolk and combine this with information from other areas in Great Britain to let you plan virtually door to door and A to B.

How do I find out which buses serve a road or stop?

Just right click on any road on the map, choose “Services on Street” from the little menu and a list of buses serving that road will be displayed. This also works for railway lines. Choosing “Departures” will display services and departure times from the nearest bus stops. Or left click on a bus-stop and a list of routes and operators serving that stop is displayed.

How can I change the information shown on the map?

Scrolling or pinching the map will change the zoom levels – or use the button on the map.

Selecting the “Show on Map” button allows you to switch on or off:

Bus Stop locations – when displayed you can click on these to plan to or from them or bring up a list of departures

The location of buses or trains in real time for current journey plans only – see where the service is as it moves towards you – or confirm if it has left

Selecting more or fewer “points of interest” to display

Departure Times and Maps

How can I find the time and route of the next bus?

Travel Updates

What if my journey is affected by diversions or roadworks?

Where we know of them, pre-planned roadworks, road closures and diversions are included as Travel Updates with a warning icon in all journey plan and departure results. Click on the icon or message and full details will be displayed of the diversion or reason for change:

If journeys are cancelled or changed at short notice this information will be taken account of in your plan if the cancellation or change details have been entered into the real time information system by the operator or authority.

My Regular Trip

How can I get details for my regular school or work trips?

"My Regular Trip" page allows you to create, download and print a personal journey plan for your favourite or frequent journeys. Enter “From” and “To” points and Travel Time details as usual. Notice that the travel times are a range, to enter the times you want to arrive at work or school maybe, and to leave again in the afternoon. Press the “PDF” button and your personal timetable is produced as a downloadable file to save and print.

(Adobe Reader required, click here for a free copy: https://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/ ).

Stop Timetable

How about getting a list of bus times from my stop?

The "Stop Timetable” tab lets you create a file of times from stops which you use frequently. Enter an area or stop name, choose the individual stop you want and press the PDF button to create the file. You can download, save and print these files as required. Ideal for the fridge, your desk or notice board – but please remember to update them now and again.

(Adobe Reader required, click here for a free copy: https://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/ ).

Route Map

How can I see the route the bus takes?

The "Route Map" tab lets you access maps for all the local bus services that we have created details for. Enter the route number you wish to search for in the top box. Then choose the route from the list presented and press the PDF button. You can download, save and print the pdf file. (Note: we are adding back “Operator” and “Location” boxes to target the search and help you find the route you want more easily.)

(Adobe Reader required, click here for a free copy: https://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/ ).

Route Timetable

Can I see timetables rather than a journey plan?

The “Route Timetable” tab lets you access timetables (in pdf downloadable format) for all the local bus services that we have created details for. Enter the route number you wish to search for in the top box, then choose the route from the list presented and press the PDF button. (If you don’t know the route number, right click on the road on the map for a list).

You can download, save and print the pdf file.

You can choose if you want to see a timetable for just “Main Stops” i.e. timing points, or if you want a much longer timetable showing estimated times at every stop along the route. Note as well as the timetable pages you will be given a list of all stops along the route and a calendar for the next 3 months is included, showing the days covered by “schooldays only” “school holidays only” or other days of operation.

(Note: we are adding back “Operator” and “Location” boxes to target the search and help you find the route you want more easily.).

(Adobe Reader required, click here for a free copy: https://get.adobe.com/uk/reader/ ).

What if timetables are due to change in the near future?

We try to show timetables at least a few weeks before they change, are introduced or finish, so sometimes there will be more than one timetable for a route. Please check the dates of operation of the timetable carefully. Our journey planner always uses the most up-to-date timetable for the day in question.

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