Service changelog

Last Updated: 18/09/2023

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Known Issues

Publisher issues:

  • Fares data with ATCO data missing is not being handled correctly and may cause the file to fail to be validated properly. The team are working on a fix and we'll update this page once it is addressed.
  • Fixed The AVL matching report incorrectly interprets files which use the same journey code for serviced organisation operating profiles and non serviced organisation profiles.
  • The count of 'services which require attention' is not correct for a small number of operators. BODS does not always use the latest file for a service when considering if the data is stale . The team are working on a fix and aim to deploy this shortly.
  • Fixed Fares data that has been updated from hosted portals are not being validated as expected. A fix is in progress and will come as part of the next release.
  • Dataset feedback email: feedback is sent to the user who published the data, where this is no longer the correct user, feedback from consumers about a dataset is not received by email. Operators can still find a copy of all their consumer feedback on the dataset dashboards under consumer interactions.
  • AVL feed termination: when suppliers send data that isn't 'schema valid SIRI-VM data', BODS will set the feed to inactive, and terminate it. Operators will need to work with their suppliers to enhance their data to prevent this occurring and re-publish their feed credentials in BODS. No publicly available 'schema validation' reports are available, please request these from bodshelpdesk@kpmg.co.uk
  • Fixed Fares: operators have reported that fares files have occasionally been stuck in processing with the automatic update through URL

Consumer issues:

  • Fixed AVL: API queries for all BODS AVL data will be disabled from 21/11/2022, as they have a negative impact the BODS infrastructure. At least one AVL query parameter must be used, and multiple API calls made to get a full AVL response.
  • AVL API: A small number of newly published AVL feeds are not being correctly exposed through the AVL API
  • We are aware of issues with the API to access BODS data, with queries either taking a long time or responding with a 504 error. We are working to resolve the issue and resume normal response times as quickly as possible.
  • Dataset feedback email: feedback is sent to the user who published the data, where this is no longer the correct user, feedback from consumers about a dataset is not received by email. Operators can still find a copy of all their consumer feedback on the dataset dashboards.
  • Fixed Timetables data API: A minority of users reported the 'dqRag' parameter for the timetables API provided unexpected results. This has now been fixed.

High-level roadmap

Improvements made during 2023 will enable operators, consumers, agencies and local transport authorities to review and address the data accuracy, quality and completeness of published data.

Release notes

September 2023 (1.29.0)

This release will deploy the following changes:

  • An enhancement to the Timetable Data Catalogue and the LTA detailed export to indicate the BODS organisation responsible for unpublished services registered with the OTC.
  • An addition of the Disruptions (Siri SX) data within the 'Download All' page on FBODS.
  • An addition of the Disruptions (Siri SX) data within the API on BODS.

August 2023 (1.28.0)

This release will deploy the following changes:

  • Application monitoring dashboards and alerts to enable the BODS team to effectively investigate and resolve availability incidents.
  • An enhancement to the location data matching algorithm to exclude duplicate journeys due to service codes.
  • An enhancement to the logic used to calculate staleness when changes are made to the registration for a service.
  • A fix to the way BODS validates fares files for products that grant access to multiple services.

July 2023 (1.27.0)

This release will deploy the following changes:

  • An update to manage relationships between data from the Office of the Traffic Commissioner and NaPTAN for Local Transport Authorities and Combined Authorities.
  • Removal of compliance labels for location data to more easily find active published data through the browse screens and the API.
  • Presenting location data to timetable data matching reports to all users.

May 2023 (1.26.0)

This release will deploy the following changes:

  • A new feature to enable each local transport authority (LTA) to review the completeness of their timetable data.
  • An enhancement to the ‘Timetable Data Catalogue’ and the ‘Operator’s Service Code’ report to consistently select the most up to date file for analysis.
  • A fix to the fares publish process to enable all fares files to be uploaded (including fares files with missing NaPTAN data).

April 2023 (1.25.0)

This release will deploy the following changes:

  • An enhancement to the logic we use when measuring how well location data matches to timetable data to consider journeys that belong to serviced organisations.
  • We are removing inactive data from the Download All function and the API.

March 2023 (1.24.0)

This release will deploy updates and bug fixes to the fares validation report and the fares data catalogue and the services require attention count. The updated services require attention count and report are now available through the 'review my published data' pages, and the 'Operator profile' pages.

February 2023 (1.23.0)

This release will deploy the fares validation report and the fares data catalogue. This validation report will enable an operator to work with their suppliers to improve the way that fares data is produced. This deployment will result in:

  • A validation report for each fares data set published to BODS describing the compliance of the data within the fares data.
  • A data catalogue to enable data consumers to review the fares data that has been published.
  • A fix to the AVL matching data quality report to use the appropriate date for when the location data was generated.

January 2023 (1.22.0)

This release will deploy a data quality matching report. This report will enable an operator to work with their suppliers to improve the way that location data joins up with timetables data. This integration will result in:

  • A report for each AVL data feed published to BODS describing the quality of the data within the feed.
  • A score for an operator that gives a quick view of how each operator is currently performing in terms of data quality.
  • An archive of reports for the last month which will enable an operator to look back and see how their quality performance has changed over time.

