Bus Stop Notes

Distance between matching active stops where the distance is greater then 500 meters

February 2025

Current there are 335 OSM nodes which match an active NaPTAN bus stop, where the distance between them is over 500 meters, most of these stops (218) are within East Midlands - Leicestershire with the furthest match being node 562724473 at 31km (19.2 miles).

This node has not been edited within OSM since it was imported back in November 2009 and does not show on the rendered map (no highway or public_transport tags). The NaPTAN data shows AtcoCode 260017700 was last update February 2016, (take with a grain of salt, not every change on a record within NaPTAN results in an update of this field), this could be when the location was changed.

Checking a few more random stops the discrepancy in the locations comes down to:

• The OSM node has been moved accidentally
• The local authority has changed the location within NaPTAN instead on removing it and creating an new NaPTAN record
• The OSM node has the wrong AtcoCode
• NaPTAN location is wrong, unlikely but possible. Physical survey needed at both location to confirm AtcoCode if listed on stop

So ... how do we deal with this within OSM? Out of the 335 listed below, 97 have one or more OSM nodes within 50 meters of the given NaPTAN location, for example:
/node/562726615 - AtcoCode: 260008005, Marked stop, Stand 3 - There are no active NaPTAN stops near the OSM node location

Matches node near NaPTAN location:
node/6435933075 - AtcoCode: 26000802F - Flexi stop.

In this instance node/6435933075 matches a active and nearby NaPTAN record, no action is needed.

The options now would be delete node/562726615 and create a new node or move the node to the NaPTAN location 52.833687,-1.300472

• What happens when a OSM node is apart of a bus route relation?
• What happens when a OSM node is moved to align with NaPTAN, do the shelter, tactile_paving, bench etc tags still apply or need to be removed?
• What happens when there are no OSM nodes near the NaPTAN location?

There is a lot of physical survey's, cross checking and updating needed to get the data within OSM to align with NaPTAN which will take months and may never by completed OR (can imagine very unpopular) remove the nodes with location discrepancies and reimport them with fresh NaPTAN data.

Bus Stop on ways

January 2025

http://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway%3Dbus_stop
"The highway=bus_stop tag is widely used on a node off to one side of the highway way to identify the position where passengers wait for a bus beside the carriageway. "

Having Bus Stops on highways without a direction or bearing is ambiguous when there is two NaPTAN stops near by, what direction was the original mapper trying to represent?

Northamptonshire

December 2024

There is currently issue with NaPTAN Bus Stops within East Midlands. Northamptonshire has been split into West and North, this happened within the NaPTAN/NPTG dataset around June 2024 and imported here at the end of August 2024. This caused a few issues on the map with OSM stops showing within West Northamptonshire instead of North and there being no area outline, these have been corrected but there are still issues with the data coming from NaPTAN.

Not all bus stops in the North section have had there AtcoCode or AdminAreaCode updated so will appear within the West section. Updated bus stops may also appear duplicated, one with an AtcoCode starting with '300' and another starting with '305'. Stops within North Northamptonshire should start with '305', these duplicates will slowly diaper over time.

Todo

• It needs to be checked if this change to bus stops effects railway stations and other modes of transport within Northamptonshire - Corrected
• Old '300' bus stops in the North need updating within OSM to their new '305' AtcoCode as and when it appears within the NaPTAN data set