Session 1 - Directions of Travel

1. transport direct
DIGITAL TRANSPORT
(ESPECIALLY INFORMATION)
Nick Illsley
Chief Executive
Transport Direct
25th June 2009
slide 1

2. transport direct A History Lesson
 In the nineteenth century the railway caused the adoption of
national time and from day one ran to a published timetable
 Late twentieth century development of mainframe systems
for revenue and operations e.g. TOPS, early beginnings of
real-time information systems
 Early adoption of the Internet such as Trainline and the
Railtrack Information site, development limited to either a
single mode or to a single company e.g. NRE and EasyJet
 Transport is a form of communication and depends heavily
on information and communication for its operations and
commercial appeal Internet completes the transition from
supplier to customer domination of markets
slide 2

3. transport direct Joining-up the modes ……
 Transport Direct joins up the Modes

Rail

Bus

Coach

Light Rail

Car

Ferry

Air

Walking

Cycling
 Building on Individual Systems and Providing the Glue
slide 3

4. transport direct ...and location-based travel planning
 The complexity of life requires awareness of location and
the ability to travel between places

Where I live

Where I work

Where I shop

Where my children go to school

Where I get healthcare

Where my family and friends live

Where I go for leisure
 Where we are is inevitably a compromise, and mobility is
the key to reducing hassle!
slide 4

5. transport direct A Truism?
 We all know where we are?

Great Minster House

76 Marsham Street

SW1P 4DR

Pimlico (nearest tube)

Westminster Borough

London

South East

England

United Kingdom

Europe etc
slide 5

6. transport direct Locational Information
 Selecting Origins and Destinations

Select from over 30 million
 Address
 Postcode
 Place
 Public Transport Location
 Amenity/Attraction/Event

Data Gathering and Maintenance
 330,000 bus stops, at 1metre accuracy, unique name and number

Over 1 trillion O & D Pairs

Over 100 billion public transport Pairs, 99% Accuracy = 1 billion
wrong
 Data Quality Matters – Bad Data = Wrong Answer
slide 6

7. transport direct EU INSPIRE Directives
 Enacted on 14th March 2007
 Covers the Infrastructure for Spatial Information across
Europe
 3 Annexes of Information, Transport Networks in Annex 1
 Supports many things including journey planning
 Linear Elements with Nodal Connectivity
 Intermodal and pan-Nation Connectivity
 Freely Available (not necessarily free)
 May be followed by an ITS Directive harmonising systems
and equipment
slide 7

8. transport direct Domestic Policy
 Devolution

Transport is an almost totally devolved responsibility (to
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)
 Local Transport Act

Devolves power and responsibility to Local Level

Integrated Transport Authorities

Co-ordination of Transport across “regions”

Includes roads for the first time
 Power of Information

Independent Report commissioned by Government

Recommends the freeing up of public data, including
geography and transport

Encourages data mashing and re-use
slide 8

9. transport direct What do Users Want?
 Help with Unfamiliar Journeys
 Information to Remove Uncertainty
 90% Reassurance, 10% Generative (Inquisitive)
 Peer Expectation

Cars – Satnav, Radio, Entertainment, Comfort

Trains – Planned and Real-time information, Comfort?

Buses – Is Real-time Information an Add-on or Part of Product?
 Intuitive Services that Work
 Multi-channel, multi-modal, multi-purpose, increasingly
savvy and self-sufficient in choice-making
slide 9

10. transport direct Stand Still or Change
 Stand still and disappear
 Change and carry on (grow?)
 But not just about Transport Direct etc
 It’s about data, processing, channels and products
 Ultimately it’s about users and their needs and their ultimate
satisfaction
 This could be a Golden Opportunity
 Can we (are we willing to) grasp it?
slide 10

11. transport direct Towards Digital Transformation
 Online – makes access to some services easier especially
for those who are e-friendly e.g. electronic forms, small
customer benefits
 Interactive – intelligent portals underpinned by intelligent
infrastructure e.g. Directgov, improved navigation but
unchanged business models, customer time savings
 Integration – integrated services around customers or
common needs e.g. entitlement cards (?), swift, secure
services to customers, business barriers begin to break
down
 Connected – increasingly self-service and shared with
users and employees, open systems, single sign-in, few
boundaries e.g.………, users get power and choice,
business barriers challenged and broken down
slide 11

12. transport direct Exploiting Back Office Value
 Virtual Comprehensive Dataset
 Make Data Chain fit for 21st Century
 Build on National Digital Data Set
 Data Repository for Public Transport
 Standard Data for Roads
 Open Interfaces and Making Data Available to Others
 Engage with the Wider Public and Private Sectors
 Move from World First to World Class!
slide 12

13. transport direct Public and Private Sector Roles
 Need to set some general guidelines that foster joint working and
maximise efficiency and effectiveness:
 Public Sector

Standards

Collation and audit of data

Addressing market failure
 Private Sector

Customer facing services

Customer Care

Revenue Generation
 Not fixed but general areas of expertise and interest
slide 13

14. transport direct Analogue and Digital Transport
 Analogue  Digital
 Railways  Cars
 Timetables  Walking
 Airlines  Multi-modal solutions
 Booking Offices  Demand Responsive
Transport
 Passports
 Real-time information/Satnavs
 Fuel Tax
 Dynamic Fares
 Car Tax
 Road Pricing
 VMS Signs
 Multi-factor decisions
slide 14

15. transport direct A Few Final Thoughts
 Technology and especially Information provision is a quick win at
relatively low cost (compared to infrastructure)
 We can all benefit as users, businesses and government from the
provision of better technology-led information services
 Engage users and exploit channels by moving to location-based
services
 But data quality and management is the key to good information
provision
 Transport Direct is a global first – why not how we travel
 Enabling citizens to travel more intelligently could lead to better
experience for then and better utilisation of existing infrastructure
 The back office potential is at least as important as the customer
facing service, engage with third parties
 But Government and Transport are in reality very analogue, can we
(do we want to) become digital?
slide 15