Privacy Policy

This Privacy Policy explains how Transport Made Simple (“we”, “us”) collects, uses, stores and protects information about you when you use the Love Your Bus Stop iOS app, the public colour-coded map, the admin dashboard at admin.loveyourbusstop.co.uk and the client portals operated under it (collectively, the “Service”).

We are the data controller for the personal information described below, except where we act as a joint controller alongside a local authority client (Norfolk County Council, Essex County Council and other councils) for data scoped to their portal. Where this is the case, we will tell you.

Transport Made Simple Ltd is registered in England and Wales under company number 15754458. Our registered office is Roswold House, Oak Drive, Diss, England, IP22 4GX.

2.1 Account information

When you create an account we collect your email address, a securely hashed version of your password, and (optionally) a display name. If you sign in with Apple, we receive a stable Apple user identifier and, depending on your Apple settings, either your real email address or an Apple-provided relay address.

2.2 Role and assignment data

Each account has a role (public surveyor, TMS operative, councillor, council client viewer or administrator) which determines what you can see and do. Client and councillor accounts are linked to a specific local authority (e.g. Essex County Council) so that they only see data relevant to them.

2.3 Survey submissions

When you submit a survey for a bus stop, we record: the bus stop ATCO code, the state of each of the 11 surveyed infrastructure items (pole, flag, timetable case, timetable case perspex, shelter, real-time passenger information screen, raised kerb, lighting, seating, yellow box, QR code board) as “OK”, “damaged” or “missing”, whether the displayed timetable is up to date, the resulting rating, the points you earned, the date and time of submission and (where you are signed in) your user ID. Anonymous public web submissions may optionally include a free-text name.

2.4 Location data (iOS app only)

With your permission, the iOS app reads your device’s GPS location so that we can sort bus stops by distance from you and centre the map on your current location. We do not store your location on our servers — it is used on your device only. You can withdraw location permission at any time in iOS Settings.

2.5 Photographs and images

When you attach photographs to a survey or to a Transport Terminal document record, the image is uploaded to our object storage provider (Cloudflare R2) and a link to the stored object is associated with your submission. We do not embed your name in the file itself, but the photograph remains linked to your account while it exists in our system.

2.6 Reward redemption details

When you redeem a reward we collect the delivery name, postal address, phone number and email address you provide so we can post the reward to you. These details are visible to TMS staff handling fulfilment and to any third-party courier we engage for delivery.

2.7 Job-related information (TMS field operatives)

If you have a TMS operative account, we additionally record the jobs assigned to you, the time you completed each job, any insert-change status you reported (including a free-text note where you indicate the case was inaccessible or select “other”) and any photographs you upload to evidence your work.

2.8 Irregularity Notice information

When TMS staff raise an Irregularity Notice against a Transport Terminal, the notice records the operator name, service number, driver name, vehicle registration, the time of the irregularity and the ticked breach clauses, along with any free-text comments, the operator’s response (where logged on their behalf) and the relevant local authority’s observations. Driver and operator data is provided by TMS staff at the time of issue.

2.9 Authentication and session data

When you sign in, we issue a JSON Web Token (JWT) signed by us; the token is stored on your device (in iOS SecureStore or, on the website, in browser localStorage) so that you don’t have to sign in on every screen. We log the date and time of your most recent sign-in.

2.10 Technical and operational data

Our hosting providers automatically record request metadata such as IP address, timestamp, user-agent string and the URL of each request for operational and security purposes. We do not use these for behavioural advertising.

We process your information for the following purposes and on the following lawful bases under the UK General Data Protection Regulation:

• Providing the Service (Article 6(1)(b), performance of a contract): account creation, authentication, displaying the map, accepting surveys, awarding points, processing reward redemptions and dispatching rewards.
• Operating the public colour-coded map (Article 6(1)(f), legitimate interests): we display each bus stop’s aggregate rating and status to anyone who uses the app, so that the public, councils and operators can see infrastructure quality at a glance. We do not display who submitted a survey on the public map.
• Field operations and timetable contracts (Article 6(1)(b), performance of a contract): assigning jobs to TMS operatives, recording job completion, evidencing timetable insert changes to our council clients.
• Council reporting (Article 6(1)(f), legitimate interests): providing scoped progress dashboards to local authority clients (Essex County Council, Norfolk County Council and others) under our contracts with them, and issuing Irregularity Notices on their behalf.
• Reward fulfilment (Article 6(1)(b), performance of a contract): handling, packaging and posting redeemed rewards using the delivery details you provided.
• Service security and integrity (Article 6(1)(f), legitimate interests): preventing abuse, removing inaccurate or inappropriate submissions and protecting the Service from misuse.
• Legal compliance (Article 6(1)(c)): meeting our tax, accounting and other regulatory obligations.

