Cycle News Wednesday, December 15, 2004

PETERBOROUGH - Giving you the choice about how to travel

PETERBOROUGH is one of only three cities in the UK to be awarded a slice of £10 million worth of Government money to tackle traffic congestion. Today Features Editor Rachael Gordon found out how residents, workers and visitors are being encouraging to walk, hop on a bus, or get on their bike to help create a safer, healthier city for everyone.
THE Christmas rush has started, the roads are clogged up with traffic and city centre car parks are full of festive shoppers.

Getting to work is proving a headache and you'd love to find a less stressful way of travelling – but where would you go for the information?

You know there are bus stops near your home, but you have no idea when the buses leave or whether they'll get you to work on time.

You live near enough to use your bike, but do not know the safest route.

A ground-breaking new project is being introduced to give residents in Peterborough all the information they need to make it easier for them to decide whether it would be cheaper, easier, quicker or better for them to use the bus, train, cycle or walk for part of their journey instead.

Up to 70,000 people will be invited to take part in the project when it is launched next year.

The £750,000 scheme is just one part of an innovative package of measures which are to be introduced in Peterborough in the next five years to tackle traffic congestion.

Earlier this year, Peterborough was chosen by the Department of Transport as a Sustainable Travel Demonstration Town.

Together with Darlington and Worcester, the city was awarded a slice of £10 million of Government money to develop our city into a showcase for sustainable transport.

Jamie Gray, sustainable travel co-ordinator for Peterborough City Council, who is heading the project, said: "About 70,000 people in Peterborough will be invited to take part in the scheme which will provide each of their households with their own personalised travel plan.

"They will be asked about the journeys they make every day to get to work, or take the children to school, and then they will receive a pack of information which is specific to them telling them about the cycling and walking and public transport options they could use to make those journeys. Each pack will be put together just for that family and one person's pack could contain completely different information to the person living next door."

It is the first time that a project of this scale has ever been launched in the UK.

Along with 17 other schemes, it aims to encourage more people to jump on a bus, cycle, walk or get the train rather than make every journey in a car.

The whole project is being called Travelchoice and aims to show residents, workers and visitors to Peterborough alternative ways to get around the city.

Mr Gray said: "Travelchoice is about the decisions you make on how to get to work, take your children to school, go shopping or go for an evening or day out.

"It is about the journeys people make every day, and encouraging them to think about how they get from A to B.

"Through this exciting project we aim to provide everyone in Peterborough with greater information and facilities to make this choice for the benefit and growth of our city.

"Peterborough is going to witness significant growth over the coming years, through the city centre Masterplan and Hampton developments. The city has also been included in the extension of the London-Stansted growth area as part of the Government's Sustainable Communities Programme.

"The aim of Travelchoice is to enable us to make a difference now and allow the city to grow and expand in the right way.

"We want to encourage greater use of sustainable transport, such as trains, buses, bicycles and walking, to help Peterborough avoid becoming a congested city.

"Its about your city, your future and your choice to make alternative, sustainable travel options.

"By doing this we will create a healthier, safer and more vibrant city where real Travelchoice exists.

"It is only you, the resident or visitor to Peterborough that can make the ultimate choice of how to make your day to day journeys – it is the aim of Travelchoice to provide the information and confidence to enable you to make this decision," he added.

The Travelchoice campaign is split into five key areas; cycling, walking, public transport, innovation and information.

And each area has been branded with a different colour to make it easily identifiable to the public.

Although many aspects of Travelchoice are still at the planning stage, Mr Gray and the rest of the sustainable travel team are keen to encourage the public to get involved now and have their say.

He said: "Over the last few weeks, residents will have noticed questionnaires dropping through their letterboxes in relation to travelling in Peterborough. Our aim is to gauge travel habits as they are at the moment, and then use this information to set targets so we can monitor the progress of Travelchoice as different schemes are introduced and gauge their success."

