UK Bus Checker User Reviews

Top reviews

Map to small

After the latest up grade so you can see the buses is good but after selecting the stop it takes over the screen making the map too small. Need to be able to see map screen in full screen if you want. You have to remember we’re looking on phones here not laptops. This is something you need to sort out quickly. Please tell me why in your infinite wisdom you now don’t have the choice to say I want bus journeys only. If it is still there where have you hidden it. Another case of programmers fixing something that’s not broke. Started using google maps for buses now far more relit and more choices. This app has slowly gone from bad to worse. Please tell me why you have taken away the facility to be able to press on a bus stop and say get me here, or the other option get me from here. These was both very good options another tool you have taken away. It’s becoming a messy app. City mapper was a good app and they went the same way your going so don’t use it anymore. Just add Google maps is now better than this app.

Well the time has come to find another bus app. This has gone from bad to worse. Some bus stops are the loads missing. And there is no support anymore. You cannot email you by the look of it with you problem. Tells you to make sure players button is on. What layers button where is it. It’s not at the top where you say it is. Total rubbish. Gone the same way as city mapper.
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Response from developer

Hi - thank you for your feedback. Our journey planning is based on transit data provided by third parties. We will remind them to keep this up-to-date so that journey plans are as accurate as possible.

Great App

I absolutely love this app. I use it almost everyday. Although, there are a few bugs and issues which can infuriate me at times. Sometimes opening the open can be a whole job in itself, due to the app just showing the loading / opening screen but will take a few closings to actually open the app. The second and last issue would be that some buses won’t show up on the app, but some buses that do show up on the app have incorrect times and I end up missing quite a few due to it.

Other than that criticism, it’s a phenomenal app.
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Useful

I don’t often use buses (there aren’t many where I live - rural) but I do when getting around towns and cities elsewhere. Had this app free for a couple years but, since I actually find it useful I’ve paid the £6.99.
All the moaners who complain about the ads have a choice - put up with them or pay what is an almost insignificant sum for a useful app. The developers deserve payment for their work.
(Confession: when I was trying the free version, my ad blocker cut out all the ads, leaving just a line at the bottom of the screen to say an ad couldn’t be loaded. But, as I said above, developers deserve payment for apps we actually use.)
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Better Must Come

Ultimately this is a fantastic app. However, the recent upgrade doesn’t sit well with me at all. This was a fantastic free app which needed no sign in, no sign up, no login details etc, until some bright spark decided to change it all - I guess, to get people like me to write a review because normally I wouldn’t, even though I loved the app before, but I Am so disgruntled and so lost without the use of this app simply because I object to having to sign up.

Eventually I probably will sign up but for the moment I’ve resorted to using the time bus timetables and organising my life around using the bus timetables instead of the live minute by minute countdown/count-up, arrivals/departures system that the app uses.

Likewise, eventually I would’ve got round to giving you a five star, all I needed was the frequency of pop-ups which would’ve eventually prompted me to give you five star but right now I’m so angry about the changes that you only get one star.

Does everyone have to follow suit? Does everyone have to follow what’s trending or trendy? Why couldn’t you be the one app that freely serve all ages & all generations without paying a fee or sign-up details?
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Can I have the old app back?

The perfect bus checking app I’ve used for many years is ruined. I had also recently found the old app even more useful via an Apple Watch, but now I can’t quickly check for a bus on watch and even on phone there are no favourites stops available without logging in first - and without biometric log-in available. Never really needed ticket buying even if this app could offer that for an operator within 100 miles. I have operator/transport authority apps for ticket buying, but this app was always more reliable than theirs for consistently-styled information particularly at stops with multiple operators. And unlike theirs it used to work on a watch. This app seems more about grabbing personal data than providing a useful service. Can I have the old app back please.
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Disappointing

The old version of this app was so much better.

Please could you consider the following:

1. The bus stop letters were visible straight away on the old map. You have to zoom in now and it lags.

2. What is the purpose of having some, but not all, buses routes written in grey on the map? Just clutters everything.

3. Messages about diversions, delays and closures are not as easy to spot as they were in the old version. Also they are often missing altogether.

4. When you click into a particular bus route the route map is not interactive - you can’t see the stop names or letters and you can’t click directly onto them which is helpful if you’re looking to change buses.

5. Please could you respond to these feedback suggestions?

6. All the above were features on the old app. Why have they been removed? If this new version was as good as the old one I would happily pay £7 to get rid of the apps, but at the moment it’s not worth it.
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Map to small

After the latest up grade so you can see the buses is good but after selecting the stop it takes over the screen making the map too small. Need to be able to see map screen in full screen if you want. You have to remember we’re looking on phones here not laptops. This is something you need to sort out quickly. Please tell me why in your infinite wisdom you now don’t have the choice to say I want bus journeys only. If it is still there where have you hidden it. Another case of programmers fixing something that’s not broke. Started using google maps for buses now far more relit and more choices. This app has slowly gone from bad to worse. Please tell me why you have taken away the facility to be able to press on a bus stop and say get me here, or the other option get me from here. These was both very good options another tool you have taken away. It’s becoming a messy app. City mapper was a good app and they went the same way your going so don’t use it anymore. Just add Google maps is now better than this app.
Show less

Response from developer

Hi - thank you for your feedback. Our journey planning is based on transit data provided by third parties. We will remind them to keep this up-to-date so that journey plans are as accurate as possible.

Worse than useless

Today this app was worse than useless and wasted an hour for me. At 12:55 this app reported that the service 376 from Street, Somerset, to Bristol would be at my stop at 13:45 so I didn’t rush to the stop only to see my bus leave the stop just before I got there. The timetable says 29 and 59 minutes past the hour but the app still said 13:45. I went for a cup of tea, ready to return for that time only to see my bus, once again, disappear in the distance. This meant that I had to wait again for my bus, which turned up at the time on the timetable - 13:59 - just over an hour after I first accessed this app. The app still said 13:45 (and again at 14:45 and 15:45). This app is too unreliable to be of any use.
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Response from developer

Hi - an issue with stops positions has now been resolved. If you think there is still an issue please do get in touch via Help and Support and someone will be sure to look into this for you. We apologise for any inconvenience

The new ads get in the way of using the app

As annoying as ads can sometimes be, the new ones on this app are at a new low. If you’re in a rush and need to check a time, forget it because you’ll have to watch through an ad that can’t be skipped first. This app used to be reliable and has now lost its functionality. The live timings seem to have gotten a lot worse too and often don’t show up at all. The ads also pause any music or podcasts you’re listening to which is incredibly annoying too.

In general I think ads are a good thing as they allow apps to be free however, in this case they actually stop the app from functioning well which I think is a huge issue. Please do something about this.
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Response from developer

Thanks for your feedback - live timings are supplied by third-parties, we will remind them to keep these data feeds up-to-date.

The only departure I can find is the departure of any meaningful interaction with voiceover

For many years Bus Checker has been amongst the most accessible bus apps to use with the voiceover screen reader. I thought I must be missing something when I downloaded the updated version. Surely no developer would completely eradicate all the advances made in accessibility. Surely no developer would want the acalade of being the only one that I know of to completely strip out any means by which blind people can access this app. Surely no developer would not notice these things and let it carry on for months. Surely no developer would either not notice, or still worse be disinterested in fixing this issue. The text and list based format of the previous versions were accessible, and useable - I do not know where to begin with this app as a blind person. I now have no reliable bus app that is accessible across the UK.
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