The integration of the wireless and web based communication technologies in the advanced public transport information systems has led to the provision of real time guidance and personalized information services directly to the users. Most of the existing systems provide alternative travel plans either for urban or interurban trips involving a single mode. The objective of this paper is to present an on-line passenger information system for delivering personalized trip planning services for interurban multimodal trips including plans for any constituent urban transfer. Critical real time information (including delay or cancellation of flights, boat trips, etc.) is provided to the user throughout the entire life cycle of an interurban trip. The major features of the proposed system are the following: i) determination of optimum or efficient itineraries in multimodal transportation network, ii) on-line updates of the transport legs schedule throughout the entire trip (i.e. pre-trip, en-route, and post-trip information), iii) travel information accessibility through several communication channels. The proposed system supports two types of trip planning decision: i) itinerary planning for an urban trip by all available public transport modes, and ii) combined urban and interurban trip planning. The scope of the paper involves the presentation of the design, implementation, and evaluation of the proposed system and its application for providing multimodal trip planning services in Greece. The outcome of the evaluation has indicated that the system is user-friendly, it meets the travelers requirements, while it is cost-effective as compared to the existing passenger information systems.
Abstract