Moof! 🔜 #JetLagTheGame NL

I’ve found interesting time zone bugs in both @viaduct_world and also Travelynx, when trying to deal with UK trains.

I must admit, given that time zones are a thing in Europe, I was not expecting either of them to have time zone issues…

What do Finnish and other east European train geeks use to log their trains?

Feb 26 at 7:35amWeb
Show thread波鉄 (Hatetsu)Feb 26
@moof @viaduct_world CET-normativity (I am also guilty of)
Show threadJos DingjanFeb 26
@moof @viaduct_world @HaTetsu Still likely to fail 2x/year, at the CET <> CEST switchover…
Show threadash Feb 26
@moof @viaduct_world yea but their main developers and audience are german... and we need to cross multiple borders before we hit a time zone
Show threadviaductFeb 26
@darkphoenix @moof Fixing the time zone issues is a high priority for us, but it’s complex—especially when third-party data is involved. We hope our major update in March/April will resolve this.
Greetings from Austria.😊
Show threadviaductFeb 26
@moof Sorry about this! We’re aware of the time zone bug, for example when searching for trains in the UK. Fixing this issue is a high priority for us. We’re currently preparing a major update to our platform, planned for March/April, which includes additional timetable data sources and should resolve the problem.
Show threadOliver BlanthornFeb 26

@moof i blame GTFS

times are given timezoneless in the local time of the entire feed. so most stops have the times you would expect except routes that cross timezones and then it's a crapshoot

insane design decision

this is why in fahrtle the Eurostar goes at 350km/h in one direction and 100km/h in the other

Show threadTuukka RFeb 27

@moof @viaduct_world

The Swedish railways' website shows train timetables in a horrific nonstandard manner: if you view them using a computer in Finland, the 9:21 train is shown as leaving at 10:21. Very friendly!

Show threadtaavi is typing...Feb 27
@Tuuktuuk @moof it's not even consistent: https://wikis.world/@taavi/115663125122155240
Show threadash Feb 27
@Tuuktuuk @moof @viaduct_world meanwhile a certain Finnish bus company made me need to rebook to a later bus because their departure times in Sweden were also Finnish time. this is helpfully not stated anywhere.
Show threadTuukka RFeb 27

@darkphoenix @moof @viaduct_world

I understand the logic behind it, but not really their communication. The idea is that the bus station is almost at the border. It is the bus station of Tornio AND the bus station of Haaparanta. And obviously, the bus station of Tornio must have the timetables in the time of Tornio.

But.

This really means that the bus station has two timezones at the same time. The buses serving people living in Haaparanta use CET, buses serving Tornio's inhabitants use EET.

Show threadTuukka RFeb 27

@darkphoenix @moof @viaduct_world

And yeah, it's a very peculiar thing to have a bus station right atop a time zone border like that. And that DOES require extra careful passenger information. Which is not given.