Transport Direct - more

Transport Direct

From the TD website: "Transport Direct is unique in that you can:
Find the quickest car route that takes into account predicted traffic levels at different times of the day so that you can make informed decisions about when to travel and what route to take.

Main features:

Find fares for train and coach journeys.
Buy train and coach tickets from our affiliated retail sites without having to re-enter your details.
Check Live travel information on the live departure boards for all 2500 national rail stations.
Check 'Live travel' information for roadworks and congestion.

Transport Direct is currently available on any browser-enabled device but in future its services will be made available via internet-enabled mobile phones and PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants), as well as being embedded in other websites and public touch-screen kiosks."

The site also features "Inspirational Places" which seems designed as an attempt to get search engine listings and traffic by using content which will be added to by users votes. The few listed link out to Visitbritain NB some links are faulty

Transport Direct Live News

Has traffic and travel updates for roads and public transport. A useful feature but is it any better than other updates especially for people in transit?

The other live information is Departure boards which merely links out to bus info for a few areas and National Rail.

Search for train journeys: The train time details are embedded/ own label for branding and has some useful sort features with "print" button available throughout. But the user than has to select a journey from a long page and click through to available ticket sellers - clunky and confusing. More clicks and scrolling than accessing Trainline via Totaltravel

Quick planners are available for

Train, Flight, Coach, Car, City-to-city,Station/Airport

I searched for flights from Manchester airport to Leeds, this is where it is really clunky, most of the information buttons have no info, those that do usually involve another click to a link out and to get from Manchester to Leeds it proposed flying via Heathrow...this may be the "best alternative" by their auto sort but could offer briefs and links to other options rather than just spit out garbage.

Coach planner locked

Trains, again poor page layout and extra clicks needed, action paths not intuitive

I do like the map tab/ feature for journey search results

IndustryWatch post up the article from The Mail on Sunday.

So Does This Dotcom Door-to-Door Route Planner Really Work? ; The Crafty Traveller,REVIEW
Source: Mail on Sunday; London (UK)
Publication date: 2005-01-16

"The idea is that you can plan door-to-door journeys using different forms of public transport, and compare journeys by public transport and by car. The door-to-door planner seems pretty amazing. Pick two points domestic addresses, postcodes or places such as stations and say the time you want to leave or arrive. "

The reviewer notes that: "I thought the website was pretty user-friendly" BUT It's worth going through the detailed Help/ FAQ section before diving in to learn how to get the best out of it"

Hmm, bit of a contradiction and I would add that to use it effectively a high degree of local knowledge is a prerequisite - for visitors Totaltravel provides some such knowledge which is enhanced by the "funky maps" showing attractions, hotels etc. The TD interactive maps have symbols for all types of transport, accommodation and attractions, Health, Education, Public buildings & services but click or hover the majority and there is no further information or links to hotels, attractions etc.