www.transportdirect.info delivers comprehensive travel information for both public and private forms of transport, offering people choice and enabling them to make better informed decisions when planning journeys within Great Britain. It works by joining up existing sources of travel information, offering multi-modal door-to-door journey planning as well as more traditional planning for either car, air, coach or train. Transport Direct's journey plans take the form of step-by-step instructions supported by detailed maps that can be viewed at a range of scales.
Transport Direct's objectives are:
- To provide comprehensive, accessible travel information for Great Britain
- To assist the travelling public in making informed choices across all modes of transport
- To encourage better use of the British transport infrastructure
- To spread demand for the transport system away from peak times, and when transport services are disrupted
- To develop internationally recognised technical standards in the creation and formatting of transport information
It has cost £16.7m (comprising £14.6m capital and £2.1m non-capital) to date. Transport Direct also contains 'live travel' information, including real-time information on the running of services to and from Britain's 2500 railway stations. Travellers can check as to the likelihood of delays on road and rail routes and see whether choosing a different route, departure time or transport mode might suit them better.
Links to rail and coach ticket retailers mean that public transport users can buy their tickets without having to re-enter their journey details. Road users benefit from journey plans that uniquely take into account historical traffic levels which vary according to the day and time, for much of the trunk road network.
Future Plans for Transport Direct:
- Consolidation of existing service and functions
- Delivery through further channels (internet-enabled mobile phone, PDA, street kiosk and as a service embedded in other web sites)
- Comparative cost details for different journey options
- Development of other data sets (e.g. - cycle routes, car parks)
Commenting on the launch, Secretary of State for Transport Alistair Darling said: "For the first time, travellers will be able to see the different travel choices available in one place. Transport Direct will offer people greater choice, putting all the travel information they need at their fingertips.
"Today's launch represents a real achievement and is an excellent example of the transport industry working together to deliver something of real value to people. Of course there will be teething problems but increasingly Transport Direct will bring huge benefits to the travelling public."
Transport Direct was conceived by the Department for Transport (DfT) with additional funding and input from the National Assembly for Wales and the Scottish Executive.
It's been designed, built and operated by a consortium, led by Atos Origin, comprising WS Atkins, ESRI, Microsoft, BBC Technology, RTEL. It has an advisory board, made up of key transport industry players, which oversees the direction and delivery of the Transport Direct programme. There's also a sounding board, comprising senior transport and travel stakeholders, provides operational advice and support.
Also involved, with data, technology, expertise and other essential contributions are transport service operators; all 141 local authorities in England, Scotland and Wales; traveline; Ordnance Survey; thetrainline; ATOC; Highways Agency; Traffic Wales; NADICS and orthers.
Functionality-wise, Transport Direct differs to other travel information services by:
- The ability to compare car journeys with available public transport options
- Transport Direct points the way forward in joining up disparate sources of travel information, rather than simply adding to what is already available.
- Transport Direct's road journey plans take into account predicted traffic levels for key roads and, where severe, advise alternative routes.
- Users can buy rail and coach tickets on partners' web sites without re-entering journey details
Technical stats include:
- Over 27 million addresses.
- Over 330,000 bus stops.
- Over 3 million road intersections.
- 300 gigabytes of map data.
- Links to railway station departure boards and information pages and bus real-time information sites.
- The ability to set travel preferences (e.g. specifying how fast you are prepared to walk between interchanges) and save favourite journeys.
- Interaction with up to 13 external web sites for each enquiry.
Quelle: Publictechnology, 05.01.2005
