In recent years, the UK government has undertaken a number of studies into the benefits of journey planners in encouraging green transport and modifying travel behaviour. Indeed, according to 'A Review of the Effectiveness of Personlised Journey Planning Techniques', published by the DTLR, the benefits are considerable when allied to green transport or public transport policies (see extracts below):

"Most examples of Personalised Journey Planners produced for employees form part of a package of measures being implemented in a workplace Travel Plan. The technique lends itself particularly well to a city or large urban environment, because it relies heavily on the existence of passenger transport options being available through well-developed local networks. It is important to note that personalised journey planners are not just limited to providing information about public transport. The Nottingham case study reported that they regularly send out appropriate cycle guides or walking advice with their journey planners...

The potential for these techniques both in Local Transport Plan implementation and for some options suggested in Multi Modal studies is very large in the UK. In order to achieve measurable change, it will require techniques such as Personalised Journey Planners for inclusion in Travel Plans, and more in-depth techniques such as direct marketing of transport modes and household and community travel behaviour change to bring about the desired changes."

Back to benefits of better travel information systems.