British rail operate travel information offices and bureaus from which the public may obtain information on the services operated by that organisation. In an attempt to help the travel enquiry clerks answer some of the more complex types of travel enquiry more quickly and accurately a computer-based travel information system, called the rail guide, was tested in the information offices at Salisbury and Basingstoke rail stations. The suite of computer programs contained interactive software for the input of timetable data direct from the all systems timetable and produced schedules of trip-opportunities along the routes input to the suite. The system as tested produced information on travel cross-country to over 250 destinations and return and to over 100 destinations via London and the second class fares relevant to those journeys. Information was produced on microfiches weekly for every Monday-Saturday during the summer period of 1980 (12 may - 5 October). information for trips on Sundays was not generated because of the disruptive nature of engineering works and temporary line closures which would have involved much time-table updating. The guide was generally well received by the staff and reductions of between 42 and 45 per cent in the time taken to answer enquiries were measured in controlled trials at the two offices, together with an improvement in the quality of the answer given by the clerks. (Author/publisher)
Abstract