Inadequate knowledge about public transport services is a barrier to the use of public transport. The importance of travel information for the use of public transport is demonstrated using Trafikanten, an information service in Oslo, Norway, as an example.Trafikanten offers travel information through five main channels: information desks in central Oslo and the airport, telephone, internet, WAP, and SMS. The value of Trafikanten's services was calculated in 1999 with a survey of users of the telephone service. A second survey was conducted in 2003 of 4000 users and non-users of Trafikanten. The survey was conducted to determine what proportion of enquiries to the information service lead to public transport journeys that would not otherwise have been undertaken and to determine the financial value of the journeys generated in the form of ticket sales related to the new journey and repetitions of the journey. The results showed that 9% of those who had used the information service would not have travelled at all if they had not obtained the relevant information. Approximately 800,000 journeys were generated per year, at an average ticket price of 18 Norwegian kroner. For the covering abstract see ITRD E132365.
Abstract