The development and evaluation of the ROMANSE TRIPlanners

The ROMANSE (Road Management System for Europe) project is a major transport initiative funded by Hampshire County Council (HCC), with grants from the European Union under its DRIVE II programme and support from the UK Department of Transport and other partners involved in the project. The aim of the project is to develop advanced techniques for managing urban traffic within the City of Southampton. As part of the project, Atkins Wootton Jeffreys was commissioned to undertake the development of multi-modal public access information terminals using touch screen displays. These terminals aim to provide information to assist the public in planning trips in and around the Southampton area and for journeys between Southampton and places further afield. One of the project requirements was that the terminals had to cater for a number of different modes of travel and to allow for interchanges between these modes. The system needed to cater for travellers using either public transport services or private vehicles. The end-product caters for all of these aspects within an integrated package which can also be separated into individual elements if required. The structure of the system is such that the software can be used in other areas of Europe with the creation of the appropriate database. This paper describes the elements of the TRIPlanner terminals and presents the results of the evaluations that have been undertaken within the ROMANSE project.