Supposedly ‘live’ tracker is meaningless

About half the time, the allegedly ‘live’ tracker for First buses, available on the app and on bus stop screens, actually represents nothing. Countless times I have watched it count down from 15 or 10 minutes, all the way to ‘Due’, only for no bus to turn up. ‘Due’ stays there on the screen for five minutes or so, but no bus comes. Half an hour goes by, no bus comes.

Tell me, what use is this feature when it is connected to nothing in reality? What purpose does it serve? How am I to know, as I stand waiting for a bus, whether this countdown is one that actually represents live tracking, or whether it’s one of the meaningless, pointless ones there serving only to lull me into a false sense of security that my bus will actually arrive?

If it’s not reliable 100% of the time, it’s reliable 0% of the time.