Background & ObjectivesThe Transport Direct programme has developed a web-based portal to provide intermodal travel information to the travelling public, and it has provided support to the travel information community (including real-time bus information services) to enhance the information available through Transport Direct and other channels. It is providing travellers with an integrated journey planning information service, including provision of real-time travel and transport information.
ImplementationTransport Direct works with both public and private transport operators and with local/national government. The Transport Direct portal is operated by a consortium, led by Atos Origin. The non-profit service is funded by the UK Department for Transport, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Scottish Government. The Highways Agency, Traffic Wales, Transport Scotland and the rail, coach and bus operators provide information to Transport Direct either directly or through the regional "Traveline" services which offer comprehensive public transport information on the web and phone.
Atos Origin leads the consortium appointed by the DfT (UK Department for Transport) to design, build and operate the Transport Direct portal, first build was completed in December 2003 and was officially launched on 31 December 2004.
Based on the Reference Data Model for Public Transport (Transmodel), Transport Direct and its partners within the transport information community developed and implemented the National Public Transport Access Nodes (NaPTAN) and National public Transport Gazetteer (NPTG) standards, resulting in a database over 400,000 transport locations within Great Britain. These standards underpin the distributed journey planning services provided by the Transport Direct Portal, which uses the JourneyWeb protocol to obtain and merge information on the fly from the appropriate regional traveline services and other sources.
With the objective of improving the data supply chain, Transport Direct continues to be involved in significant standards development and implementation work. Developed with the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, the TransXChange standard enables the electronic |
transfer of bus route and timetable information for operational (automatic vehicle location, electronic ticketing and real-time passenger information), journey planning and regulatory purposes. Ongoing work with European Committee for Standardization (CEN), the European standards body, on standards such as IFOPT and NeTEx ensures that the UK’s use of NaPTAN, NPTG and TransXChange is future-proofed and the transport and travel information communities can continue to realise benefits.
ConclusionsIn the first year (2005) of operation the Transport Direct service was used by 3 million users. The number of users reached 18 million in 2008. Now (2009) the number of users is over 25 million per annum. Most of the users are satisfied with provided services (93%). 20 % of system users are travelling over 100 miles.
The number of passengers that have changed travel behaviour because of information provided before the journey is around 50% (experience from cases where journey had been made before). Of this 50 %, the most cases specified change of journey time (35%) and change of journey route (33%), and 22 % made changes from car to public transport and 6% from public transport to car.
Following table shows passengers satisfaction with some properties
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Following table shows some info about users
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AuthorKarel Králíček
Contact Roger Slevin
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