December 2022 (1.21.0)

The team has worked on an important integration to connect the Bus Open Data Service with the Office of Traffic Commissioners database. This integration will result in:

  • Cancelled services no longer included in the list of services that require attention.
  • New services registered with the OTC will be quickly included on BODS as a service that requires attention if is not yet published.
  • The data catalogues have been updated to ensure service codes that are active will be present, and inactive services will not show as missing.

October 2022 (1.20.0)

The team has worked on a number of high-value feature updates that will be available to all publishers and consumers including:

  • A list of your services which are marked as exempt by the BODS admin team so that they do not appear in the 'Service codes requiring attention' section. A publisher can notify the service desk if there are unexpected services so that they are removed from this report.
  • Functionality within the DfT Admin Portal has been updated to maintain the service code exemption list.
  • The data catalogues have been updated to ensure service codes that are out of scope will not show as missing.
  • A fix to the publish process for Fares which were impacting some users and their ability to publish fares data.
  • A fix to the publish process for Timetables which were impacting the ability to upload some circular services.

August 2022 (1.19.0)

The team has worked on a number of high-value updates that will be available to everyone including:

  • An addition of a feedback page wherein any user can give a rating and a feedback on the user experience of the web pages on BODS. The feedback in turn can be accessed readily by DfT admin users. This will enable our team to continuously improve the BODS website experience. (Note that this is different from the feedback function on specific data sets/feeds on BODS).
  • A small update to the PTI logic of BODS where the as is functionality is: Review all files in new zip with same service code that have changed (hash of file changes) → Identify highest revision number from previous zip for that service code → Fail any amended files in new zip that do not have a higher revision number than highest from previous zip. This will be changed to the new updated PTI logic which will be: Review all files in new zip with same service code/line combination that have changed (hash of file changes) → Identify highest revision number from previous zip for that service code/line combination → Fail all new or amended files in new zip (with that service code/line combination) that do not have a higher revision number than highest from previous zip.
  • Some generic content updates to the entire website (in particular the guidance section) along with a few other high priority bugs (and some back-end updates) to improve the overall performance of the service.

June 2022 (1.18.0)

The team has worked on a number of high-value feature updates that will be available to all publishers including:

  • A new 'Guide Me' section for all publishers which simplifies and puts a step by step guide to how to go about publishing and maintaining data on BODS.
  • A new Publisher dashboard. All publishers once logged-in will now be able to view all the different feature options they have on BODS and select their relevant flow. A simplified ‘Review my published data’ dashboard is also now available for Publisher and Agent users, where they can review the status of the different operators that they are agents for.
  • A new ‘Data requiring attention’ section for all publishers and agents which highlights to all operators the service codes which are available on the OTC (Office of the Traffic Commissioner) database but have not been found in the BODS data that has been uploaded by publishers. This includes a downloadable CSV.
  • A new ‘Data consumer activity’ section showcasing the total consumer interactions with the data for a given operator’s data. This is intended to give the publishers a more granular idea about how their data is being utilized by consumers (e.g. passenger app developers, researchers) on BODS. This section includes two downloadable CSVs: one related to granular data interactions with the operator’s data, and the other relates to the direct feedback that has been received by operators on their published data.
  • An additional summarised version of the PTI validation report. This simplifies and gives an overview of the major errors in the data as it passes through our PTI TransXChange validator.

April 2022 (1.17.0)

  • Admin portal pages for DfT have been updated on BODS with functionality including searchable text boxes and sorting functions across organisation management, agent management and consumer management. This will enable easier and more convenient navigation on the admin portal for DfT.
  • The team has also worked on updating the download metrics on the platform. This will enable the DfT to truly track the utilisation of BODS and work with consumers to ensure higher adoption/usage of the platform.
  • A bulk of technical debts accrued over the past year have now been improved. This means the code base on BODS is cleaned up which will enable a better functioning overall platform.
  • Updates have been made to the developer documentation on Find BODS pages which adds more details on GTFS formats available on the platform. The documentation for data quality is now also updated to reflect the accurate description of how data quality is measured on BODS. Both these changes will enable more guidance and transparency on the features available on the platform.

February 2022 (1.16.0)

  • Enhancements to the Find Bus Open Data portal have been added to provide an improved consumer experience, including a new capability of viewing operator profiles and updated dataset detail pages with more relevant information, guidance and links.
  • 'Download All' data zip file has an updated nested folder structure, where datasets are placed into individualised operator folders. Consumers would be able to select individual operators files as requested.
  • Data Catalogue files have been improved with additional information including improved the 'Guide Me' pages.

December 2021 (1.15.0)

  • SIRI-VM Validator will provide users with reports on schema validation checks, with a status of compliant, partially compliant or non-compliant.
  • Updates to the BODS PTI validation has been added to check that lines consist of journeys with at least one matching locality (where localities are provided).
  • Updates to the validation of BODS PTI StopPoints will look if no OperatingProfile elements are at the VehicleJourney level then use the Service > OperatingPeriod > EndDate to check if non-NaPTAN stops are used for more than 2 months.

September 2021 (1.14.0)

  • TransXChange files that are not PTI compliant will no longer be allowed to be published in BODS.
  • Users of the service can now keep track of known issues, upcoming changes and release notes through the new Changelog page.