Personalised travel information website

Summary

This measure involves the improvement of available public transport information. The travel information website (www.journeyon.co.uk) enables users to obtain personalised information about their journeys, including optimum route, time required, calories burnt (by mode) and topography. Elements of this service were programmed to become accessible via handheld devices.

Implementing sustainable mobility

This measure involves the improvement of available public transport information. The travel information website (www.journeyon.co.uk) enables users to obtain personalised information about their journeys, including optimum route, time required, calories burnt (by mode) and topography. Elements of this service were programmed to become accessible via handheld devices.

Implementation began with a technical review of other similar websites which already had established a mobile version. Once a plan for implementation had been drawn up based upon the review, two suppliers were employed to design and deliver the measure. Once completed, the mobile site was tested and officially launched.

Cyclist Counter Displays were also delivered at 2 key locations across the city in the CIVITAS Plus corridor in Brighton & Hove. These count the cyclists passing and display that number on a nearby sign, locating cyclists as part of the 'everyday' in the city rather than as a 'niche' market. Implementation of this measure began by indentifying sites for installation and suppliers of the hardware. Once this had been completed the cycle counters were installed and extensively tested; evaluation then followed.
 

Progress

Evaluation for the mobile website service mainly focused on social acceptance of the measure, monitoring awareness via surveys, and usage via website analytics.

• Since the launch of JourneyOn mobile on 12 January 2012, 24757 visits have been made to the mobile site. This equates to 27.38% of the total number of visits to the website and mobile version.
• Awareness levels of JourneyOn mobile have increased by 40% since the start of the project.
• Acceptance levels of JourneyOn mobile have increased by 42% since the start of the project.
• The launch of the new mobile site slowed a downward trend 3 months prior to the launch of JourneyOn mobile; and stabilised ‘visit’ numbers.
• No increase in cyclists numbers resulted from the cycle counters (in fact there 53 less cyclists per day)

Outcomes

• Recommendation 1: Allow plenty of time for developing and testing the new technology, for the website and cycle counters. Both measures were delayed due to this. It is also important to be certain that the technology is fully operational in order to provide a good service. Be sure that the public/potential users understand that the initiatives are being trialled and may have issues. For example, we launched a beta version of JourneyOn mobile. It is an approach commonly used by companies including Microsoft when new software is launched onto the market for the first time. We monitored JourneyOn mobile (beta) to see if/where improvements could be made before the site went live two months later.
• Recommendation 2: Ensure good communications between developers/providers, particularly if they are not available in person.
• Recommendation 3: Ensure political and public support for any measure.