My Bus Edinburgh

The rollout is now complete. It is now available to all users. No new issues have been detected.

As usual, if you spot an issue, please let me know.

The rollout is going smoothly so far. No new issues are being reported. Therefore, I've increased the rollout percentage to 40% of users.

Also I'm aware that some of the recently withdrawn Lothian group services are still showing up in the data. Again, this needs some work on my end to tidy up the data. I will get around to this soon.

Enjoy!

If I don't need to pull the update, all users should have it by Friday.

See anything strange? Please let me know.

I'm aware coach services (e.g. CityLink) are missing in the static data - although show up in live times. I will fix this soon. It needs some additional work.

I promised there would be an update: bsky.app/profile/mybu...

...and I've delivered.

v3.4 has been submitted to the Play Store and approved. It's currently on a staged rollout to 20% of users. If there's no issues, I'll raise this by 20-percentage-points each day.

You're welcome!

As the app will then be aware of services from many operators, some parts of the user interface, such as the service picker, will need to be tidied up to group services by operators. This is fairly high priority and will be delivered within the next few months.

Due to the complexity of the changes to the app's code, this will be a staged rollout over the course of the week so I can monitor for any issues and pull the update if any issues arise. All being well, all users will have the update by the end of next week.

Early next week, after the service changes, I plan to publish an app update which uses this new data format. This will mean the app will be aware of the new service changes going forwards.

This has necessitated changes to the format of the data the app consumes, with large-scale intrusive updates to how the app works. None of the changes will be user-visible - all being well, the app will work exactly as how it has been working for you.

On this coming Sunday, 22nd Feb, Lothian Buses introduces a set of service changes.

Since the bus tracker API changes, I am having to obtain static data (bus stops, services and route lines) from alternative sources. I've been working on this over the past month and this effort is almost complete.

After doing this, if you don't get your credentials or you have any trouble with accessing the API, email transport.publictransaccess@edinburgh.gov.uk for assistance.

You will then get given credentials to access devportal-public.trapezegroupazure.co.uk which will give you your API key and gives you access to the up-to-date documentation, including endpoint URLs.

There is no Lothian Buses specific endpoint for the new API. It returns all trackable operators.

You sign up at www.edinburghtraveltracker.com, click "API Keys" at the bottom and fill the form in.

Where from though? Because for the new API, you get given login credentials to a developer portal where your API key and the documentation co-exist, and the documentation contains the endpoint URL.

Is your API key for the old or new system?

Easy way to tell;

Old key contained alphanumeric characters, A-Z, 0-9.
New key is a MD5 hash using only hexadecimal characters.

My Bus Edinburgh has been on the new bus tracker API for over a month now. So, some stats from over the past 30 days;

Bus times requests: 633.5k
Average response time: 88ms
Data transferred: 2GB
Busiest day: 29th Jan (21.8k requests)
Quietest day: 25th Jan (5.4k requests)

[...] and then fill in any gaps where the new data misses fields. For example, the new data omits route line information which the old API provided. I will need to source this info elsewhere.

Yes, in time. The priority has been to get times working again for the existing set of stops. The new data is in a different format to the old data, so it's not just a simple case of switching the data feed over and be done with it. Quite a bit of work has to go in to processing the new data [...]

I'm aware of this and have been for some time. Google Map markers can be fiddly, especially when updating their info. I plan to address this when I re-write the stop markers screen in the future.

It seems as of last night, Lothian Buses services are now back to being real-time tracked. Normal service has resumed.

I hope people are enjoying the update and apologies for the issues over the past month. Let me know if you spot any issues.

You're welcome. Enjoy the update.

I am aware that Lothian Buses services are currently showing as estimated only this morning - other operators (e.g. Citylink) are showing as real-time.

LB's services were showing as real-time until midnight last night while I was testing. So this seems like a LB-only issue for now.

A screenshot from the Google Play Store developer console for the My Bus Edinburgh app, showing a notification from 9th January 2026 which reads "App update published. Users should see changes immediately but may take longer."

Well, it's been a massive effort over the past couple of days, but My Bus Edinburgh has been updated to version 3.3 to fix the issues with displaying bus times that have plagued the app over the past few weeks.

Available now in the Google Play Store.

Any issues? Please let me know.

You're welcome.

A screenshot from the My Bus Edinburgh application for Android. The screenshots shows a variety of departures from the Edinburgh Zoo stop, but the main thing highlighted is departures to Glasgow which was not previously available.

What's this? Buses that go to Glasgow?

That's right! An advantage of the new API is that it contains operators which aren't just Lothian Buses.

Still not quite ready yet, but getting there...

Cheers, thanks!

Cheers! I've done a fair bit of tearing my hair out this evening, but good progress has been made. Looking forward to getting this out as soon as possible.

A screenshot of the My Bus Edinburgh application for Android, showing an example of live bus times working after a period of time when this was not functional due to changes on the Edinburgh bus tracking system.

Hurrah! I have something resembling live times again, using the new API. However it's still too rough to be released quite yet. I need tidy it up and verify the accuracy of what the app is showing.

I think I'm likely targeting the weekend for issuing the update. Will give more info as I know more.

Much appreciated. Unfortunately it has been quite stressful but the end is in sight. The app will soon go on to a more stable footing.

People on Bluesky and email have been understanding. Some people in the Play Store reviews... less so.