Transport Direct is the only website that offers information for door-to-door travel for both public transport and car journeys around Britain. Our aim is to provide you with comprehensive, easy-to-use travel information to help you plan your journeys effectively and efficiently.
Transport Direct is unique in that you can:
- Compare public transport options with a car route to find a way of travelling which best suits your needs.
- Obtain a car route that takes into account predicted traffic levels at different times of the day so that you can make informed decisions about when to travel.
- Get an estimate of the cost of a car journey.
- Buy train and coach tickets from our affiliated retail sites without having to re-enter your details.
- Use PDAs and mobile phones using the latest browser technology (WAP2.0) over a GPRS or a 3G connection to find out departure and arrival times for railway stations throughout Britain and for some bus or coach stops.
- Calculate CO2 emissions for a car or public transport for a specified journey.
We have an ongoing development programme to increase the number of travel services available on Transport Direct, which is available on any browser enabled device. We are also working with third parties to make elements of our service available through their websites.
Enabling intelligent travel
Transport Direct is a world first. We are the first ever web site to provide national coverage for information about all types of transport.
Our aim is to provide you with all the trusted information you need to find the best travel option to suit your particular circumstances. We aspire to be world class, providing the best quality information for all types of transport, so that our users can make better travel decisions.
Our strapline is "Connecting People to Places", because we want to make it easier for you to find both the place you want to go to and the best means of getting there.
Who operates Transport Direct?
Transport Direct works together with both public and private travel operators and local/national government. Transport Direct is operated by a consortium, led by Atos Origin. The non-profit service is funded by the UK Department for Transport, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Scottish Government.
The Highways Agency, Traffic Wales, Transport Scotland and the rail, coach and bus operators provide information to Transport Direct either directly or through our partners, "Traveline" who operate a public transport telephone service.
Who builds and develops this site?
Atos Origin is an international information technology (IT) services company that leads a consortium appointed by the DfT in January 2003 to design, build and operate the Transport Direct portal. Atos Origin’s understanding of UK transport sector information models and data structures provides the insight necessary to identify and make connections - both physical and intuitive - between disparate databases and siloed systems across the travel industry. This enables Atos Origin, in partnership with the Department for Transport and a range of data providers, to deliver travel intelligence to passengers, car drivers and pedestrians.
In addition to the many aspirations that we have for Transport Direct, we have also received useful suggestions from users, and we hope to be able to develop some of these ideas in the future.
Plans under consideration at the moment include:
- Improvements to Rail journey planning;
- Mixing a Car journey with Public Transport so you can plan a ‘Drive and Ride’ journey more easily.