Discovering European intermodal travel
Europeans are becoming more mobile and are choosing to take their journeys by car or airplane over other modes of transport. Such preference may boil down to an absence of integrated transport modes and/or customers not being able to combine different modes on their own. To make matters worse, transport operators are not always informed of the market potential of integrated transport amenities. This leaves a gap in understanding intermodal demand and supply. The EU-funded KITE project established a knowledge base for European intermodal travel. The aim was to compile the necessary information regarding intermodality so that passengers can have easy access to it and stakeholders can use it for business planning, for example. The work involved identifying the gaps in passenger intermodality and expanded with analysis and surveys which served as indicators of the market situation. User needs were also taken into consideration. As a result, a specified cost-benefit analysis was created offering a way of evaluating intermodal processes and tactics. The information gathered spans user abilities, attitudes and requirements, recommendations for standards regarding intermodal services and information/ticketing and interfaces. The format of this knowledge base assists the functions of using, searching, updating and completing essential details. Finally a web-based informational source, Kitewiki was produced which can be accessed at: http://ifv-kite.ifv.uni-karlsruhe.de/kite/wiki/ Giving concise information regarding intermodal travel, current and future information can be easily integrated and disseminated.
