Transport Direct
Encyclopedia
Department for Transport
In the United Kingdom, the Department for Transport is the government department responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland which are not devolved...
to develop better information technology systems to support public transport. It developed and operates the Transport Direct Portal
Transport Direct Portal
The Transport Direct Portal is a distributed Internet-based multi-modal journey planner providing information for travel in England, Wales and Scotland. It is managed by Transport Direct, a division of the Department for Transport...
which is a public facing multi-modal journey planner. It also supports the creation and management of comprehensive databases of all public transport movements in the United Kingdom with Traveline
Traveline
Traveline is a partnership between local authorities and transport operators in the UK to provide impartial and comprehensive information about public transport which has operated since 2000...
. During 2010 two key datasets were released as Open Data
Open Data in the United Kingdom
There have been campaigns in the UK for its government to open up the large amounts of data it has for greater public usage without prohibitively large fees...
.
Transport Direct Portal
The journey planner is a public-facing multi-modal door-to-door journey planner website for Great BritainGreat Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
which provides options for both public transport and car-based options and includes an option for cyclists in some parts of the country. A re-branded white label
White label
White label records are vinyl records with adhesive plain white labels affixed. Test pressings, usually with Test Pressing written on the label, with catalogue number, artist and recording time or date, are produced in small quantities to evaluate the quality of the disc production...
version is also available.
Standards
A number of data standards were developed to support the collection, transfer and management of the required transport data:-- CycleNetXChangeCycleNetXChangeCycleNetXChange provides a standard format with which to exchange cycle path data, together with information about the quality of routes; This enables computerised transport systems to provide cycle routes....
a UK data protocol for exchanging information about infrastructure to support the development of a national cycle journey planning function within the Transport Direct Portal. - IFOPT, a CENEuropean Committee for StandardizationThe European Committee for Standardization or Comité Européen de Normalisation , is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to foster the European economy in global trading, the welfare of European citizens and the environment by providing an efficient infrastructure to interested parties for...
standard for defining public transport access information (building on NaPTAN and NPTG). - JourneyWebJourneyWebJourneyWeb is an XML protocol to allow distributed journey planning engines to communicate in order to provide multimodal journeys spanning different regions....
, a protocol to allow the development of a distributed journey planning service (which became the Transport Direct PortalTransport Direct PortalThe Transport Direct Portal is a distributed Internet-based multi-modal journey planner providing information for travel in England, Wales and Scotland. It is managed by Transport Direct, a division of the Department for Transport...
). - NaPTANNaPTANThe National Public Transport Access Node database is a UK nationwide system for uniquely identifying all the points of access to public transport in the UK...
for the exchange of information associated with bus stops, railway station and other public transport access point. - NPTG for the exchange of information about places and points of interest.
- SIRIService Interface for Real Time InformationThe Service Interface for Real Time Information or SIRI is an XML protocol to allow distributed computers to exchange real time information about public transport services and vehicles....
, a CEN standard for exchanging real-time public transport information. - TransXChangeTransXChangeTransXChange is a UK national XML based data standard for the interchange of bus route and timetable information between bus operators, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, local authorities and passenger transport executives, and others involved in the provision of passenger information.The...
, a UK data protocol for the exchange of public transport schedules in conjunction with Vehicle and Operator Services AgencyVehicle and Operator Services AgencyVehicle and Operator Services Agency is a non-departmental public body granted Trading Fund status in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Transport of the United Kingdom Government.-History:...
, ArrivaArrivaArriva plc is a multinational public transport company owned by Deutsche Bahn and headquartered in Sunderland, United Kingdom. It has bus, coach, train, tram and waterbus operations in 12 countries across Europe, employs more than 47,500 people and services over 1.5 billion passenger journeys each...
and Stagecoach GroupStagecoach GroupStagecoach Group plc is an international transport group operating buses, trains, trams, express coaches and ferries. The group was founded in 1980 by the current chairman, Sir Brian Souter, his sister, Ann Gloag, and her former husband Robin...
