Keeping a tab on coach and bus fleets throughout the UK can take a lot of effort, but not any more. Richard Sharman takes a look at a product that has seen further development during the pandemic that is a must have for any operator, dealer or enthusiast, and which has over 800,000 vehicles on its database
If you are looking for coach or bus fleet information in the UK and Ireland, or beyond, there are many sources where you can find details, however this normally involves searching multiple websites or buying fleet books and so on. What if I told you that you could find all of that information in one place, with a simple input of a registration or company name?
This was Roger Storr’s goal when he started creating Busview in 1985, to document all known passenger carrying vehicles (PCVs). He advertised in enthusiast publications, and before household computers became more commonplace, people would write to him requesting the fleet list they required, and he would send it out to them. As time moved on and computers became more widely available he copied the fleet information onto CD and sent them out; at that point you could buy an annual version or monthly updates to keep your own records updated. Again, as technology moved on he was able to email these updates to people.
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In 2019 Roger decided to retire, and there were concerns amongst its users that all the detailed information would be lost. Colin Oakley, who is on the executive team of Busdata, explained: “We couldn’t let all this valuable data be lost, so we put together a consortium who used BusView to secure the data and also modernise the way it was delivered. Roger continues to be part of the team today.
“During the pandemic lockdown our 20-strong team started working on the BusView and BusView Lite products to make all the data more accessible. All of our customer information is GDPR protected, and there are only four of us that can access that information. We can see a log of any information in input files submitted by users and this is verified before being added to the system update. We can also see when people have tried to log into the system without an account. We have had a few cases of this and have emailed them and some have ended up subscribing.
“We have got a team of people who input vehicle details from various backgrounds, and we use sources such as Simon Blake’s Ribble newsletter, PSV Circle news sheets and various others. We also have a team that is inputting historical data, going back in time by going through old news sheets and fleet books. I myself spent some of the lockdown inputting Cypriot data from a spreadsheet produced by David Corke, who is a well known historian.
“The 20-strong team of people involved in updating BusView is from different backgrounds. Some are more interested in historical data, whilst others focus on major fleets and new vehicles. The UK and Ireland are completely covered, as well as the Channel Islands, but we are also covering parts of Europe such as France, Spain and Germany with major municipal operators included. Malta is also contained in the database, being researched and written by Richard Stedall during lockdown. Enthusiast logs of visits to scrapyards and dealers are inputted, which helps us to complete the picture of the industry from when new vehicles are delivered to their disposal. We also cover UK vehicles that have gone abroad, such as double deckers that have moved to tour operators in America for open-top tours.
“The executive team is also involved in programming, fault finding the system and maintaining membership records.”
Opportunities for all
“BusView is an ideal deal product for coach and bus dealers and other commercial businesses, with a simple input of a company name or vehicle registration you can bring up full fleet details or you can input a registration and the information that returns will give full details of that vehicles history, date new, how long it has spent with each operator, chassis and body number along with the seating capacity, type, if a toilet is fitted and so on. We currently have one vehicle dealer and three other commercial companies that use our data for their business,” Colin explained.
“The beauty of our system is that vehicle reports can be designed to be bespoke to that commercial company’s needs, offering a one stop shop for information quickly and effectively without having to scour the internet for it. This can be particularly handy if you are dealing with used vehicles on a daily basis. All the information you need in regards to the vehicle and previous ownership can be found by simply entering the vehicle’s registration. This has a distinct advantage if the customer is interested in buying a coach for example, but wants to know its full history from brand new – having a good history alone can put an operator’s mind at rest as to the pedigree of that vehicle.
“The product is also ideal for parts suppliers. Let’s say that your vehicle needs a windscreen wiper linkage, alternator or a piece of side glass. In large fleets that information is not always readily to hand when you need to supply a body or chassis number, but with our system the parts supplier, or indeed the operator can supply it within a couple of clicks.
“It is also ideal for operators looking to buy a vehicle. With a simple input of a registration from a vehicle advert, they can know within seconds where that vehicle has been, which could sway their decision to buy it or leave it.”
User experience
As part of this feature I tried out both products on the road and in the office. BusView is not a mobile app; it needs to be accessed through your internet browser on your phone or tablet when out and about, which is quick and easy to do.
Out on the road BusView Lite proved its worth when needing to identify plain white coaches, or those vehicles operated by express service providers or in coach holiday liveries. You have two options to select from when searching for information. Using the ‘vehicle’ tab you can input registration, fleet number, chassis, VIN, body or body number to quickly bring up the basic vehicle details of registration, operator, chassis type, body make and previous registration, clicking ‘details’ brings up more detailed information such as fleet number, full body and chassis number details, number of seats and layout, livery and the last owner.
