RAILWAY AND PUBLIC TRANSPORT INFORMATION SYSTEMS FOR EUROPE

Openbaar Vervoer Reisinformatie (OVR) in the Netherlands operates a centralised system that provides door-to-door public transport information by telephone. The traveller gets detailed schedule information about metros, buses, trains, ships and trams (multimodal public transport) that he needs to take to go from one address to another. As this automatic service receives great appreciation by the travelling public, the idea naturally has arisen to extend it to the whole of Europe. The present demand related to public transport for local and national inquiries only is quite large and the one for international travel is estimated at 50 million potential requests per year, which could grow to 150 million per year. This paper reviews some efforts to satisfy this international demand based on telematics services. For the covering abstract, see IRRD 490001.