Tag: london bus pal

After four and a half years, I’ve permanently closed the comments section in London Bus Pal. This decision wasn’t made lightly, but it was long overdue. Here’s the story of how a simple feature became a nightmare, and why closing it feels like such a relief.

The beginning: a simple idea

I wrote the first line of code for the comments functionality in December 2020 with a straightforward goal: give users an organised space to share useful information about buses that wasn’t available elsewhere in the app. The first comment appeared in February 2021, and we had just three comments that entire month. March brought four more.

As usage grew, I noticed the interface wasn’t ideal, so I found a neat chat library to make commenting easier. This was my first mistake. What I intended as an improvement, users interpreted as an invitation to actually chat. Despite my repeated requests to keep discussions focussed on transport information, several people ignored these guidelines entirely. I would come in to see walls of text about homework and school and when I demoed the app to others, I would specifically ask them to not go near the comments-section.

The Monster I Created

What started as a helpful feature quickly spiralled into something I never intended to build. Users began treating the app like a social media platform, posting anything that came to mind rather than focussing on useful information for other people using the app.

The abuse was immediate and persistent. I found myself constantly building new systems to combat it:

• Comment reporting functionality
• User muting and banning systems
• Toxic behaviour detection
• Profanity filters
• Increasingly sophisticated moderation tools

Each improvement seemed to invite new forms of abuse, creating an endless cycle of development just to maintain basic civility.

The Moderation Challenge

When things became unmanageable, ial6658 reached out to me offering to help with moderation. I was incredibly grateful and worked with him to get started. My crude initial tools meant I was constantly fishing around in databases, handling everything manually. I spent significant time building proper moderation interfaces just to onboard him.

Soon the team grew: VT and c1taro joined ial6658, followed by hdg. More recently, LS69, dantv102, and GodwinTransit were made moderators, largely based on their exemplary behaviour in the app. These volunteers will continue their invaluable work moderating Discord, photos, and suggestions.

Even with dedicated moderators enforcing the rules, I received several complaints about them “being rude” – for simply doing their job. The irony was infuriating: people were angry at moderators for maintaining the standards that kept the platform usable for everyone else.

Unsung Heroes

I cannot express enough gratitude to these people. They didn’t always have the appropriate tools, but made things work as best they could. The best analogy I can think of is asking someone to clean up a beach after a huge party – dealing with loads of rubbish scattered everywhere – but only giving them a small shopping bag to work with.

These moderators were the unsung heroes that users often took for granted. People didn’t see the countless hours and effort they put in trying to bring civility to an increasingly chaotic situation. They endured many stressful moments: bans that wouldn’t take effect immediately, complete mob mentality during the worst moments and constant cleanup of inappropriate content.

I am deeply thankful for their dedication and look forward to continuing to work with this exceptional team on the features that truly matter to London Bus Pal’s future.

Safety Concerns

Perhaps most alarming were the safety issues. Multiple users posted their home addresses in the app (why?!?!?!) or where they were going to school. I tried to use these incidents as teaching moments about online safety, but it became overwhelming. I wasn’t qualified to be an online safety educator for dozens of children, nor did I want that responsibility.

The Final Straw

One user epitomised everything wrong with the system. After displaying consistently unsafe behaviour – posting school details and personal information online – he was banned. This should have been the end of it.

Instead, it became harassment. He created twelve fake accounts that I’m aware of, each time finding new ways to circumvent the systems I’d built. No amount of intervention helped. What started as unsafe behaviour evolved into direct harassment of myself and the moderators.

This past Bank Holiday Monday, he bypassed yet another ban to post more disruptive content. I spent my entire holiday dealing with this one user. It was then I seriously considered closing the comments section entirely.

The Survey and Final Decision

I ran a survey to gauge user opinion, which provided valuable insights – mostly very supportive, but of course, along with the expected abuse. It became clear I was attracting exactly the wrong crowd: people who thrived on negative attention rather than those who appreciated the effort put into the app.

Like a character from a horror movie you can’t escape, on the morning of May 28th, 2025, he reappeared again. His messages – “this time I will be good” and references to his Monday alias “deserving to be banned” – proved he was taunting us. Only he, the moderators, and I knew about that specific ban.

Shortly before 1pm that day, I pulled the plug forever.

Lessons learned

This experiment taught me valuable lessons, though not ones I’d want to repeat:

• Feature scope matters: What seems like a simple addition can fundamentally change your app’s purpose
• Community management is a full-time job: One I never wanted
• 1% of users consumed 80% of my development time: The maths simply didn’t work
• Some users will never respect boundaries: No amount of technology can fix behavioural problems
• It wasn’t all bad: There’s still a community we created from this, it was just in the wrong place

Moving forward

Closing the comments section brings incredible relief. I have my weekends back. I can sleep peacefully without worrying about who might post unsafe information online. The constant context switching between development and moderation is over.

I can now focus entirely on what London Bus Pal was always meant to be: the most reliable source of London transport information. The tens of thousands of users who understand how to behave appropriately online deserve an app developer who isn’t constantly distracted by managing a tiny minority of problematic users.

For those who enjoyed the community aspect, our Discord server remains active – a platform actually designed for the conversations that were happening in my transport app.

Final thoughts

I should have made this decision long ago. Sometimes the hardest part of building software isn’t the technical challenges – it’s knowing when to stop. The comments section taught me that not every user request should be fulfilled, not every feature should exist, and sometimes the best decision for your product is saying “no” to functionality that doesn’t serve your core mission.

This chapter is closed. The experiment is over. And honestly? It feels fantastic.

