Launched in December, the Durham bus information website allows them to fulfil their long-held ambition to produce instant PDF timetables of all bus services direct from TransXChange data they already hold for the Traveline North East journey planner.

FWT has developed back office software that can produce clear, coherent PDF timetables from the data for download by the public, as well as clear route maps and stop locations on a stylized Ordnance Survey background. By clicking on any stop in County Durham, details of almost 300 bus routes and times can be accessed immediately, together with PDF network and town maps, disruptions to services and forthcoming timetable changes.

Already, usage of the site, which is built using HTML5, has grown remarkably, with daily highs of 800 unique visitors and 45,000 individual page views. Further development to allow real-time departure bus stop departure information to be shown is also planned. The latest Cartogold versions are also far easier to navigate for users of smartphones and tablets.

Following on from a demonstration of the Durham site at the Smarter Travel show in Birmingham in February, Lincolnshire County Council has also now commissioned FWT to upgrade its existing Cartogold-powered lincsbus.info site to the same standards as Durham, again using their existing data. The Lincolnshire site will also feature direct access to real time departure information for railway stations across the county, and show catchment areas for the council’s extensive ‘CallConnect’ network of demand responsive rural minibuses with links through to their journey booking centre.

Other discussions are also well advanced with other local authorities and PTEs on adoption of the same model for their own journey planning websites.