Re: It would be nice...
Electronic pass for bus diverts is a beautiful idea but it could really fuck up some journeys (due to quirks of road networks in England) and cause some people to completely miss their stops to pick somebody else I up. I can't see that going down at all well and wouldn't really be an improvement over the current system.
Add to that the fact that someone would have to regulate who was eligible for a pass which would undoubtedly produce some weird (and unfair) edge cases.
Finally, what would happen if I twisted my ankle at the weekend? How would get a pass in time for Monday morning to avoid having to hobble potentially half a mile to the nearest stop.
Unfortunately I think it's unworkable in the real world, would cause too much grief across the board and probably be a worse service for everyone.
It could work as a separate jitney service though. Regular routes for the big buses with stops further apart but then an app to tell the jitney service where you are and have it ping you back with the closest few jitney stops, which direction they're headed in, and an approximate ETA (both to the stop and the destination). It does need a proper full standard bus service as well though or it'll be fucking chaos but could work really well for less popular routes and as you noted those who can't easily make it to the standard bus stops.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
