An increased public transport share of travel is essential for the long-term well-being of most urban areas, as is encouragement of more `sustainable' modes such as cyling and walking. Improving the accessibility of public transport and the quality of interchange between public transport services is a crucial factor, if the overall attractiveness of public transport is to be enhanced. Accessibility and interchange are two distinct functions of the public transport interface with passengers. Interest in the passenger interface subject has grown over the last years and has been steadily supported by the European Commission (EC). This paper presents the GUIDE (Group for Urban Interchanges Development and Evaluation) project which is sponsored by the EC. GUIDE is a group of twelve European-based organisations including public transport operators (and authorities) of a number of European cities, educational establishments, and transport consultants. GUIDE investigates several good and bad examples of interchange in several countries, which must result in the production of a "GUIDE to best practice". (A)
Abstract