
Show HN: Londoners need not worry about the waiting time paradox - simplesleeper
http://www.michalpaszkiewicz.co.uk/blog/timetables/
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quickthrower2
London seems to have rediculously small distance between bus stops. This feels
like it makes journeys take ages. Is this my imagination or does London have
particularly close stops, and is there a good reason for this?

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esotericn
I don't believe this to be the case in Outer London, at least it's no
different to smaller towns in the UK I've visited.

In Central and parts of Inner London it may be the case, however I tend to
think buses are primarily designed as vehicles to get people to and from the
tube/train network there.

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simplesleeper
It certainly depends where, some parts of Outer London can be "Hail and Ride"
sections, where any part of the street essentially counts as a station

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scolby33
Why is the conclusion that the operator is padding its schedule instead of
simply that the busses run on time? I understand that in the real world the
former seems more likely, but I don’t see how that conclusion is supported by
the data presented. (Caveat lector: my prob & stats is weaker than it should
be; there’s a good chance I’m missing something obvious.)

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simplesleeper
The schedule is not necessarily padded. The point of the piece is making it
clear that London bus timetables are not in any way a source of truth, but a
contract that operators have to work towards achieving. It is doubtless that
they would have some input into what times are accepted as the contract and
would only accept one they think they could manage to operate - so greater
times than would generally be achievable.

As a londoner, if you wanted a timetable more based on truth, it would look
more like the attached graphic on the page - an analysis of the spread of
waiting times.

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simplesleeper
Author here, you can AMA

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qnsi
Have you read showhn rules?

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simplesleeper
Yes - this page is not just a blog post. It contains a graphic that is a
"timetable of truth" for London buses 1-50, so can certainly be tried out.

