Why we built this

This started with a bus that simply didn't come -- no warning, no update, no explanation -- and a call centre with no way to tell us where it was, or whether it was coming at all. Just "check the app" and a shrug. If you ride Orbus, you probably have your own version of this story.

A single no-show is bad luck. A no-show nobody is measuring is something else -- it means there's no record, no pressure, and no way to tell "an unlucky day" from "this route is unreliable most days." So we started watching: every scheduled departure, checked against what actually showed up, logged and timestamped instead of remembered and forgotten.

Queenstown runs on people who don't necessarily have a car -- hospitality and tourism workers on split shifts, students, people who've chosen not to drive. For a lot of us, Orbus isn't a backup option, it's the only way to get to work, get home, or get a kid to school on time. When the bus doesn't show, that's not a minor inconvenience -- it can mean a missed shift or a long walk in the rain.

We're not trying to manufacture a reason to complain. Otago Regional Council publishes a timetable, and Ritchies is contracted to run it -- that's the promise made to every rider in this town. We want the service to actually match that promise, and where it doesn't, we want that visible and trackable instead of scattered across a hundred individual "the bus didn't come" stories that never add up to anything on their own. Accountability starts with a record. This is that record.

Check your stop before you leave the house. If your bus ghosts you, tap the complaint button on that stop's page -- it goes straight to ORC's real, verified contact, and takes about ten seconds. The reliability report and schedule reconciliation numbers are open to everyone, all the time, for anyone who wants the full picture.