Disclaimer: I wrote this myself, but got AI to help a bit with structure and clarity

When I was growing up, the world of software was a simpler place. Companies would create an app, burn it to disc and ship it in a box that you bought in a shop. You paid once, installed the app and used it for as long as you wanted, or until your computer couldn’t run it anymore. Companies used to update their software, but it would often be years between versions and usually you would still need to pay for newer versions. It was an entirely different world.

Today, apps are updated continuously – we expect to get updates continuously without necessarily paying for it. Sort of.

I know subscriptions can be frustrating, I get it. When you open an app and it asks you to subscribe, there’s often a sense of “not another one!”. But I would like to share why subscriptions have become not just common, but essential for apps to survive.

The reality of modern app development

Here’s something that might surprise you: even if I never added a single new feature to my app, I’d still need to update it constantly just to keep it working. Every time Apple releases a new iOS version, every time a third-party service changes their API, every time a security vulnerability is discovered, I need to respond. What worked perfectly last month might break completely this month through no fault of the app itself.

This isn’t a case of planned obsolescence or trying to create work for myself. It’s the reality of building software that depends on an ecosystem that’s constantly evolving. The alternative would be to let the app gradually break and become unusable, which serves no one.

The true cost of “free”

When apps were a one-time purchase, that model worked because the expectation was different. You bought software, used it as-is, and perhaps upgraded to a new version every few years. But today’s users expect their apps to work seamlessly across devices, sync data instantly, receive regular updates and integrate with the latest features their phones offer.

All of this requires ongoing work, and unfortunately, ongoing work requires ongoing income. I’m not trying to get rich quick (I wish!). Quite the opposite actually. I’m trying to build something sustainable that can continue to serve you for years to come.

Keeping things fair

I’ve tried to keep my subscription pricing as reasonable as possible. At the time of writing (and this is always subject to experimentation and change to find the right points), the cost of a subscription is £1.49 per month. It’s less than a cup of coffee from Pret with a subscription! (Yes, there’s an irony in that!). I know every subscription adds up for you, and that’s why I’ve tried to figure out something that is fair for everyone. I want the app to be accessible whilst also being able to sustain the development and maintenance it requires.

This isn’t about profiteering, but finding a balance that lets me continue doing what I love whilst keeping the lights on.

Moving forward, not just maintaining

Beyond just keeping existing features working, subscriptions allow me to actually improve the app. What was acceptable eleven years ago, simply isn’t today. I have to find a balance between maintaining the great features of the app, but also to respond to user feedback and making the app more useful for everyone.

The human element

I’m not a large company with teams of developers and massive marketing budgets. I’m just one person (with a few volunteer supporters of the app to ensure accurate data), working to create something that makes people’s lives a little bit easier. If my app can help someone avoid waiting unnecessarily in the rain or get somewhere a bit quicker, that genuinely makes me happy.

When you subscribe, you’re not just paying for software. You’re supporting an independent creator who’s trying to build something worthwhile. That subscription helps me put food on the table, yes, but it also means I can continue dedicating time to making the app better for everyone.

A choice, not a demand

I want to be clear: I don’t force subscriptions on anyone. The app still offers value without a subscription and I respect anyone’s choice to use it however works best for them. But for those who do choose to subscribe, know that it directly enables me to continue developing, maintaining and improving the app.

Looking ahead

Subscriptions have become part of our digital lives not because developers are greedy, but because it reflects the reality of how software works today. Apps aren’t products that get built once and forgotten (in fact, they will be forgotten really quickly if that’s the case). They’re ongoing services that require constant care and attention.

I’m grateful to everyone who uses the app, whether you are a subscriber or not. Your feedback, your reviews and even just the knowledge that the app is helpful in your daily life means more than you might realise. You’re directly enabling me to keep building something that I hope continues to be useful for years to come.

The digital world has changed dramatically in the last decade and I believe that subscriptions, when implemented fairly and transparently, represent an honest way to sustain the software we use often. I hope this gives you just a little bit of insight why subscriptions have become so common.

Well, I wasn’t really ever gone to be honest, but I think it’s about time for an update of where I am.

My last post in 2020 was about adding functionality for bus enthusiasts and looking back and remembering where we were then, I feel proud of what I achieved with this functionality. Last year, I did an interview with Riku Fryderyk and it’s well worth a watch if you haven’t yet. Be sure to also check out the rest of their Youtube channel for some great videos related to transport.

The interview was done while I was in Bangkok as I went travelling for six months. We learn a lot from travelling and definitely a big lesson for me was how difficult it really is to work and travel at the same time. Firstly, there’s a balance to be found in between sitting down and working and going out and exploring new things. I found it hard to achieve this balance, because there’s a huge world to explore and only limited time. Then we layer on the time zone differences (I went from GMT +7 all the way to GMT -3), internet and connectivity in different countries, a laptop that was on the brink and constantly running out of space and the pressure of packing and unpacking, figuring out how to get to the next airport or just where to get your next meal. This is all to say that I really haven’t put as much effort into London Bus Pal as I could have, but I have no regrets either as I managed to really experience a lot in this time and from a personal point of view, I really needed a break.

In all of this time, I have had a few volunteers who have helped out with the app to allow me to focus on development work where I had the time. A huge shoutout and thanks to ThatWestLondonBusGuy, VT, c1taro and hdg for really keeping everything going.

I just arrived back in London a week ago and I have already done a ton of groundwork to continue the next chapter of London Bus Pal. There’s a lot of improvements coming and I am grateful that I can be back in this great city and use my own app again. I am energised, motivated and ready to go. The list of improvements is long, so please be patient as I slowly work through everything. I’m very confident that the London Bus Pal of six months from now will be a great improvement on what we have already today.

I will write some updates here from time to time (in fact, I’m literally going to write another post as soon as I post this one, so look out for it).