Other organisations involved in this work included Traveline
Traveline
Traveline is a partnership between local authorities and transport operators in the UK to provide impartial and comprehensive information about public transport which has operated since 2000...
, the Real Time Information Group
Real Time Information Group
The Real Time Information Group is an organisation in the United Kingdom supporting the development of bus passenger information systems; its 85 members include local authorities, bus operators and system suppliers together with representatives from the UK government and other key industry groups...
(RTIG), the Association of Transport Co-ordinating Officers (ATCO) and the Confederation of Passenger Transport
Confederation of Passenger Transport
The Confederation of Passenger Transport is an advocacy group representing operators of the UK bus, coach and light rail services. As well as providing services to its members it also acts as a primary voice of the industry to the government on national and international legislation, local...
(CPT) as well a number of system suppliers.
Data resources
The development of Transport Direct has created a number of comprehensive national datasets to support the Transport Direct PortalTransport Direct Portal
The Transport Direct Portal is a distributed Internet-based multi-modal journey planner providing information for travel in England, Wales and Scotland. It is managed by Transport Direct, a division of the Department for Transport...
. The assessment of accessibility to services by public transport was made a requirement for the Local Transport Plan
Local Transport Plan
Local transport plans, divided into full local transport plans and local implementation plans for transport are an important part of transport planning in England...
s in 2004. Measuring the level of accessibility required the use of the data collected by Transport Direct.
This data is being used by an increasing number of 3rd parties, including Google Transit (South East Traveline Region) and East Anglia / East Midlands Traveline Regions. MySociety
MySociety
mySociety is an e-democracy project of the UK-based registered charity named UK Citizens Online Democracy, that aims to build "socially focussed tools with offline impacts". It was founded by Tom Steinberg in September 2003, and started activity after receiving a £250,000 grant in September 2004...
's 'Mapumental' accessibility product. During 2010 increasing amounts of data has become available as Open Data
Open Data
Open data is the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "Open" movements such as open source, open...
including NaPTAN and NPTDR.
National Public Transport Access Nodes database (NaPTAN)
The National Public Transport Access Node (NaPTAN) dataset is a UKUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
nationwide system for uniquely identifying all the points of access to public transport
Public transport
Public transport is a shared passenger transportation service which is available for use by the general public, as distinct from modes such as taxicab, car pooling or hired buses which are not shared by strangers without private arrangement.Public transport modes include buses, trolleybuses, trams...
in the UK. The dataset, which is open data
Open Data
Open data is the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "Open" movements such as open source, open...
contains details of some 360,000 nodes including every UK railway station, bus station
Bus station
A bus station is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. It is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can stop...
(Coach station), airport
Airport
An airport is a location where aircraft such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, and blimps take off and land. Aircraft may be stored or maintained at an airport...
, ferry
Ferry
A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...
terminal, bus stop
Bus stop
A bus stop is a designated place where buses stop for passengers to board or leave a bus. These are normally positioned on the highway and are distinct from off-highway facilities such as bus stations. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage...
, taxi rank or other place where public transport can be joined; it also details all public entrances to transport hubs and can contain details of airport gates, railway platforms and ferry berths. Each element is allocated a unique 'NaPTAN identifier'. Each entry is linked with one or more localities in the National Public Transport Gazetteer.
It is updated on data.gov.uk
Data.gov.uk
data.gov.uk is a UK Government project to open up almost all non-personal data acquired for official purposes for free re-use. Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt are the two key figures behind the project.- Beta version and launch :...
every three months.
