APPENDIX 12
Memorandum submitted by Traveline
TRAVELINE
1. The White Paper—A New Deal for
Transport—aimed to create a better and more integrated transport
system to tackle the problems of congestion on the road and pollution.
A further aim was for a public transport information system to
be systematically set up across the country by 2000. Good timetable
information is a foundation stone of successful public transport,
nationally and locally. Better information will encourage usage
of public transport. Information must therefore be:
— Accurate, reliable and up to
date.
— Readily available and accessible
to all members of the community.
— Easy to understand by regular,
occasional and potential users of public transport.
2. The Transport Act 2000 requires local
authorities to ensure that information about local bus services
is available. The Act enables local authorities to recover from
bus operators reasonable costs for the delivery of information.
3. The purpose of Traveline is to provide
timetable information from all stops for public transport (bus,
coach, metro, train and GB ferry) both through a single telephone
call and the regional internet service in accord with the appropriate
aims in the Transport White Paper and to meet the specific requirements
on local authorities and bus operators for bus information in
the Transport Act 2000.
BUS USAGE
4. Where people have become unaccustomed
to using bus services, they may have little or no knowledge of
how to travel by public transport. The fall in usage has in many
areas caused reduced frequencies and so the need for detailed
information is greater. Traveline has been established to try
and make it easier for people to enquire about public transport.
5. Before Traveline was established in 2000,
43 local authority telephone numbers and various bus operators
handled bus enquiries with widely varying standards of service.
Traveline now handles 5.5 million calls a year on its 0870 608
2 608 number and over eight million enquiries on the internet.
In addition, it provides its data to "Transport Direct"
that also handles internet enquiries. The same data provides "traveline-txt"—an
SMS text messaging service being launched in most parts of the
UK to give the next buses due at a particular bus stop.
6. Enquiries by internet and SMS are rising.
The level of telephone calls is not rising as fast. The ONS Omnibus
investigation of people who have used travel info services in
GB found that only 13% of the people surveyed had heard of the
Traveline service and 4% had used it. This compares to 68% who
had heard of the more long-established "National Rail Enquiries"
and 28% who had used it.
7. We believe that these figures indicate
that there is still work to do to promote the availability of
information about bus services, particularly via the newer internet
and SMS channels.
CO -ORDINATION
8. Those people who need an alternative
to a car need comprehensive information if they are to be able
to travel to a wide range of destinations at convenient times.
9. Traveline is a provider of comprehensive
information for public transport journeys. Its computers search
the services of all operators and journey solutions frequently
involve using the services of more than one operator and sometimes
a change of mode.
10. Traveline is funded by the local authorities
and bus operators. Even though bus operators are in competition
with each other, most pay their share of the costs of Traveline.
TRAFFIC COMMISSIONERS
11. The Traveline database has been built
from the registered timetables that are sent to the Traffic Commissioner
and copied to the local authority. However, the quality and detail
that Traveline requires is now ahead of the requirements of the
Traffic Commissioner. In particular, Traveline needs times for
all stops along the route, needs to know in sufficient time what
journeys are cancelled and increasingly requires fares and real
time information.
12. The increasing number of registrations
accepted by the Traffic Commissioners at short notice makes it
more difficult to keep Traveline completely accurate for the next
14 days which is its target. Traveline would benefit if the registration
system were more public facing so that the test is not whether
the Traffic Commissioner knows about the proposed change but whether
the public know about it.
What is the future for the bus?
13. Apart from some fares information gradually
being delivered around some regions of the UK, Traveline has no
formal plans for future improvement. Nevertheless, powerful improvements
to its information services could be offered over the next few
years such as: internet access while on the move, real time tracking
of vehicles and smart cards to identify individuals. Such improvements
could converge to make public transport more attractive to its
users and more efficient to operate.
14. It may still be possible to wait at
the bus stop and pay the drivers for each part of your journey
by cash. However, it could be possible that, by arranging your
journey with Traveline, you could be offered: special deals on
certain journeys where there is spare capacity; alerted when to
go out to the bus stop; the bus driver will know you are coming
and be aware of what connections you need to make; your travel
account will be debited with the frequent user discounts you are
entitled to; and your mobile phone will be sent any messages affecting
your chosen journey.
23 May 2006
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