Bristol Bus BuddyNew to Bristol buses?
Start with the stop, not just the route number.
The difficult bit is often not finding a bus number. It is working out which stop is for your direction, whether the displayed bus is actually current, and what the bus does once you are on it.
The same road can mean two completely different journeys.
On a main Bristol road, opposite stops can have the same name but serve opposite directions. Before following a route number, check the stop indicator and the destination shown at that exact boarding point. Walking across at the wrong time can turn a short wait into a much longer one.
A timetable and a live vehicle are different things.
A scheduled time tells you what the official timetable expects. A live vehicle report can be useful, but only while it is fresh. If a vehicle has stopped reporting, it should not be treated as proof that it is still approaching your stop.
Choose the departure, then check its continuation.
Once you have found a plausible bus, the next useful question is simple: where does this particular departure go next? That is why Bristol Bus Buddy is designed around a stop card first, then a selected-departure view with its upcoming stops.
Keep the emergency question small.
When it is raining, late, or your phone is running low, you do not need a transport-planning cathedral. You need an honest answer to: should I wait here, walk to another nearby stop, or change plan?
What BBB does
A public, Bristol-first mobile web companion that keeps the stop, direction and useful departures in one place. It now also provides nearby boards in Bath, Clevedon, Portishead and Nailsea.