Council 'smart' travel plans get government grant

Plymouth city council is among group of local authorities awarded money from the government's £155m first tranche of the Local Sustainable Transport Fund, to back plans which include using technology to improve travel. The city council said its bid was made on behalf 15 local authorities in south-west England, and had the support of local transport authorities. It received just under £3m which, according to the Department for Transport, will enable most public transport journeys in south-west England to be taken using smart ticketing technology that conforms with the ITSO standard. Andrew Seedhouse, chair of South West Smart Applications, a not-for-profit company jointly owned by 15 highway authorities and 17 public transport operators in the south-west, told GGC: "We want to get all local buses equipped with ITSO ticket machines by the end of summer 2012. "The benefits of setting this up regionally are that it makes it cost-effective for operators and, for the traveler, multi-ticketing can be introduced more easily. "We will also have electronic payments, with the buses using a smartcard like the Oyster card in London." A total of 39 projects won funding, with proposals including cycling, park and ride and congestion-reducing schemes. In addition to Plymouth, the successful bids with technology elements were: • Reading won just under £5m and will extend use of ITSO smartcards. • Cumbria and Kent, which are also planning smart ticketing schemes as part of their proposals, attracted funds of £5m and £2m respectively. • Darlington won £4m for a scheme that includes accelerating the delivery of real time information displays. • Hampshire's £4m grant will fund improvements, including better travel information using real time updates and smart phone apps. • Suffolk county council won £5m for a scheme that includes area wide integrated ticketing system. Transport minister Norman Baker said: "All the winning schemes have one thing in common – they will help build strong local economies while addressing the urgent challenge of climate change. "We have empowered local authorities to create packages of sustainable initiatives that are tailored for their local areas, and this is only the beginning – even more funding will be announced next summer following a second round of bids." This article is published by Guardian Professional. For weekly updates of news, debate and best practice on public sector IT, join the Government Computing Network here .