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Guide to what is included in the DfT NCSD
November 2024
Input data
We are currently taking data in various data formats, such as (TxC, ATCO-CIF, GTFS) from 6 operators.
The input data we receive is as below.
• Megabus
• National Express
• FLIXBUS – GTFS
• NewBharat Coaches
• Autosradale (Airport Bus Express)
• Scottish Citylink
This list replicates what was included in the current NCSD.
In addition to replicating the current National Coach Services Data (NCSD) operators’ data, there are some additional coach services included:
• National Express Events
• National Express Ireland
• Dublin Express
We have included these as the operators have requested event services and cross-border services with at least one stop in the UK to be part of the new NCSD dataset.
We have plans to expand this list and allow any coach operator within the UK to be included within the NCSD. We would be interested to hear any feedback from consumers on what they would like to be included in NCSD going forward.
International and cross border services
Operators have requested cross-border and international services to be included in the NCSD.
• Included cross-border services have at least one stop within the UK.
• For Irish stops, we have mapped the stops to the Irish NAPTAN
• Plans are in place to add Northern Irish services within the dataset going forward.
Events services
Operators have requested event services to be included in the NCSD.
• National express list their services under “National Express Events” making it easy to filter these services out.
• Within the inventory report document, we have included a column that determines whether the service is an event service.
o We have defined an event service as a short-running service less than 7 days.
o This can be used to filter out services if required.
Output data
• Each of the datasets is converted to TxC2.4 PTI and then converted to ATCO-CIF and TxC2.1 for consumers.
• TxC2.1 will be available upon email request(bodshelpdesk@kpmg.co.uk) until end of April 2025.
• ATCO-CIF will be available only until September 2025.
Included within the NCSD ZIP file:
• Separate folders for each operators’ data:
- List of included services – A list of every service within the data set with details of data source, operator, line name, direction and description (Replication of original NCSD file)
- Inventory report – A list of every service within the data set split up by one row per file – Including NationalOperatorCode, OperatorShortName, LineName, ServiceCode, OutboundDescription, InboundDescription, TotalStopPoints, CustomStopPoints, RouteSections, Routes, JourneyPatternSections, VehicleJourneys, FilePath, ServiceStartDate, ServiceEndDate, EventService
- DQS report (only included in TxC2.4) – A data quality report divided by each operator.
- Custom stop list – A list of stops that don’t have a match in the NAPTAN database follows the below steps:
o We have created a manual mapping of stops to match to.
o If there is no manual mapping available, then we match the latitude/longitude of each stop to the closest stop in the NaPTAN database.
o If there is no stop nearby, then we create a custom stop, for example for event services we recommend that operators update stops regularly by liaising with local authorities and NaPTAN team to add new stops.
Booking restrictions
• We have added the booking restrictions within the TxC2.4 in the operator notes as follows:
o <Note>You must book this service in advance via the operator’s website or telephone</Note>
• We have removed the operator specific telephone details due to the possibility of the number/rate details changing and wrong data being published.
• We have reached out to the data providers to provide contact details within the operator detail section if required.
• The NOC in the operator section can be used to reference the operator’s data in other data sets such as the NOC database.
Activities
• Pick up and set down restrictions may not always be accurately reflected.
• It is not possible for coach service operating rules to be fully described in TransXChange alone, for example the requirement for passengers not to be carried on journeys of less than 15 miles unless registered as a local bus service.
• For stops that have drop off restrictions for only some passengers, we have marked these as Pickupandsetdown.
FLIXBUS pre-fix
• Flixbus is pre-fixed with “UK” within TxC2.1 and 2.4, upon the operator’s request.
• Within the ATCO-CIF, we have removed the “UK” due to limitations on the number of characters allowed.
New Bharat Coaches Line Names
• In our data we have named New Bharat Coach Lines as NB1 and NB2 directions O and I.
• We named the routes NB1 and NB2 as in New Bharat 1 and New Bharat 2 as they’re separate routes.
Operating profile Section of Vehicle Journeys
The structure of VehicleJourneys is different between BODS data and Basemap. The way that we have generated this section is still TxC compliant.
National Express provide their data in an ATCO-CIF file with custom extensions. ATCO-CIF journeys don’t map 1:1 with TXC VehicleJourneys resulting in a complex mapping problem.
To accurately handle the complexities in representing journey running days without introducing errors, we are using SpecialDaysOperation with HolidaysOnly, to give the date ranges for when the VehicleJourney operates.
Being able to calculate the most concise days running for a service and minimising the SpecialDaysOperation is a challenging complex task. The solution we have used keeps the data accurate.
Daylight Savings
We have been made aware of over/under speeding errors occurring when a service runs over or around daylight saving times. We have notified the operators of these downstream issues but would encourage consumers to consider looking into this.