§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Transport when he expects to publish findings of research into putting cycling into journey planners; and what steps are being taken to act upon these findings. [75598]
15W
§ Mr. JamiesonAs part of the development work for Transport Direct Sustrans undertook a piece of research to look at how cycling could be incorporated into a journey planner. The research highlighted difficulties in doing this on a national scale. The biggest issue is the lack of cycling information being held electronically, cycle routes need to be geo-coded, and these codes need to be held in frequently updated databases to be used successfully in journey planners. Transport Direct does aim to include cycling, but due to the problems outlined above this may have to wait until later versions.
The Executive Summary and a link to the full paper (which is on the Sustrans website) has been placed on the Department's website www.d ft. gov. uk/itw p/ transdirect/cyclene/index.htm.
The recommendations outlined in the report highlighted work needed to progress this issue. The Department will be working with other bodies, including local authorities, Sustrans and other cycling bodies to progress the issues discussed above.