Network alert
Network alerts are designed for issues that affect the entire network and have a severe impact on most, if not all, services. As such, we give this prominence when being displayed on websites and apps. Some examples for which an operator may use this might be snow, a city-wide event causing mass road disruption or an emergency situation.
As network alerts are given such prominence, it’s important to use these sparingly and not for short-lived / minor incidents, or marketing messages - this reduces the effectiveness of the feature when it’s needed most.
How it's displayed on apps
On the app, the network alert surrounds the search bar at the top taking prominence on the Explore screen.
How it’s displayed on websites
On the web, the alert shows at the top of every page in a yellow/orange colour indicating caution. It is also displayed at the top of the service updates page.
Line / Stop alert
This is any disruption that affects part of or all of a line or stops. These are most commonly used for roadworks, and road traffic incidents etc.
You can select any combination of lines or stops affected by the disruption on the following screen.
On the website, service updates are shown on the right of the homepage, when not viewed on a small screen.
Line / Stop alerts are shown on timetable pages, however only current alerts are shown. Users should change the timetable date from the date picker to preview disruptions for future journeys.
How it's set up in Passenger Cloud:
How it's displayed to customers:
Travel Alerts
If an operator has Travel Alerts enabled for their app, Users with Travel Alerts enabled will receive Travel Alerts related to their favourite lines or stops. The travel alert will only show the title of the change and users can tap the notification to be taken into the app to view more information about the network change or disruption. These alerts include:
- Disruptions: Notifications are sent as soon as disruptions are created in Passenger Cloud, alerting users to unplanned network events. A disruption sends a notification only once (when it is created). Updates to the Disruption (e.g., adding services or changing dates) do not trigger new notifications to avoid sending users duplicate alerts.
- Scheduled Network Change Alerts: Notifications are scheduled to be sent at midday, two days before a Network Change notice is due to effect, alerting users to an upcoming planned network event. This timeframe balances giving riders enough time to plan their journeys without providing a notice period so long that it might be forgotten. Midday is the optimal time for this as it falls within sociable hours and avoids peak travel times when riders may be less attentive.
Journey cancellations in Passenger Cloud, or those received via SIRI-SM feeds, do not trigger travel alerts. Only events specifically set up as disruptions or network changes in Passenger Cloud will trigger Travel Alert notifications. This is because some journey cancellations might occur in isolation on high-frequency routes, this is unlikely to be a network event that users need to be alerted to, which means it isn’t possible to confidently target users with alerts to ensure they are relevant. If an operator needs to communicate cancelled journeys to a wider set of users, they should create a Disruption in Passenger Cloud.
Continue to the next article on Managing Disruptions: Causes and Effects.