The CEN
European Committee for Standardization
The European Committee for Standardization or Comité Européen de Normalisation , is a non-profit organisation whose mission is to foster the European economy in global trading, the welfare of European citizens and the environment by providing an efficient infrastructure to interested parties for...
standard (Identification of Fixed Objects In Public Transport
Identification of Fixed Objects In Public Transport
IFOPT is a prCEN Technical Specification that provides a Reference Data Model for describing the main fixed objects required for public access to Public transport, that is to say Transportation hubs such as airports, stations, bus stops, ports, and other destination places and points of interest,...
or 'IFOPT') integrates many concepts used in the NaPTAN standard into a European standard for stop identification as an extension to Transmodel
Transmodel
Transmodel is the CEN European Reference Data Model for Public Transport Information; it provides an abstract model of common public transport concepts and data structures that can be used to build many different kinds of public transport information system, including for timetabling, fares,...
which is the European standard for Public Transport information.
National Public Transport Gazetteer
The National Public Transport Gazatteer is a dataset detailing some 50,000 place names for cities, town, villages, hamlets and suburbs in the UK. It is available as open dataOpen Data
Open data is the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "Open" movements such as open source, open...
from data.gov.uk
Data.gov.uk
data.gov.uk is a UK Government project to open up almost all non-personal data acquired for official purposes for free re-use. Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt are the two key figures behind the project.- Beta version and launch :...
.
National Public Transport Data Repository
The National Public Transport Data Repository (NPTDR) is a snapshot of all public transport schedules for the UK including bus, tram, train, ferry coach and rail. A dataset is created each year for October and the most recent version is available as open dataOpen Data
Open data is the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "Open" movements such as open source, open...
from data.gov.uk
Data.gov.uk
data.gov.uk is a UK Government project to open up almost all non-personal data acquired for official purposes for free re-use. Sir Tim Berners-Lee and Professor Nigel Shadbolt are the two key figures behind the project.- Beta version and launch :...
.
It was originally created for use by local authorities and other organisations in the production of accessibility strategies, which was a requirement for Local Transport Plan. The data repository was first set up in 2004, and an annual snapshot of data has been created each year since then. Data is collected for all public transport services running in Great Britain during a full week in October each year. It is supplied by Traveline regions and the Association of Train Operating Companies
Association of Train Operating Companies
The Association of Train Operating Companies is a body which represents 24 train operating companies that provide passenger railway services on the privatised British railway system. It owns the National Rail brand. The Association is an unincorporated association owned by its members...
(ATOC) and processed into files for each local authority, broken down further into files for each transport mode. It should be noted that the data in the repository is in both ATCO.CIF and TransXChange
TransXChange
TransXChange is a UK national XML based data standard for the interchange of bus route and timetable information between bus operators, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, local authorities and passenger transport executives, and others involved in the provision of passenger information.The...
technical formats, rather than in a format that would be readily recognised as a timetable. NPTDR was made available as Open Data in September 2010, with new October 2010 data released in March 2011 (Previously there was a charge made for this dataset).
Datasets available:
- October 2004 dataset
- October 2005 dataset
- October 2006 dataset
- October 2007 dataset
- October 2008 dataset
- October 2009 dataset
- October 2010 dataset
National Coach Services Database
The National Coach Services Database contains details of all 'limited-stop coach services' in the UK, including those of National Express Coaches, MegabusMegabus (United Kingdom)
Megabus is a UK coach service operated by Stagecoach Group. It started in 2003 and as of February 2010 operated 19 UK coach routes serving 41 destinations in England, Scotland and Wales. Some services link with Megatrain services which are also operated by Stagecoach...
, Easybus
EasyBus
EasyBus provides UK express coach services to and from London and its main airports. It was founded by entrepreneur Stelios Haji-Ioannou in 2003, and is part of the EasyGroup...
and Scottish Citylink
Scottish Citylink
Scottish Citylink Coaches Ltd is a long distance express coach operator in Scotland and the Republic of Ireland . The company was formed as a subsidiary of Scottish Transport Group in June 1985...
This dataset is not available as open data
Open Data
Open data is the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "Open" movements such as open source, open...
.
National Car Parks Database
The National Car Parks dataset contains details of every public car park in the country and also every Park and Ride site. This dataset is not available as open dataOpen Data
Open data is the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "Open" movements such as open source, open...
