Benchmarking trends in transit passenger information website design performance - an international study

Improving Transit Passenger Information Website (TPIWS) design has become a new and increasingly important facet of transit agency responsibility because they have become the one of the most important means of interface with customers. This paper presents the findings of research regarding best practices in TPIWS design and a new methodologies developed for benchmarking performance at a high level of detail using objective, open and defendable measures of performance. The paper benchmarks 9 international city TPIWS’s providing a trend assessment between 2008 and 2013. Results show that in all cases, TPIWS design has improved; average benchmark scores increased by 7.6% in 5 years. Almost none of the individual aspects of website design declined however some cities (notably Paris, Berlin and Rome) improved TPIWS scores considerably more than others. London and Melbourne had the best overall TPIWS scores in both 2008 and 2013 however by 2013 London improved its design slightly more than Melbourne. Rome scored lowest in 2008 and 2013 however it was one of the most improved sites demonstrating a 15% overall improvement including better static information and journey planner input design. While the 2013 scores demonstrate improvement there is still room for better design in even the best websites. London, with the highest 2013 score, has an opportunity to increase performance by 18% if suggestions from benchmarking results can be adopted. The paper presents the research context and methodologies employed and outlines results for each city. Areas for improvement and implications for future research are described.