4.1 Service providers (processors)

• Railway — application hosting and the PostgreSQL database that stores your account, surveys, jobs, terminals and IRNs.
• Vercel — hosting for the admin website at admin.loveyourbusstop.co.uk and the public client portals.
• Cloudflare R2 — object storage for photographs and Transport Terminal documents.
• Apple Inc. — if you sign in with Apple, Apple receives your sign-in request and returns an identity token we verify.
• Postal couriers — where you redeem a physical reward, we share your delivery details with the courier we use to send it.

4.2 Local authority clients

Our council clients can see, via their portal, the jobs and IRNs scoped to them. They can see the email address and display name of the TMS staff who completed each job. They do not see the personal accounts of the public surveying community.

4.3 Bus operators

Where an Irregularity Notice names an operator, that operator may receive a copy of the notice (issued by TMS on the council’s behalf) so they can respond. Operator and driver details on an IRN are visible to the operator named and to the relevant council.

4.4 Authorities and legal requests

We may share information where required by law, court order or to protect our legal rights, the safety of users or the integrity of the Service.

4.5 We do not sell your personal data

We do not sell or rent personal information to advertisers or data brokers.

Our primary database and application servers are hosted in regions within the United Kingdom or European Economic Area where available. Some of our service providers (notably Vercel and Cloudflare) operate globally distributed networks and may process or cache request metadata outside the UK or EEA. Where data is transferred internationally, we rely on the UK’s International Data Transfer Agreement, the EU Standard Contractual Clauses or an equivalent safeguard recognised under UK GDPR.

• Account information — for as long as your account is active. On deletion we remove or anonymise your personal account data within a reasonable period.
• Surveys and ratings — retained indefinitely as part of the public bus-stop quality record, with the submitting user’s identifier kept for audit. Individual surveys can be deleted by an administrator on your request.
• Photographs and documents — kept while the survey, terminal or IRN they relate to exists. Administrators may delete inappropriate or inaccurate photographs.
• Reward redemption records — kept for at least six years to satisfy UK accounting and tax record-keeping requirements.
• Operative job records — retained per our contractual obligations to council clients and our employment record-keeping requirements (typically six years after the end of the contract).
• Irregularity Notices — retained per our contractual obligations to the relevant local authority.
• Operational logs — typically rotated within 30 days unless retained longer to investigate an incident.

You have the following rights in relation to your personal information:

• The right to be informed about how we use your data (this policy).
• The right to access a copy of the personal data we hold about you.
• The right to have inaccurate data corrected (rectification).
• The right to have your data erased in certain circumstances.
• The right to restrict our processing of your data in certain circumstances.
• The right to receive your data in a portable format and to transmit it to another controller.
• The right to object to processing based on our legitimate interests, including for direct marketing (we do not currently send direct marketing).
• The right to withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent (e.g. for location access or photo uploads). Withdrawing consent does not affect the lawfulness of processing carried out before withdrawal.

To exercise any of these rights, email contact@central-connect.co.uk. We will respond within one calendar month.

The admin website and client portals store a JSON Web Token in browser localStorage so that you stay signed in across page loads. This token is strictly necessary for the login experience and is exempt from the consent requirement for cookies under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

We do not currently use third-party analytics, advertising or tracking cookies on the website. If this changes, we will update this policy and obtain consent where required.

Love Your Bus Stop is intended for users aged 16 and over. If you are under 16, please obtain consent from a parent or guardian before creating an account or submitting any information. We will delete any account we discover belongs to a child under 13 (and, where applicable, under 16) without verified parental consent.

We protect your information using a combination of technical and organisational measures, including TLS encryption in transit, hashing of passwords using bcrypt, role-based access control across the admin platform, scoped portals for council clients, and least-privilege credentials for our service providers. We restrict access to personal data to staff who need it for their role.

No internet-connected service is perfectly secure. We encourage you to use a strong, unique password and to keep your account credentials private.

We may update this policy from time to time, for example when we add new features or change service providers. When we make material changes we will notify you in the app or by email where reasonably practical. The “Last updated” date at the top of this page shows when it was last revised.

For any questions about this policy or to exercise your rights, contact us at contact@central-connect.co.uk.

If you have a concern about how we process your personal information that we are unable to resolve, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO).

Information Commissioner’s Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF. Helpline: 0303 123 1113. Website: ico.org.uk.