Don't rely on £50m site, says Government

Transport Web site costs millions and still doesn't work

By PH Staff / Tuesday, 30 November 2004 / Loading comments

Even though it spent £50m on the project, the Department of Transport is warning potential travellers not to place too much reliance on its new journey-planner Web site. It follows a large-scale collapse in the state benefits scheme's computing systems last week.

Critics have focused on the fact that it seems to duplicate information to be found elsewhere -- and that some of the information is plain wrong.

Deputy prime minister John Prescott started the project when he was transport secretary back in 2000. The idea was to encourage greater use of public transport by providing full information about various transport modes -- bus, train, coach and so on -- and how to get from A to B using them. It also provides maps showing weight of traffic on individual roads.

Complaints include its slowness and erratic results, which resulted in a revamp that started last month. When we tried it, for example, it told us that the 1 December did not exist. While officials consider a full launch in the new year, with an election looming, politicians are wary of a high-profile flop. It was fairly fast, however, but that's possibly only because few are likely to be using it at the moment.

What's gone wrong? Problems include the scheme's scope, as well as problems with the software designed to gather data -- all very characteristic of other large-scale public sector computing projects.

A measure of the confidence that the site has in its own data can be gauged by the warning it contains: "The Content is provided on an information basis only and should not be relied upon. Where the timing of a journey is of particular importance to you, we advise you to check the information before you travel with the transport operator directly. No responsibility is accepted by or on behalf of Transport Direct or its suppliers of third party data for any errors, omissions, or misleading Content on the Website or on any websites to which the Website connects."

In other words, we don't guarantee the accuracy of the information and, if it's wrong, it's not our fault.

The site itself: www.transportdirect.co.uk

There's a longer story is in the Motoring Telegraph: www.telegraph.co.uk

Official stuff about the Transport Direct site