Animating the Future Seamless Public Transport Journey

This paper considers the possibilities for the development of the future seamless public transport journey in 2030, drawing on the SYNAPTIC project (Synergy of New Advanced Public Transport Solutions Improving Connectivity in North West Europe), funded by the EU INTERREG IVB programme. Investment in public transport and other transport modes tends to be based largely on travel as an instrumental experience, i.e. we seek to speed travel up, make it more convenient, or influence the cost of travel.

Using a survey of international and regional public transport journeys, we see that the quality of the journey, particularly the affective factors (such as the enjoyment or productivity of travel, happiness, 'stress' and wider experiential factors), are poorly understood, and overlooked in the design, and initial appraisal, of public transport links and interchanges. The enhancement of the journey experience is critical to the future public transport journey, particularly if viewed from the user perspective. An animated journey from Preston (UK) to Delft (the Netherlands) is presented and discussed to illustrate the future public transport possibilities in 2030.