WhatBus?!

Remember the London Transport intersection map of yore? It showed bus numbers circled at each junction intersection. This made it easy for those unfamiliar to cross central London by bus by comparing numbers at their origin and proposed destination.

TfL’s internet journey planner’s put paid to that and it’s now easy to plug in two points and get the web to do the rest. But this doesn’t always suit your needs. What if you want to find other options nearby to your location? The plethora of TfL’s online maps can help but you have to know where where to look, first.

This is where Whatbus?! might help.

This month, someone from Bethnal Green, London, has plotted each and every London bus route onto Google maps. It’s surprising it’s not been done before. Type in a location or postcode and you can see the routes nearby. You can then do the usual things with Google maps: zoom in & out, slide it around, get a satellite or terrain image. Zooming in particular means Whatbus?! is never indistinct. As usual, Google shows bus stops when you zoom in, though it isn’t infallible.

Plugging the author’s postcode into Whatbus?!, I found that he has the 8, 288 and D3 outside his flat. I don’t appear to be able to do this with TfL.

It seems to me that for the first time, as you click around London, so you can find out which buses pass where, highlighting one in red if you wish it to stand out. Alternatively, pick a single route from the front page.

It might benefit from some general instructions though most people these days are probably savvy enough just to get on with it. There’s a promised mobile application that’s due out, too, for those who need this as they travel.

i Whatbus?!