Travel InfoSystems, the travel software specialists, today announced that their innovative journey planning system with Dundee City Council has been declared a success. Since the launch in at the end of May 2004 the kiosks have been used to plan more than 106,000 journeys. The system is part of Dundee's 'Bringing Confidence into Public Transport' (BCPT) initiative, and encourages citizens and tourists to increase their use of public transport.

Through the BCPT initiative, which received funding from the Scottish Executive's Public Transport Fund, the Council wanted to provide the city with better information on public transport services. The Council turned to a partnership of Travel InfoSystems, Steer Davies Gleave and RSL Kiosks to develop a travel information system, which includes an Internet-based journey planner, information kiosks and bus stop signage.

"We had very specific requirements for this project in developing a comprehensive journey planning system that could span the Internet, kiosks and provide bus stop information," explains Team Leader - Transportation at Dundee City Council, Niall Gardiner. "The joint expertise of Travel InfoSystems, Steer Davies Gleave and RSL Kiosks reassured us that the system developed would meet our exacting requirements, yet be flexible enough to expand further to incorporate other delivery channels in the future. The results of the project speak for themselves."

Travel InfoSystems' CityPlanner drives the information on the Internet site, kiosks and bus stop signage. Users can enter a street name or landmark as their start point and destination and it automatically calculates the most appropriate station or bus stop, walking times, and a full itinerary. The timetables cover the National Rail, National Express and Scottish Citylink coaches, London Underground trains, Light Rail and Dundee buses.

The Internet journey planner incorporates bespoke mapping by Steer Davies Gleave, who also developed the front-end interface for the kiosks. RSL Kiosks provided the kiosk hardware and handling software, and the bus stop signage.

The kiosks are placed in 13 sites, including a hospital, mainline train station, major shopping areas and at major bus interchanges across Dundee.

"Dundee is leading the way in providing the public with comprehensive, interactive travel information and we are thrilled to be at the heart of this successful and pioneering project," comments Managing Director of Travel InfoSystems, Terry Hiles. "Through this partnership we have been able to supply the city of Dundee with a comprehensive information system. As the CityPlanner software driving the solution is so flexible, the council can increase the scope of services covered and add new channels of communication as and when desired."

The Dundee City Council CityPlanner can be seen at www.dundeetravelinfo.com.