How we order results
Every list of journeys on this site is ordered by the same seven parameters, applied the same way on every route. This page is the whole of it.
Nobody pays for a position
No operator, agency or partner can buy a higher place in a list of results, and no payment to us changes the order of one. Where a link earns us a commission we say so beside the link itself, and the commission is the same whether the journey comes first or last.
The seven parameters
Every journey is scored on all seven. Each parameter is scaled against the other journeys in the same set of results, and the scores are added together. Price and journey time are scaled on a log curve rather than a straight line, because a straight line lets one expensive journey in the set flatten the difference between two cheap ones to nothing.
- Price
- Journey time
- Transfer risk
- Emissions
- Comfort
- Flexibility
- Your history
Your history is the only parameter carrying a weight it does not currently use. We hold nothing that would feed it, so it adds zero to every journey in every list. It is named here because it is in the code, and a parameter you cannot see is the thing this page exists to prevent.
What each lens changes
The lens at the top of the results changes how much each parameter weighs, and nothing else. The same seven parameters are read every time, and best value is the one applied if you choose nothing.
- Best value. Ranked on price against journey time, with transfer risk and emissions behind them.
- Fastest. Ranked on door to door time, and almost nothing else.
- Cheapest. Ranked on the total you pay, every fee included.
- Greenest. Ranked on emissions per passenger.
- Most flexible. Ranked on whether the fare can be changed or refunded.
Why the modes are grouped
Results are grouped by mode, and the groups are ordered by the best score any journey in them reached under the lens you chose. The reason a mode comes first is the same reason its best journey would have come first in one flat list.
Ties
Two journeys that score identically are ordered by their reference, which is fixed when the journey is built and has nothing to do with who operates it. The order of a tie is stable between two loads of the same page, and it is not for sale.
How we are paid
Orlero does not sell these tickets. Results link out to the operator or the agency that does, and some of those links pay us a commission when a booking completes. The commission never changes the price you pay and never changes the order above it. Where a link is not paid at all, we say that too.
What changes when we sell tickets ourselves
Orlero is becoming a distributor, which means some journeys will be sold by us rather than linked out. Our own inventory will be scored by the same seven parameters as everybody else's, it will be marked as ours in the results, and this page will say so on the day it starts rather than after. While you are reading this sentence, it has not started.
If the order does not follow from this page
A result we cannot explain is a result we cannot defend. Every journey in a list carries its own reasoning and you can open it on the result itself. If the order still does not follow from what is written here, tell us and we will either fix the ranking or fix the page.