.
National public transport dataset
During 2009-10 TravelineTraveline
Traveline is a partnership between local authorities and transport operators in the UK to provide impartial and comprehensive information about public transport which has operated since 2000...
has been developing a national dataset covering local transport details for all parts of the UK which will be updated every week (rather than once a year with the NPTDR). It has an associated data sharing agreement defining how it can be used by 3rd parties. The dataset current does not include rail or coach services.
Cycle routes database
Transport Direct has been contracting companies to survey parts of the UK to provide information to support the cycle journey planning function of the Transport Direct Portal which has been developed in association with Cycling EnglandCycling England
Cycling England was an independent body funded by the Department for Transport to promote cycling in England. It was founded in 2005 to replace the National Cycling Strategy Board. Following the 2010 Comprehensive Spending review it was earmarked for abolition, to be replaced by Local...
. Data is stored in the CycleNetXChange
CycleNetXChange
CycleNetXChange provides a standard format with which to exchange cycle path data, together with information about the quality of routes; This enables computerised transport systems to provide cycle routes....
format developed for the purpose and is based on the "Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
DNF Digital National Framework for referencing objects and the ITN (Integrated Transport Network
Integrated Transport Network
The Integrated Transport Network is an Ordnance Survey dataset containing details of the transport network for Great Britain. It is part of the OS MasterMap® suite of products....
)".
Open data considerations
All the transport schedules were initially closed data covered by Crown copyrightCrown copyright
Crown copyright is a form of copyright claim used by the governments of a number of Commonwealth realms. It provides special copyright rules for the Crown .- Australia :...
.
In March 2009 the Cabinet Office
Cabinet Office
The Cabinet Office is a department of the Government of the United Kingdom responsible for supporting the Prime Minister and Cabinet of the United Kingdom....
published the 'Power of Information Taskforce Report' which noted that although the National Public Transport Data Repository described itself as ‘Crown Copyright’ investigation showed that the database was not actually government data and also that there were significant changes for reuse of the NPTDR dataset. The report suggested that there should be a presumption in favour of information which has been created by public sector bodies being available for re-use. It is suggested that there should be a clear and consistent copyright and licensing rules applied making it easy to work with data from multiple sources in the public sector. It recommended the a 'Crown Commons' style approach with "highly permissive licensing scheme that is transparent, easy to understand and easy to use, modeled on the 'Click Use' license" should be developed.
In December 2009 Local Transport Today reported that 'Data release could spark transport IT innovations". The magazine reported that "Among the data to be made accessible through the site are trunk road traffic volumes, the National Public Transport Access Node (NaPTAN) database and the National Public Transport Data Repository (NPTDR)". A DfT spokeswoman was reported to say: “We will seek to embrace new technology to enable partners to provide exciting, user-focused services such as recently seen with satellite navigation and i-phone applications,”
In March 2010 the Prime Minister Gordon Brown
Gordon Brown
James Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
announced that the NaPTAN dataset was to be immediately made available from the data.gov.uk site as Open Data
Open Data
Open data is the idea that certain data should be freely available to everyone to use and republish as they wish, without restrictions from copyright, patents or other mechanisms of control. The goals of the open data movement are similar to those of other "Open" movements such as open source, open...
, as well as confirming an impending release of Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
data. In his speech he observed that at present public transport timetables and real-time running information was owned by the operating companies but that the government would work to free it up. He also said that "from today we will make it a condition of future franchises that this data will be made freely available".
NPTDR was made available as Open Data in September 2010.
Costs
The costs of operating Transport Direct and creating the associated portal are funded by central Government. The data used by the portal is created and maintained by a range of other organisations. Work commissioned by the Department in 2000 indicated that the services that Transport Direct seeks to deliver would not be provided by the private sector.The cost of the Transport Direct Programme (Portal and other necessary works) from April 2003 to March 2006 was £45 million up for the period April 2003 to March 2006 until then £10 million for the period April 2006 to March 2007. The Portal itself cost £5.9 million for the period April 2006 to March 2007. The 10 millionth user session took place on 1 December 2006 with the number of session steadily growing over time; 1.126 million user sessions were recorded for August 2007.