The campaign will also include a review of, and improvements to, all the city's cycle routes to encourage more people to get on their bikes. It will include maintenance work, more bike storage facilities, better signs and improved links between different routes to cut journey times.

It will also look at introducing walking routes to key places in the city – a red walking route could show you are going the right way to the city centre, or a green symbol may be used to show the route to the hospital.

There will also be real time information signs, like those used on the London Underground, installed on some bus routes from next year to give passengers minute by minute information on how far away the bus is.

And electronic information screens could be installed in Queensgate shopping centre to give passengers bus and rail information as they shop.

Mr Gray said: "The whole aim of Travelchoice is to bring together information on the different travel options available to get around Peterborough to help people make informed travel choices.

"It is not about getting people to sell their cars but providing

them with information to enable them to make some journeys using alternative forms of transport."

• For more information on Travelchoice and to keep updated on the progress log onto the website at www.travelchoice.org.uk.

You can also e-mail travelchoice@peterborough.gov.uk or call 01733 747474 and ask for the sustainable travel team.

Travel kiosks provide information in shopping centre

One of the first parts of Travelchoice to be launched in Peterborough is the travel kiosk.

The touch-screen machine has been installed in Queensgate bus station for a trial period to give passengers information about bus and rail times to help them to plan their journey.

All you have to do is use the touch-screen to put in the name of the place you want to travel to and then the kiosk will provide a list of instructions of the bus you can use to get there, what time it leaves, and how long the journey will take.

The information can then be printed out and taken away.

The aim is to test out the machines and iron out any problems before the city council spends money on them.

Mr Gray said: "The test period will continue until late January to allow people to try the kiosk out and report any comments that they may have.

"If it is a success we will then buy four or five kiosks to be installed in key locations such as the tourist information centre, central library, the bus station, and the railway station.

"Therefore it is important that people try it out and let us know what they think. Is it easy to use? Is it useful? Is there any way it could be improved?"

Web site goes live

A TRAVELCHOICE website has already gone live to give people comprehensive information on buses, trains, cycling and walking in Peterborough at the touch of a button.

And this is another area of the project that the sustainable travel team are looking for the public to get involved.

Mr Gray said: "The website is not intended as a final version. We want people to tell us what else they want to see and if they are having difficulties finding certain information.

"We want the Travelchoice website to provide the gateway for all transport related information in Peterborough, and we want the information to be presented in the most user-friendly way possible."

It may not be the only way that people will be able to access Travelchoice on the internet.

The team are currently looking at setting up an interactive mapping system on the web to enable people to type in their postcode and then access cycling, walking and public transport links close to their home or even place of work.

Mr Gray added: "This system will enable people to plan entire daily journeys utilising these travel options and also provide an excellent resource for weekend walks or bike rides."

Visit: www.travelchoice.org.uk

A smartcard ticketing system could also be introduced into Peterborough to give people greater freedom to use different forms of transport.

Mr Gray said: "The idea behind this is that people can purchase a smartcard and then top it up like they do a phone card, and then this card can could be used to pay for travel on public transport.

"Again, it is still very much at the idea stage and we would need to work with the bus companies to come up with a system which would benefit everybody."

Screens are a possibility

ELECTRONIC passenger information screens could be put up around the city centre showing up-to-date information about the departure times of buses and trains.

Mr Gray said: "It is still very much in the planning stage and we need to work with organisations such as Queensgate to see if it is viable.

"But what we would like to do is put up an electronic information screen in the middle of Queensgate which will show the scheduled departure times for buses and live information for trains.

"This would give people accurate information that will provide confidence that they haven't missed the last bus and may even allow more time for shopping."

Another, similar initiative to give passengers up-to-date information about buses is set to be introduced next year.

Real time passenger information signs, like those used on the London Underground, will be installed as a pilot scheme on one major bus route.

Mr Gray said: "The signs will be linked up to a satellite system that will let people know how far their bus is away to the nearest minute.

"This gives people waiting for a bus the confidence that the information is accurate and reliable and that the bus they are waiting for is only two minutes away."