DfT endorses walkit.com...

Submitted by jamiewallace on March 9, 2006 - 15:30.

Well, sort of.

I use the 'Google Alert' service to tell me when new instances of the phrase 'walkit.com' appear in the global ether. It crops up in some unusual places.

I was particularly surprised the other day when Google informed me that 'walkit.com' had been detected on the Department for Transport website. Curious I thought. I've been in protracted talks with the DfT for over a year now, but I've never been bowled over by their enthusiasm for the concept.

So I click through and low and behold the DfT has placed a walkit link on the 'How to find us' section of their website. Nestling at the bottom, below all the 'By bus', 'By train', 'By car' etc. information is the following: "On foot - For central London walking routes, see walkit.com".

It's a rather nice endorsement (of sorts) to receive. But it's slightly puzzling, not least since the site is very much a 'beta' (or pilot) version, and hence still pretty unreliable.

But I suppose in relation to their own Transport Direct (TD) journey planner, we've done rather well at the walkit.com HQ.

TD is a hugely ambitious project that allows you to enter any two postcodes for anywhere in the country and it will give you practically every possible journey option (by public or private transport) between them.

But it's being delivered at a price - some £35 million, and counting. And what have we spent? About £3.5k. Yup, we've spent a TEN THOUSANDTH of their budget. Probably less than the cost of refreshments factored into the budgets of the vast global consulting firms who are meant to be delivering TD.

Have you heard of TD? Do you like it? I'd be interested to hear. We're off to the DfT next week to see some of the TD people, so I can pass on your comments.

But we've got to be on best behaviour. We have a little proposal in with them.

What do you think our chances are?