Transport Direct Portal

The Transport Direct Portal is a non-profit on-line service that provides journey planning information as a web site and though other channels such as mobile devices and iDTV. It is funded by the UK Department for Transport, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Scottish Government. It is operated by a consortium led by Atos Origin contracted by the Transport Direct section of the Department for Transport. The goal of the website is to provide a service to all UK residents that calculates the fastest door-to-door journey within the UK, using all available forms of transport, including private car, train, bus, taxi, ferry, metro, cycling and walking, and any possible combination thereof.

Comparison of different journey types, both in terms of estimated cost and time is also possible. A notable feature of the Transport Direct Portal is the integration of the many timetables of different local public transport operators into a unified national journey planner.

The Transport Direct portal claims to be the only website that offers journey planning information for door-to-door travel by both public transport and car for journeys around Britain. Its aim is to provide users with comprehensive, easy-to-use travel information to help them plan their journeys effectively and efficiently on Intermodal passenger transport.

History

The first build of the portal was completed in December 2003 and was made publicly available in July 2004. This was replaced by an enhanced version on 20 October 2004 and was officially launched on 31 December 2004. The service has continued to be enhanced at regular intervals over the following years and is now also available via mobiles phones WAP, and PDA and Interactive Digital Television (iDTV).

Key Features

* Door to Door planner - providing integrated journey plans for using any modes between any two points in the Great Britain

* Find a train - rail only all day journey plans, includes the ability to search for the train journeys which may have cheaper fares

* Find a flight - air only internal UK flights, with links to the operator to price your journey

* Find a coach - plan a journey by coach and express bus

* City to City - compare journeys between major UK cities by trunk modes air, rail and coach

* Plan a car journey - to your destination or to the park and ride service for your destination

* Find nearest car park - find the car parks near your required destination, select one, and then plan your journey to it

* Find a Place - find where you want to go in the UK on a map

* Find nearest Station and Airport - find the most sensible station or airport to start your journey at and to end your journey at

* Live travel and traffic news - travel and traffic incidents - both planned and unplanned - as well as real time train running information

The Transport Direct portal also offers a real time travel news and real time train running information available on mobile phones and Digital TV.

Data Standards

The Transport Direct Portal integrates data from a wide variety of information sources covering different types of data relevant for travel, including stops, timetables maps and real-time data. It has been instrumental in the development of standards for the exchange of information about transport in the UK. Relevant standards used in the Portal include:
* Stops: National Public Transport Access Nodes (NaPTAN)
* Localities: National Public Transport Gazetteer (NPTG)
* Timetables: TransXChange, AtcoCIF and Transmodel
* JourneyPlanning: JourneyWeb
* Real-Time Information: Real Time Information Group XML (RTIGxml), Real-time Train Information (RTTI)

ee also

* Transport Direct
* Department of Transport
* Intermodal Journey Planner

External links

* [http://www.transportdirect.info Transport Direct web site]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/4313892.stm BBC article]
* [http://www.transportdirect.gov.uk/ DfT Site on Transport Direct]