Help & frequently asked questions

BustimeFinder helps you look up bus routes, stops and timetables, see available live bus locations and browse recorded journeys. You can start with a route number, a place or an operator's name.

No. We're an independent information website, not a bus operator. We can't change a service, hold a bus or deal with a ticket refund. We're also separate from Bustimes.org.

You'll find listings for the United Kingdom and Ireland, plus supported US areas including New York, Las Vegas, Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. Start with Regions and places to find your area.

A region being listed doesn't mean every bus there is covered. Some services have timetables but no live tracking; others have fewer details available.

• Browse regions and places →

Not yet. The information available varies by operator and area, and a listed vehicle may have no recorded journeys. If you can't find a service, check the operator's own website before assuming it no longer runs.

No sign-up is needed to search for buses or browse the public timetables, maps and vehicle pages.

Enter the route number in the search box at the top of the page. Check the operator and destination before opening a result—different towns can have buses with the same number. You can also search by place, stop or operator.

• Search for a bus or place →

Search for the stop name or the town you're in. You can also move around the map and zoom in to look for stops. Check which side of the road the stop is on before heading there.

• Open the map →

Open the stop's page to see the services listed there and any available departures. Check the selected date and time: a service may use the stop only at certain times or on particular days.

Look at the destination and the order of stops. On a service page, choose the direction you need where that choice is available. The return journey may use a different stop or follow a slightly different route.

They may be different operators, directions or versions of a route. Some journeys finish early or take a different branch. Check the destination, calling stops and date rather than choosing by number alone.

Open the service page and look for its timetable. Choose your travel date and direction where those controls are shown. If a journey has a detail link, open it to see its individual stops and available times.

Scheduled is the time in the timetable. Expected is an arrival or departure estimate, which can change as the journey progresses. Recorded means we have information about activity that has already been reported.

A timetable time by itself doesn't tell you whether a bus is running on time.

A Monday timetable can be very different from a Sunday one. School holidays, public holidays and special events can also affect services. Select the day you'll actually travel, and check any notes for that journey.

We may have the stop listed without a time for that particular journey. A blank space isn't an arrival time and doesn't mean the bus is on time. In a timetable with several journeys, check the individual journey before assuming it calls at that stop.

It describes how often the service is scheduled to run during the time period shown, rather than giving a fixed departure for every bus. It isn't a countdown to the next arrival, and traffic can still create longer gaps.

At a pick-up-only stop, passengers can board but aren't meant to get off. At a set-down-only stop, passengers can get off but can't board. Check the note beside the stop so you don't wait for a bus you can't catch there.

Read journey times in the local time of the service you're viewing, not as a conversion to wherever you're browsing from. Check any time-zone label shown, especially for an overnight journey or a service crossing time zones. If it isn't clear, confirm the time with the operator.

Check that both pages refer to the same date, direction and stop. If they still disagree, use the operator's latest travel advice and let us know which BustimeFinder page needs checking. This is especially important for a last bus or a tight connection.

• How to report a correction →

Open the live map, move to your area and zoom in. Select a bus marker to see the available route and journey details. Some service pages also have a map showing buses matched to that service.

• Find buses on the live map →

We might not have live tracking for that operator, or there may be no recent location for that bus. It could also be outside the area you're viewing. Zoom in and check the route, but don't take a missing marker as proof the bus has been cancelled.

Its location updates may have paused, it may have left the map area, or its journey may have ended. A stationary marker can also be an old position. Look at the last-observed time before treating the marker as its current location.

That's the most recent time we have a reported position or activity for that bus. It isn't necessarily where the bus is now. An old marker should be treated as a last known location, not a live one.

Having a timetable doesn't mean live tracking is available for the same service. You can still use the timetable to check planned departures, but it won't confirm the bus's current location.

Not on its own. Check the route and destination, whether your stop is on that journey, and how recent the location is. A bus may be waiting, finishing its run or not taking passengers. Leave yourself time to reach the stop rather than relying on the marker alone.

First, check the date and the “from” time. The last bus may already have gone, or the service may not run that day. We may also be missing timetable information for the stop. Try an earlier time or check the service page, then confirm with the operator if you still can't find what you need.

No. It means we don't have journey activity to show for that vehicle on the selected date. The bus may have run without appearing in our records. Try another date, but don't use an empty history as proof it stayed in the depot.

We sometimes have a record of a bus journey without its full calling stops or timetable. We leave those details blank rather than give you a guessed stopping pattern. Check the service's timetable or the operator's website for your journey.

Not every operator publishes the same information, and we haven't connected every service. One area may have live locations and detailed timetables while another has only route or stop listings. A busy-looking map in one city doesn't tell you how complete another city's information is.

Look for the operator's name on the service or journey page. Open its profile to browse the services listed under that name and find a website link where one is available. Some routes are shared, so check your particular journey.

• Browse operators →

No. The route number identifies the service passengers catch. A fleet number is the operator's identifier for a particular bus. A registration is the vehicle's number plate. Different buses can work the same route during the day.

We don't have all of those details for every bus. Sometimes we can show a reported vehicle reference but can't confidently link it to a full vehicle profile. We leave uncertain details out rather than attach another bus's information.

Not necessarily. Operators can swap buses between routes or replace a vehicle at short notice. A vehicle's recorded journeys show past activity, not a promise about which bus you'll get next time.

Open its vehicle profile, select a service date and choose “Show vehicle journeys”. Any available entries can take you to the journey details. The list isn't a complete record of everything that bus has ever done.

On eligible Great Britain pages, this is a legal record for a bus service, linked to an operator's licence. It isn't the bus's number plate or an insurance policy, and it doesn't confirm that a particular departure is running today.

• Browse service registrations →

No, we don't currently sell tickets. Check the operator's website or an authorised ticket seller for prices, ticket rules and payment options. A route or timetable listing isn't a ticket or a seat reservation.

Please contact the operator before you travel. Vehicle features shown here can be useful background, but they don't confirm which bus will arrive, whether a space is free or whether your stop is accessible. We can't arrange travel assistance.

Contact the bus operator, or your ticket seller for a booking or refund query. Keep the route number, date, approximate time and direction handy. BustimeFinder doesn't run the buses or handle passengers' belongings.

Email us with the page link, what looks wrong and what you expected to see. Include the operator, route or stop name and the travel date and time if they're relevant. A screenshot can help—crop out any personal details first.

We can investigate website information, but we can't resolve a missed bus or change an operator's service.

• Email a website correction →

Yes. Send us the operator's name, the area it serves and its official website. That gives us a useful starting point, though we can't promise a launch date or that live tracking will be available.

• Send a coverage suggestion →

No. You can search by name and move around the map yourself. If you choose a locate-me control, your browser may ask for permission; you can decline and carry on browsing.

Our privacy and cookie pages explain what information is used and the choices available to you. You can reach them at any time from the footer.

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