Case Study

Traveline

Tools Involved

Multimodal Trip Planning.

Site Description

Traveline is a telephone web service run by regional partnerships of PTEs, local authorities and bus operators. The site includes regional information from public transport companies throughout the UK. Set-up was mostly funded by central Government, whilst each region has agreed their individual method for sharing the cost of operation.

Site Problems

The UK as with many countries has an overcrowded road network. Whilst there are several sources of public transport information available it can sometimes be difficult for users to effectively plan a complete journey as it may require tickets and information from several different transport operators (e.g. rail and coach) and walking between modes.

Scheme Description

Traveline provides journey-planning information about buses, coaches, trains, ferries, trams, metro and underground. At present it offers information based on published timetables with some areas offering more detailed information. Whilst Traveline accesses information for all its regions, they are not currently linked so long distance journeys may require access to more than one Traveline regional website.

A telephone-handling centre has also been set-up per region so users can call for information. If a user requires long distance directions (e.g. across regions) they will sometimes be transferred to another regional Traveline provider.

The timetable information is cross-referenced with map information so it can include door-to-door directions and estimated times.

Scheme Objectives

By making public transport more visible to travellers the tool aims to provide better accessibility to people without cars, whilst making motorists more aware of their options. If a motorist knows the public transport alternatives they may be more willing to leave their car at home, reducing congestion.

Improvements

It is anticipated that the system will:

increase public transport use;
ease public transport journey planning;
improve accessibility; and
improve the environment via modal shift.

Integrated Systems

Integration with work on JourneyWeb (a method of getting different transport website to communicate) is expected to contribute to future linking of regional Traveline journey planners.

Costs

Capital costs: Each region contributed towards setting up Traveline in their locality. In Scotland, the Scottish Executive contributed £1.7m in grant assistance to the service for capital and set up costs. Transport operators have also contributed £500,000 to operational costs.

The Department for Transport spent £36,319 on Traveline branding in 2000-01. It spent £1.025m on an advertising campaign for the Traveline phone service in 2001-02.

(source: Hansard - http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/vo021128/text/21128w24.htm)

Benefits

Benefits are shown in the table below.

Actual benefits reported
Impact Assessment	Environment	Not assessed in project evaluation.
	Accessibility	No benefits expected or reported.
	Safety	No benefits expected or reported.
	Efficiency	Not assessed in project evaluation.
	Integration	Not assessed in project evaluation.
Technical Performance		A survey showed that the time taken to answer calls to Traveline and the customer service elements of the calls were generally regarded as satisfactory or good (overall 95 per cent). 90% of the answers given were completely accurate, according to a report in 2002.
User Acceptance		In 2007, the Traveline regional websites had just over 18,000,000 enquiries.

Traveline Benefits table

(source:Traveline website).

No attempt has been made to validate the results reported. Users of the guidance are encouraged to assess the robustness of the results presented and the likely transferability of the case study to their own local environment.

More Information

Traveline website - http://www.traveline.org.uk

DfT Transport Direct Research - ITS Tools Directory (http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/inclusion/?view=Standard)