Position Papers

At its AGM/Spring Meeting on 20 March 2013, RTIG took a new direction. In the past we have presented examples of creative good practice, and focused on how and where to standardise it. While this is still beneficial, we wanted to go further, and explore matters from a more strategic direction. We therefore arranged for members to participate in a strategic discussion around three specific topics, each of which is “hot” politically, technically and operationally:

Fuel costs are high and likely to remain so for the foreseeable future. Managing fuel costs has become a key aspect of the overall cost control of transport operators, and is now an important part of their business strategy. Various approaches, both technical and operational, are now widespread in the industries, and new ideas are continually emerging.

Within public transport, much information is captured by the public sector for operational purposes. In the current policy environment, the question arises as to how, what, where and why this should be released. However there are some significant questions on how, what, where and why data should be released.

In June 2011, the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) published a position paper on “Seamless journeys from door to door”, based on – and alongside – research commissioned from TRL on “Door to Door Journeys”.
This note is RTIG’s position on the CBT/TRL analysis, and on the recommendations for action they contain.

Planning ahead for and taking into account short-term road disruptions is key for local authorities and their bus operator partners when providing the general public with
uninterrupted bus services and up-to-date travel information.

When events are planned for, such as road works and major sporting events, schedules can be adjusted accordingly ahead of time and the RTPI broadcast at stops and on the web should reflect these changes and the events that have caused them.

RTIG recognises the importance to the bus sector1 of the need to support travellers with impairments. We have good, long standing relationships with key national disability charities to ensure that we are providing the best practical, technical advice to local authorities, bus operators, and the systems industry.

On-street passenger information displays sometimes include a means of providing audio information to those who have difficulty in using the visual displays. This is seen as an important part of ensuring accessibility to bus services and associated information.