I just recieved the following email:
Dear Local Motion Supporter,
We are pleased to announce that the new Journey Planner is now online!
You can access this site by clicking here or alternatively click on this link http://journeys.darlington.gov.uk/
We hope you find this new facility extermely useful in helping you continue making sustainable travel choices.
BEST WISHES
TEAM LOCAL MOTION
Apparently, the only sustainable transport choices are walking and buses. I’m about to leave to meet with another campaign member at his house and the planner suggested various bus/walk combinations, but not once suggested I ride my bike there. There is a button to toggle bike routes on/off while using the map, and the blue lines are fairly helpful, but they suggest that there is no bike route by my house or my destination, yet looking outside I see the road is still.
Please, planner-creators, how about a link from the results page to a map of cyle routes and secure parking places, with the start and end points of the journeys indicated?
Update:
Here’s my suggestion of what the planner could look like.
As you can see, the fastest option for this journey which I make every week day is by bike. Even walking the whole way is faster than the times given for the walk/bus/walk options, and walkers don’t get stuck in unplanned traffic.
Update 2:
From the council:
We have worked with consultants engaged by Cycling England on the development of an online cycle planner – but are not yet in a position to launch this facility.
So, there is going to be a cycle planner, but it will be separate from the Journey Planner.
Does the missing cycle option not reveal the problem we have highlighted all along? That there is not yet a single safe, direct and convenient cycle route in Darlo that actually gets you from A to B?
Excellent addition, Mike. Simple, obvious, and immediately useable. I hope you’ve invoiced Local Motion for the consultancy fee. Could anyone from the Local Motion team let us know the original fee for this work?
And having passed all these cars stuck on North Raod last night with you, you could add a car symbol with 37mins as well!