(15 Sep 2013, 6:04 pm)aureolin wrote ... I've caught the 2C a number of times from Wear Industrial Estate at Washington, and it's already had "Sunderland" set. Despite it being headed towards the Galleries. The only pattern is that it tends to be when the bus is running considerably late.I think I may have an explanation of this....
...but in the above examples, it's always shown on my Key card as me boarding a bus towards Sunderland....
IIRC, the 2A/2C was run as a 'circular' around Washington? I don't know if it still is, but this would explain why a 2C, heading towards the Galleries, may already have shown 2A Sunderland on the blind. I can see how this might have been confusing...
And re the 'key' card: It's my understanding that the 2A/2C fare table is presented as a 'circular' to and from Sunderland Interchange on the ticket machines. Again, IIRC, using a key card will show the furthest point you can travel to on that card on that fare table, hence travel limit comes up as Sunderland, even though the driver will (I'm guessing) have to change the machine at Washington for the inbound trip.
I can't see how we can then make a leap to using this to 'manipulate data' to hide late running, though, as the last and first use of the TM will be recorded before the end of one trip and at the start of another.
You can reset the ticket machine, but you can't hide!
