§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport what research has been conducted by or for his Department on profiling users of the traveline(a) phone and (b) website services. [83524]
§ Mr. JamiesonNo research is currently available regarding the profiles of traveline users for either the telephone or for the website. However, the Department for Transport is currently funding a research project on behalf of the traveline partners that is partly looking at existing traveline telephone customers to find out who they are, why they are calling, what information they are requesting and what they are supplied with. The results will be available in April 2003.
The research will not look at profiles of those using the website.
§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been spent by(a) his Department and (b) other bodies on (i) branding and (ii) advertising the traveline (A) brand, (B) phone service and (c) website in each year since 1999; and if he will make a statement. [83525]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe Department for Transport spent £36,319 on traveline branding in 2000–01. It spent £1.025 million on an advertising campaign for the traveline phone service in 2001–02.
459WAdvertising by traveline partners has included adding the traveline logo to paper timetables, on bus stop posters, to publications for example in Yellow Pages and on the backs of bus tickets. All traveline partners have been asked to include traveline branding in their publications and this is now widespread among bus operators and local authorities.
The Department has spent no monies on branding the website but has followed the traveline logo branding guidelines in devising the design of the web page. The Department has not advertised the traveline web address but this is being considered in future promotions.
§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many tickets have been sold through the traveline service in each year that it has been in operation(a) by telephone and (b) via the internet, broken down by mode of travel; and what the total value was of tickets sold in each case. [83575]
§ Mr. JamiesonTraveline does not sell tickets for any mode of transport by either telephone or via the internet.
§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many(a) web page impressions and (b) unique website visitors have been registered by the Traveline website in each year that it has been in operation. [83576]
§ Mr. JamiesonThe traveline website is not directly managed by the Department for Transport, but by the relevant traveline partners who provide information about usage of the site to the Department.
The website was launched in 2001 with links initially to local journey planners, however, several new regional journey planners have recently been launched and these are now linked to the traveline portal site.
As the traveline site is a portal or gateway to other websites, we are not aware of the number of web pages, however traveline partners are estimating the number of individual user sessions that take place each week. This has grown steadily over the year from nothing to about 3,000 individual user inquiry sessions per week. Continued growth in usage is expected over the coming months as further regional traveline journey planners are launched and linked to the portal, and as advertising of the traveline web address starts to appear.