Methodology

Sources

Live positions come from SMTR's public data via BuzuRadar's Worker. Daily and hourly history is aggregated from these sources and preserved in the site's database. Routes, stops, service days, fare and planned interval come from versioned GTFS.

Observed supply

It is the number of distinct route-vehicle pairs seen during the period. It supports comparisons of operating presence, but does not represent passengers, crowding, demand or revenue.

Weekly comparison

Each bulletin compares two complete windows from Monday to Sunday. A route must have at least five sampled days in both. Changes of up to 10% are classified as stable; changes beyond that threshold appear as more or fewer observed vehicles.

The rankings prioritize the absolute difference between weekly averages, weighted by the number of sampled days. The percentage remains as context, and routes whose previous week averaged fewer than two vehicles per day receive the “Reduced base” warning.

Bulletin text

Plain-language text is produced from predefined rules and templates, without artificial intelligence. It uses the same immutable data snapshot to summarize the overview, changes, operators, alerts, and data quality.

Regularity and frequency

The regularity score combines available evidence of supply, continuity, estimated headway, GPS, route and trips. Headway is a proxy calculated from the observed fleet and route, not an arrival-time prediction for a stop.

Bulletin gates

An edition requires history through the analyzed Sunday, at least 90% coverage over 30 days, at least 27 sampled days, 100 routes in the overview, 100 eligible routes in the comparison, and three operator groups. A failed gate automatically postpones publication.

Fleet registration

Age and inspection use the full licensing record grouped by vehicle type, not the sample of buses currently operating. Expired inspection indicates a known date older than 18 months; absence of the date is reported separately.

Limitations

Lack of GPS does not prove absence of service. Registration and licensing may arrive late. The metrics do not constitute an official assessment and do not measure regulatory punctuality, demand, capacity or individual travel experience.