BusOva combines official government data, open data sources, and community contributions to build a comprehensive database of buses and bus services across the UK. We are committed to transparency about where our data comes from and are grateful to the following organisations and communities for making their data available.
Vehicle registration and licensing data is sourced from the DVLA. This includes information used to verify vehicle registrations, first registration dates, and basic vehicle specifications.
Data used: Vehicle registration verification, registration dates, tax and MOT status, basic vehicle details.
Bus stop location data is provided by the NaPTAN dataset, maintained by the Department for Transport. This data powers our route mapping features, allowing us to accurately display bus stop locations, names, and facilities across the UK.
Data used: Bus stop locations (latitude/longitude), stop names, ATCO codes, NaPTAN codes, stop types, bearing information, locality data.
Coverage: Over 350,000 public transport access points including bus stops, coach stations, rail stations, metro stations, ferry terminals, and transport interchanges.
Our interactive maps are built using Leaflet, an open-source JavaScript library for mobile-friendly interactive maps. Leaflet powers the map displays throughout BusOva, including route visualisation and bus stop locations.
Used for: Interactive map rendering, markers, popups, route polylines, zoom controls, and user interaction.
Leaflet is available under the BSD 2-Clause Licence.
Map tiles and geographical data are provided by OpenStreetMap, a collaborative project to create a free, editable map of the world. OpenStreetMap data is created and maintained by a global community of volunteer contributors.
Data used: Map tiles, road networks, geographical features, place names.
www.openstreetmap.org | Licence
© OpenStreetMap contributors. Data available under the Open Data Commons Open Database Licence (ODbL).
Route calculations and road-following directions are powered by OSRM, a high-performance open-source routing engine. OSRM uses OpenStreetMap data to calculate realistic routes that follow actual roads rather than straight lines between points.
Data used: Route geometry, turn-by-turn directions, distance calculations, journey time estimates.
Timetable, route, and real-time vehicle location data is sourced from the Bus Open Data Service, operated by the Department for Transport. BODS provides GTFS timetable feeds, TransXChange schedule data, and SIRI-VM live vehicle positions for bus operators across England.
Data used: GTFS timetables, TransXChange schedules, SIRI-VM real-time vehicle positions, operator codes.
A community-run project, and the single most valuable outside source in BusOva.
Identifying vehicles. Several of the largest operators, including Stagecoach, Arriva, First and Go-Ahead, publish only a fleet number in the live feed and never a registration. We checked: across a national sample of more than seventeen thousand vehicles running at the time, only around a quarter could be matched to a record, and no amount of work on the official feed could fix that, because the registration simply is not in it. bustimes.org is the reason those vehicles can be identified at all.
Working numbers. Where operators leave working numbers out of their official GTFS or TransXChange data, bustimes.org fills the gap with accurate block and trip mappings, which is what makes our Working Numbers feature possible.
Data used: fleet number to registration mappings, previous registrations, vehicle details and operator listings; working numbers (block IDs), trip numbers (ticket machine codes) and trip-to-block mappings.
We are enormously grateful to bustimes.org and its creator for making all of this freely available. It is run as a labour of love rather than a commercial service, so we request only what we need and at a considerate rate. If you find BusOva useful, please give bustimes.org a look and consider supporting it.
bustimes.org | API | GitHub
Operator identification and regional mapping data is sourced from the Traveline National Operator Codes database. This provides the standardised NOC codes used to identify bus operators across the UK, along with regional service area information.
Data used: National Operator Codes, operator names, regional assignments, licence numbers.
The heart of BusOva is our community. A significant portion of the bus data on this platform is contributed by passionate bus enthusiasts who volunteer their time and knowledge to build and maintain this database.
Data contributed: Bus specifications, fleet numbers, operator assignments, livery details, photographs, historical records, depot allocations, and much more.
We are incredibly grateful to all our contributors. Every bus entry, every photograph, and every correction helps make BusOva better for everyone.
Interested in contributing? Create an account and start adding buses today. Check out our Top Contributors page to see who's helping build this resource.
Data from the DVLA and NaPTAN (Department for Transport) is used under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
OpenStreetMap data is available under the Open Data Commons Open Database Licence (ODbL).
© OpenStreetMap contributors.
While we strive for accuracy, BusOva relies on a combination of official data sources and community contributions. Information may occasionally be incomplete, outdated, or contain errors. If you spot an inaccuracy, please help us by submitting a correction. Data on BusOva should not be relied upon for official or legal purposes.
Questions about our data? Contact us at webmaster@busova.com.
