Access Key Details | | | Mobile Format
Greater Manchester has a slightly neater service which requires your location post code, and lists bus stops within 250 meters and buses within 2 hours, with links to service timetables. This site is on gmpte.info.
Transport Direct (cookies essential) has times for UK trains, coaches and many local buses and domestic flights. For bus travel within a particular region (eg North West) you can obtain bus timetables with all stops listed, but if it says "no service" it may mean one of your locations is out of region. NOTE: This website at present uses an obligatory session cookie (deleted on exit) but does not tell you. If you refuse the cookie the site will not function. No obligatory javascript and good alt tags. The use of the session cookie means you must do a new search only after using the "new search" button which resets the cookie. Treat all suggested journeys with consideration especially walking times.
Also take a look at Traveline but try not to call their 0871 telephone number which is a premium call- as at 7/08 it cost 40p per minute from a phone box! Their 0871 number will connect you to your nearest travel office, but there are cheaper numbers to call to get through to that or any other office- key in traveline to the search page at saynoto0870 and call the cheaper 0870, 0845 or local number given. Check any special instructions.
Stagecoach Manchester used to be my favourite source for their bus timetables, but a web redesign has left a broken unusable unfriendly web site. To get a timetable list, do not enter the region or timetable number, leave them at default, and just enter the departure and arrival point. This will then bring up a list of timetables to select from..
A useful site is GMPTE timetable page covering all buses in Greater Manchester (timetables in pdf format)
The old county of Cheshire was split in two in 2009 (on 1st April no less) and bus data is split between two web sites- Cheshire West inc Chester and Cheshire East including Crewe and Macclesfield || Derbyshire Timetables
Maps of bus services: Cheshire West || Cheshire East || Flintshire || Greater Manchester || Lancashire | | Derbyshire
There are three free buses with circular routes in Manchester, one free circular bus in Bolton, and one free circular shuttle bus in Stockport. - this GMPTE web page has links to PDF format route maps for the buses.
To access the official railway data, no javascript or cookies required- a fast version at Traintimes mobile or the full version (more content and differing layout) at Accessible UK Train Timetables which has the full official data (as up to date as exists for times, plus fares)- be sure to use "check for updates" or "bulletins" for the most recent information.
Using differing data sources- German Rail has UK train times also, text based interface, click on Train No for full details of where the train is coming from and going to. This data is not updated for short notice engineering works.
Enjoy reading Today's UK train delays-and Cleared incidents- note that the 2004 revamp of the site seems to have caused it to miss a lot of serious delays, or report them later. Local North West delays seem almost never to appear. Northern Rail have now ceased their own journey problem reporting entirely but a small relic can be found on this BBC travel web page.
UK Station Boards has the web equivalent of the tv monitors you
see at railway stations, giving arrivals and departures in the next few hours. Note the limited and experimental nature of the data. NOTE a train shows as NO REPORT until it passes a reporting point.