Transport Direct 3/14 Great Minster House 76 Marsham Street London

SW1P 4DR [email protected]

Date: August 24th 2011 FOI Reference Number: F0008030

Dear Mr Hollinghurst

Thank you for your enquiry regarding journeys planned via Transport Direct and which we received on 23/08/2011.

I am writing to confirm that the Department has now completed its search for the information which you requested.

Your request was for usage information as follows:

“Dear ,

How many public transport journeys have been planned in the last year and the last month using the following web pages, itemised by each of the 3 listed web pages?

Using the DirectGov smartphone by going to http://m.direct.gov.uk with a smartphone then –> ‘do it online’ -> ‘plan a journey’

Using the Directgov journey planner: http://directgov.transportdirect.info/

Using the Transport Direct journey planner: http://www.transportdirect.info/

Yours faithfully,

Paul Hollinghurst”

– 2 –

Transport Direct is the Government’s free to use, internet based journey planner which allows you to plan a journey anywhere in Britain using public transport or car. However Transport Direct provides more than just journey planning, including live travel news, updated every 15 minutes covering planned and unplanned incidents on the roads and public transport networks along with interactive maps with points of interest and detailed information about transport points such as car parks and railway stations. We also work closely with colleagues across government such as powering the Directgov journey planner and providing the back office functionality that has helped the Department for Work and Pensions provide public transport journey plans to go along with all their appointment letters.

It is because of this variety of services that most questions about usage focus on ‘user sessions’ (currently averaging 1.2 million visits a month) or ‘pages served’ and these sorts of metrics have been provided to COI regularly and are then published as part of a wider annual report on government websites. The figures for 2009/10 are available here: http://coi.gov.uk/aboutcoi.php?page=357 and the figures for 2010/11 will be published on the same site shortly.

Your question specifically refers to the number of journeys planned and this metric is included below. The Management Information System used to extract the information you require is run at the end of each month therefore the detailed figures included in this response run from 01/08/2010 through to the 31/07/2011 inclusive.

Please note, the figures quoted are the number of journey results returned. These numbers will include a small amount of private transport (car) journeys as the pages which are recorded use shared code which is indistinguishable to the Management Information System we use. Based on figures for ‘car only’ input pages it is estimated that car journeys make up no more than 5% of these results pages. The Directgov mobile journey planner only makes public transport requests so there are no car results included in those figures.

Table showing journey result pages by month

Directgov white label (Directgov.transport Directgov mobile Month direct) Transport Direct journey planner Aug- 10 59,326 1,369,934 1,667 Sep- 10 64,145 1,456,485 1,803 Oct-10 60,818 1,417,041 1,390 Nov- 10 52,689 1,298,201 1,158 – 3 –

Dec- 10 49,176 1,093,517 1,052 Jan-11 56,510 1,210,296 790 Feb-11 54,054 1,213,012 865 Mar-11 59,119 1,365,759 858 Apr-11 48,470 1,211,530 1,502 May- 11 56,075 1,315,852 3,432 Jun-11 60,102 1,430,372 2,503 Jul-11 63,117 1,481,533 3,067

Total 683,601 15,863,532 20,087

In keeping with the spirit and effect of the Freedom of Information Act, all information is assumed to be releasable to the public unless exempt. The Department will, therefore, be simultaneously releasing to the public the information you requested, together with any related information that will provide a key to its wider context.

If you are unhappy with the way the Department has handled your request or with the decisions made in relation to your request you may complain within two calendar months of the date of this letter by writing to the Department’s Information Rights Unit at:

Zone D/04 Ashdown House Sedlescombe Road North Hastings East Sussex TN37 7GA E-mail: [email protected]

Please see attached details of DfT’s complaints procedure and your right to complain to the Information Commissioner.

If you have any queries about this letter, please contact me. Please remember to quote the reference number above in any future communications.

Yours Sincerely

Mike Gibson

Transport Direct 3/14 Great Minster House 76 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DR – 5 –

Your right to complain to DfT and the Information Commissioner

You have the right to complain within two calendar months of the date of this letter about the way in which your request for information was handled and/or about the decision not to disclose all or part of the information requested. In addition a complaint can be made that DfT has not complied with its FOI publication scheme.

Your complaint will be acknowledged and you will be advised of a target date by which to expect a response. Initially your complaint will be re-considered by the official who dealt with your request for information. If, after careful consideration, that official decides that his/her decision was correct, your complaint will automatically be referred to a senior independent official who will conduct a further review. You will be advised of the outcome of your complaint and if a decision is taken to disclose information originally withheld this will be done as soon as possible.

If you are not content with the outcome of the internal review, you have the right to apply directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner’s Office Wycliffe House Water Lane Wilmslow Cheshire SK9 5AF