A Freedom of Information
Freedom of information
Freedom of information refers to the protection of the right to freedom of expression with regards to the Internet and information technology . Freedom of information may also concern censorship in an information technology context, i.e...
request was made on 4 January 2006 that requested details of the cost of the development of the Transport Direct portal.
Context
Bus deregulation in Great Britain in 1985 allowed operators to determine routes and frequencies (except in London which were normally prepared by hand and few transport authorities had databases giving the name and locations of bus stops, and where they did they were in a locally developer format. Bus operators were required register their schedules with VOSA which they did on paper at timing pointTiming point
A timing point is a term used in timetable planning in the transport industry. It refers to a location, usually a bus stop, that a vehicle reaches at an agreed time...
level together with a prose description of the route. An additional problem was that a single bus stop could be served by multiple bus operators who would typically use different names for the same bus stop. The Bus wars in the early period of deregulation added to the confusion and printer timetables at bus stops largely disappeared as bus companies cut costs.
In 1986 during the conservative government the M25 motorway
M25 motorway
The M25 motorway, or London Orbital, is a orbital motorway that almost encircles Greater London, England, in the United Kingdom. The motorway was first mooted early in the 20th century. A few sections, based on the now abandoned London Ringways plan, were constructed in the early 1970s and it ...
was opened by Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990...
and then in 1989 a white paper
White paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
titled "Roads for Prosperity
Roads for Prosperity
Roads for Prosperity was a controversial white paper published by the Conservative UK Government in 1989 detailing the 'largest road building program for the UK since the Romans' produced in response to rapid increases in car ownership and use over the previous decade...
" was published which was heralded as 'the biggest road building program since the Romans'. Within a few years however, the M25 was carrying far more traffic than was predicted and plans were drawn up to widen the entire motorway. Other road schemes, including the M3 motorway
M3 motorway
The M3 motorway runs in England for approximately from Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey, to Southampton, Hampshire and forms an unsigned section European route E05. It is dual three lanes as far as Junction 8 near Basingstoke and then dual two lane until Junction 9 near Winchester and then dual three...
at Twyford Down
Twyford Down
Twyford Down is a small area of ancient chalk downland lying directly to the southeast of Winchester, Hampshire, England. The down's summit, known as Deacon Hill, is towards the north-eastern edge of the area which is renowned for its dramatic rolling scenery, ecologically rich grassland and as a...
, the M11 link road
M11 link road protest
The M11 link road protest was a major anti-road protest in east London, United Kingdom, in the early 1990s opposing the construction of the "A12 Hackney to M11 link road", also known as the M11 Link Road...
, the Newbury bypass
Newbury bypass
The Newbury bypass, officially known as The Winchester-Preston Trunk Road , is a stretch of dual carriageway road which bypasses the town of Newbury in Berkshire, England...
etc were met with unprecedented levels of opposition which led to a review of transport policy starting in the mid-1990s. Stephen Norris, later to become a strong advocate of cycling and public transport, was appointed as Under-Secretary of State for Transport in 1992 and in 1994 a new revised edition of Planning Policy Guidance 13
Planning Policy Guidance Notes
In the United Kingdom, Planning Policy Guidance Notes are statements of the Government's national policy and principles towards certain aspects of the town planning framework. They apply to England only...
acknowledged officially for the first time that new roads lead to additional traffic making new roads much harder to justify; in July the Secretary of State for Transport
Secretary of State for Transport
The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The role has had a high turnover as new appointments are blamed for the failures of decades of their predecessors...