Using the ‘operator’ tab allows you to quickly access full fleet information by entering the operators legal name, fleet name or by entering a town or area code, such as OX for Oxfordshire. So not only can you view a single operator’s fleet, on a PDF if you wish, but you can also bring up vehicle and operator information for a whole county.
In the office, or at home, the full BusView suite is ideal for obtaining more detailed and historical information about a fleet. This feature has proved useful for when I have been writing operator features or picture captions, but I can see this being hugely beneficial for vehicle dealers and buyers – no more searching for the V5 or looking on Flickr. Simply enter the vehicle’s registration and all the details you need are displayed, making it quick and easy to supply a buyer or seller will a full history of the vehicle and speeding up the process of ordering vehicle spares when a VIN or body number is required.
Subscriptions
“Historically Roger has sold the data at £60 per year, but there was no BusView Lite involved at that time. BusView provides a more detailed ‘deep dive’ on a vehicle, with full details displayed including seating capacity and previous operators. The current cost for this is £70 per year,” explained Colin.
“A cheaper option is BusView Lite, which was launched in Summer 2021 and compliments BusView. BusView Lite allows you to quickly access vehicle details on your mobile phone or tablet, giving you the basic details such as current registration, or original registration if on a private plate, current operator, body and date new. This retails for £50 a year.
“The combined package is £90 instead of £120 for a year. This provides unlimited access to both platforms and offers a large yearly saving in comparison to buying multiple area fleet books for the whole of the UK. Whilst some people may prefer the information printed out, you are able to print a PDF fleet list of the required fleet from Busview Lite, which has the benefit of always being up to date. We believe our prices are very competitive.
“The minimum specifications for the BusView programme to work on a PC or laptop is that you have plenty of space on your hard drive and Windows 7 or greater for you to install and run it. The initial download is saved to your hard drive, we then email a monthly update to download which includes any vehicle movements or capacity changes that have occurred during that month and it updates the database. We close the system for any changes on the 28th of the month, the database is then updated and then emailed to subscribers between the 10th and 14th of each month. These updates include the PSV Circle notes each month for all regions. The PSV Circle is aware we use this data and some of its sub-editors are involved with BusView, its all very open and we are all working towards the same goal of getting the very latest information out there.”
Looking ahead
Currently you require a Windows PC or laptop to access the full BusView programme, but Colin said: “We are currently developing a new system that will allow the whole programme to be web-based, removing the need to have Windows software, allowing anyone to subscribe and make use of the information. There is no timescale this at the moment, but it is in development as there is a certain amount of programme re-writing that needs to be done. Roger Storr, although no longer the owner, is involved with this new development.
“Moving to a web-based system means that, for example, if you are on the train or coach travelling somewhere, you can go on your phone or tablet and open BusView to see full historical data. Of course, at present you can do that with BusView Lite, however it only lists current details. So you can bring up an operator PDF and that will tell you everything from current registration, previous registrations, chassis and type, body and number, seating capacity, date new and previous operator. It will not list every single previous owner of the vehicles in a fleet.”
Future of fleet books
“The more technologically advanced we get, the fewer opportunities there will be for people to sell handbooks,” Colin continued. “The difference in the products is that you can purchase a handbook which may be out of date by the time it arrives with you, but with BusView and BusView Lite you know with certainty that the information is accurate and is as up to date as possible.
“There will be some enthusiasts who prefer the information on paper, but that is also possible by printing off a PDF of the fleet from our system, enabling photographers to print off an up to date fleet list the day before they pay a certain area a visit. This way of doing it is also a way of freeing up space as you no longer have multiple books to store,” he enthused.
Final thoughts
Having used BusView and BusView Lite for a few months now, I can wholeheartedly say that I wouldn’t be without it now. It has saved me time when writing features and picture captions, and has been handy for finding out information when on the road quickly. The main benefit overall though is just how up to date it is. In two months there were only two brand new 22-plate vehicles that returned no results, and these were ones that had only just left the dealership. Following the update later in the month the vehicles details were displayed.
Is there anything that could be improved? I think overall they have got the interface just right – it does take a few attempts to get used to using it, but once you know how it works it is very simply in operation. With plans to make the whole system web-based in the future, it can only get better. The only present limitations are that you need a computer with Windows 7 or greater, so if you are operating a Mac or Linux system, the full version of BusView will not work – although solutions for this are being worked on. The good news though is that you can access BusView Lite on any web browser.
For £50 a year BusView Lite represents excellent value for money, especially when you consider that some fleet books come in at just under £20. For an extra £70 you can have the complete suite of products.
busdata.co.uk
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