Waiting for a bus in the second largest city in Bulgaria is a real adventure with not always a clear ending. We have boards at some of the stops, but some of them do not work, and the accuracy of the information provided by others can be argued.
The truth is that there are several regular lines, but there are also those that you can literally wait for more than an hour. And we will not even open the topic that after about 9 pm, public transport is almost nonexistent below the hills. So check the schedule in advance and consider alternative transport.
In this text, we will try to collect several useful applications that can come in handy when you have to wait. However, we leave with the caveat that none of them gives 100 percent accuracy, so check, approach with caution and arm yourself with patience. The data often depends on the GPS devices in the buses, traffic and the timeliness of the information provided by the carriers.
bus.plovdiv.truenorth.bg
When using it, you can navigate by stop number or by allowing access to your location. This way, you will find the nearest public transport waiting area, the lines that pass through it with the expected arrival times, and you can also visualize their route on the map. It is especially useful when you are in an unfamiliar place in the city and are looking for the nearest stop or want to quickly check whether it makes sense to wait for a specific bus.
Public Transport Plovdiv
Another application launched by the Municipality at the beginning of this year. Unfortunately, it is not yet sufficiently developed and only shows a certain number of lines. Among its advantages is that you can plan a route based on your starting and ending point, which is quite suitable for guests of the city.
Livetransport.eu
An external, independent platform created by programmer Milen Bozhikov, which works closely with the municipality to provide data. It shows the total number of currently active vehicles on each line. You can locate the desired one on your route and thus track the estimated time of arrival at the respective stop.
Plovdiv Transport on AppBrain
The “Plovdiv Transport” application by Georgi Kostov introduces a community-based approach to real-time bus tracking, relying on shared data from passengers, rather than official GPS devices. It works on the principle of Waze. If you are on bus #1, you can mark it, and all other users will see exactly where you are. The more people use it, the more accurate it becomes.