Brian Mawhinney
Brian Mawhinney
Brian Stanley Mawhinney, Baron Mawhinney PC is a British Conservative Party politician. He was a member of the Cabinet from 1994 until 1997 and a Member of Parliament from 1979 until 2005.-Early life:...
launched what he termed a 'Great Debate' over about the future direction for transport in the UK; and then in October a major Royal Commission
Royal Commission
In Commonwealth realms and other monarchies a Royal Commission is a major ad-hoc formal public inquiry into a defined issue. They have been held in various countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Saudi Arabia...
report, Transport and the Environment
Transport and the Environment (1994 report)
The Transport and the Environment report, published in 1994, was the 18th report published by the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution. It provided a detailed and comprehensive study of the environmental impact of transport in the United Kingdom and was chaired by Sir John Houghton...
was published which highlighted the serious environmental consequences of UK's car-based transport system. By the end of 1995 many road schemes had been canceled and the incoming Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
government following the 1997 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1997
The United Kingdom general election, 1997 was held on 1 May 1997, more than five years after the previous election on 9 April 1992, to elect 659 members to the British House of Commons. The Labour Party ended its 18 years in opposition under the leadership of Tony Blair, and won the general...
canceled many of the remaining schemes.
Under New Labour, John Prescott
John Prescott
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott is a British politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. Born in Prestatyn, Wales, he represented Hull East as the Labour Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010...
, the Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions
The Secretary of State for the Environment, Transport and the Regions was a UK Cabinet position created in 1997, with responsibility for the Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions ....
wanted to an increased role for public transport; Labour's first transport white paper
White paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
"A New Deal for Transport: Better for everyone
A New Deal for Transport: Better for everyone
A New Deal for Transport: Better for everyone was a white paper published by the United Kingdom government in 1997 setting out the government's transport policy.-External links:*...
" was published in 1998 which included a commitment to create a national multi-modal transport information system by the end of 2000. A subsequent White Paper, the 'Transport Ten Year Plan 2000' provided more details of the required work. The project would:- "Stimulate the transport sector to develop high quality information systems", "Enable users to find all available electronic travel information", "Develop integrated information and ticket sales for journeys involving more than one mode of transport" and "Deliver an integrated and comprehensive information service for all travel modes and mode combinations, which was implemented as the Transport Direct Portal
Transport Direct Portal
The Transport Direct Portal is a distributed Internet-based multi-modal journey planner providing information for travel in England, Wales and Scotland. It is managed by Transport Direct, a division of the Department for Transport...
."
Development
Given the capabilities of the computers at the time it was not considered feasible at the time to operate a national journey planner, so a regional approach was chosen. The Confederation of Passenger TransportConfederation of Passenger Transport
The Confederation of Passenger Transport is an advocacy group representing operators of the UK bus, coach and light rail services. As well as providing services to its members it also acts as a primary voice of the industry to the government on national and international legislation, local...
agreed to set up Traveline
Traveline
Traveline is a partnership between local authorities and transport operators in the UK to provide impartial and comprehensive information about public transport which has operated since 2000...
in 2000 which would include representatives from local government and from the transport operators. Traveline then organised itself into a regional structure, each of which would develop systems for providing information from telephone call centres in time over the internet. Initially paper timetables were used while the necessary information systems and supporting datasets were developed. A basic file format for the exchange of transport schedules was available and was updated in 2000 to accommodate some of the requirements of the new project. A contract to develop the Transport Direct Portal was awarded in 2002 to Atos Origin
Atos Origin
Atos S.A. is an international information technology corporation which operates in 42 countries worldwide, with over 78,500 employees...
which would provide a single access point to the journey planners being developed by each of the Traveline regions. A specification for the National Public Transport Access Nodes (NaPTAN)
NaPTAN
The National Public Transport Access Node database is a UK nationwide system for uniquely identifying all the points of access to public transport in the UK...
database, which would hold the details of every station, coach terminus, airport, ferry terminal, bus stop, etc. in Great Britain was published in December 2002 together with the associated NPTG standard was also defined and was populated with 50,000 commonly used place names and major points of interest. A GPS survey of the country was carried out to populate the new database. On completion the NaPTAN database detailed 360,000 Stop Points. Also in 2002 Transport Direct also managed a program for the Department for Transport to invest £20m into real-time Passenger information system
Passenger information system
A passenger information [display] system is an electronic information system which provides real-time passenger information. It may include both predictions about arrival and departure times, as well as information about the nature and causes of disruptions...
to 19 local authorities in the UK to increase the uptake of this technology which was already being developed in a number of places.
