This article describes the development of videotext services in France which provide transport information, with special reference to Minitel. A comparison is made of its use by freight transport operators and as a source of public transport information. The development of Minitel is described first, followed by statistics about its profit and use. 5.7% of its services concern tourism, travel and transport. Freight transport operators use Minitel most for electronic mail, and are the most frequent users of the service, with 74% of all operators subscribing. Brief details of a 1986 survey undertaken to ascertain the opinion of hauliers' of the services offered are provided. Eighty five percent of the operators were very satisfied or satisfied with Minitel. The most used teletex service was the freight databank. Road tariff information on road traffic conditions, meteorological conditions and the corner directory were also found useful. Details of the main videotext service provided for freight operators are described briefly. These include Teleroute, Fretel, Transpotel, Route, Metro and Gespark, and Lamy, which is a specialized databank providing information about over 2500 dangerous products. The use of Minitel to obtain information about public transport is low, as is shown by a Survey in Caen.
Abstract