An initial specification for a new more comprehensive standard for the exchange of public transport data ( TransXChange
TransXChange
TransXChange is a UK national XML based data standard for the interchange of bus route and timetable information between bus operators, the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency, local authorities and passenger transport executives, and others involved in the provision of passenger information.The...
) was completed in 2003 although much of the schedule data was still transferred using a simpler 'ATCO CIF' file format. Data for the portal was collected from some 200 organisations. A data standard for the exchange of real time public transport information was completed in 2003. RTIG-XML, a data standard for the exchange of real time public transport information was completed in 2003. A prototype national door-to-door journey for Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
(i.e. UK without Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
) was available by November 2003 to 'stakeholders and key opinion formers' and was officially launched by Alistair Darling
Alistair Darling
Alistair Maclean Darling is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament since 1987, currently for Edinburgh South West. He served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2007 to 2010...
, the Secretary of State for Transport
Secretary of State for Transport
The Secretary of State for Transport is the member of the cabinet responsible for the British Department for Transport. The role has had a high turnover as new appointments are blamed for the failures of decades of their predecessors...
on 31 December 2004. The integration of public transport and car journey planning on this scale was claimed as a world-first. To put the project in perspective, it was launched prior to the existence of Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
(early in 2005) and routing of public transport on Google Maps was not released until December 2005 and this service required a feed of data of the type being collected by Transport Direct.
Operation
From 2004 Transport Direct has operated the Transport Direct PortalTransport Direct Portal
The Transport Direct Portal is a distributed Internet-based multi-modal journey planner providing information for travel in England, Wales and Scotland. It is managed by Transport Direct, a division of the Department for Transport...
in using the Traveline
Traveline
Traveline is a partnership between local authorities and transport operators in the UK to provide impartial and comprehensive information about public transport which has operated since 2000...
regional planners from which it is constructed.
During 2005 Transport Direct was re-organised into three service areas to:
- Provide travel information services directly to users through the Transport Direct PortalTransport Direct PortalThe Transport Direct Portal is a distributed Internet-based multi-modal journey planner providing information for travel in England, Wales and Scotland. It is managed by Transport Direct, a division of the Department for Transport...
; - Provide travel information services through valued-adding third-parties such as the BBCBBCThe British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, GoogleGoogleGoogle Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
, DirectgovDirectgovDirectgov is the UK government's digital service for people in the United Kingdom, providing a single point of access to public sector information and services.The content is developed by government departments, working with a central Directgov team...
(provided by Transport Direct, National Rail Enquiries, Visit Britain and the UK Department for Work and PensionsDepartment for Work and PensionsThe Department for Work and Pensions is the largest government department in the United Kingdom, created on June 8, 2001 from the merger of the employment part of the Department for Education and Employment and the Department of Social Security and headed by the Secretary of State for Work and...
; - Work with and orchestrate the travel and transport information communities within the UK, Europe and internationally to promote the use of standards and common processes to deliver an effective transport information supply chain.
A database of public transport schedules (known as 'National Public Transport Data Repository' or NPTDR) was first assembled in 2004 covering a week in October. This data could be used with the 'Accession' software, developed with funding from the Department for Transport for analysis accessibility to services which was a requirement for the Local Transport Plan
Local Transport Plan
Local transport plans, divided into full local transport plans and local implementation plans for transport are an important part of transport planning in England...
s in development at the time by every Transport Authority. A similar dataset has been collected every subsequent year.
Information was made available from the portal through additional channels during the year, including PDAs, mobile phones and via interactive television via BSkyB, cable and Freeview set-top boxes with a modem or broadband connection.
In 2006 Transport Direct started FareXChange, a technical standard for the exchange of information about public transport fares. Also in 2006 the Service Interface for Real Time Information
Service Interface for Real Time Information
The Service Interface for Real Time Information or SIRI is an XML protocol to allow distributed computers to exchange real time information about public transport services and vehicles....
(SIRI), which was developed with support from Transport Direct was adopted as a CEN standard.
In 2007 data for buses and coaches in the South East England Traveline Region was made available to Google Transit. This did not however include the rail information which is available through Transport Direct but for which 3rd parties are required to deal directly with Network Rail
Network Rail
Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...
or for London (which is only available to 3rd parties from Transport for London
Transport for London
Transport for London is the local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London in England. Its role is to implement the transport strategy and to manage transport services across London...
).
In November 2008 the final (version 1.0) draft of Identification of Fixed Objects In Public Transport
Identification of Fixed Objects In Public Transport
IFOPT is a prCEN Technical Specification that provides a Reference Data Model for describing the main fixed objects required for public access to Public transport, that is to say Transportation hubs such as airports, stations, bus stops, ports, and other destination places and points of interest,...
(IFOPT), a CEN standard for describing public transport interchanges was completed. In December 2008 the Department released NaPTAN data for use in OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap
OpenStreetMap is a collaborative project to create a free editable map of the world. Two major driving forces behind the establishment and growth of OSM have been restrictions on use or availability of map information across much of the world and the advent of inexpensive portable GPS devices.The...
and after an import process was defined the first a data for many places including London had been imported by August 2009.
In March 2009 Transport Direct added cycle journey planning to the Portal for Manchester and Merseyside. CycleStreets
CycleStreets
CycleStreets is not-for-profit United Kingdom organisation that provides a free-to-use national cycle journey planner for the United Kingdom. The planner uses OpenStreetMap data for routing, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission for height data and official post code data. It was launched in March 2009...
, a national cycle journey planner using OpenStreetMap data was launched as beta in the same month.
In June 2009 MySociety
MySociety
mySociety is an e-democracy project of the UK-based registered charity named UK Citizens Online Democracy, that aims to build "socially focussed tools with offline impacts". It was founded by Tom Steinberg in September 2003, and started activity after receiving a £250,000 grant in September 2004...
launched a beta version of 'Mapumental' which shows travel time by different modes of public transport within a time limit for anywhere in Great Britain using the NPTDR dataset.
In July 2009 Cycling England
Cycling England
Cycling England was an independent body funded by the Department for Transport to promote cycling in England. It was founded in 2005 to replace the National Cycling Strategy Board. Following the 2010 Comprehensive Spending review it was earmarked for abolition, to be replaced by Local...
(funded by the Department for Transport) 'urged' local authorities across England to help develop a cycle journey planner for the Government’s Transport Direct website and offered matched funding for the cost of collecting the data.
In November 2009 data for the East Anglia and East Midlands Traveline Regions were made available to Google Transit. Again, only bus and coach information is available through Google.
In January 2010 Cycle City Guides were contracted to survey further cycle routes with an eventual aim of providing coverage for every urban area in England with a population over 30,000.
In March 2010 the NaPTAN
NaPTAN
The National Public Transport Access Node database is a UK nationwide system for uniquely identifying all the points of access to public transport in the UK...
dataset was made available as Open Data from data.gov.uk. In the same month Google Maps
Google Maps
Google Maps is a web mapping service application and technology provided by Google, free , that powers many map-based services, including the Google Maps website, Google Ride Finder, Google Transit, and maps embedded on third-party websites via the Google Maps API...
launched a cycling routing function for 150 cities in the United States. Google also announced that it had made Google Streetview available for virtually every road in the United Kingdom.
In September 2010 the National Public Transport Data Repository was made available on data.gov.uk as Open Data. Transport for London made they current public transport schedules available to same month from the London datastore.