First Smart Mobility Challenge on European multi-modal journey planners – and the winner is …

Publication date: 27 March 2012

The winners of the first Smart Mobility Challenge on European multi-modal journey planners were invited by the Commission to present their ideas and solutions at the European Parliament on 26 March 2012.

In the category of 'operational journey planners' the two winners are Idos (from the Czech Republic, provided by Chaps spol. s r.o.)  and Trenitalia (from Italy, provided by Ferrovie dello Stato Italiane SpA), and in the category of 'innovative ideas' the winners are Penelope Ventures GmbH, for its idea of Byebyehello journey planner, and SNCF for its idea of Mytripset journey planner.

The initiative aimed to promote the development of all-in-one journey planners, going beyond national borders and offering travel options combining different transport modes.

Commenting on the results of the vote, Vice-President Siim Kallas, Commissioner for mobility and transport, said: "I strongly believe that these winners, but also all other participating projects, will help to widen the choice of multi-modal travel for all Europeans. This contest has also confirmed the remaining challenges ahead, and most notably the need for opening up access to travel data".

The winners in the 'operational journey planner' category received the highest number of votes out of the 12 planners that participated in the e-vote:

• Idos is a door-to-door journey planner for the Czech Republic and Slovakia. It also provides other cross-border travel connections around Europe by bus and train. It has 66 million online views per month.
  
  
• Trenitalia's journey planner – SIPAX – provides train, bus and ferry connections in Italy and a number of its neighbouring countries. It is complemented by the Viaggiatreno tool for real-time traffic monitoring. It has 3 million daily visits.

The winners in the 'innovative ideas' category caught the jury's attention by their acute understanding of the nature of the challenge and development of projects that cover all prospective needs of travellers, including services such as ticketing:

• The journey planner idea Byebyehello, presented by Penelope Ventures GmbH, convinced the jury with its many innovative elements and a strong team of stakeholders that could make this vision a reality. The company intends to launch the planner in May 2012, starting in Germany.
  
  
• The journey planner idea Mytripset, presented by SNCF, appealed to the jury with an innovative use of social networks to provide content and traffic updates. It also relies on a strong team of partners. The launch is planned in autumn 2012, starting in France.

The promotion of innovative, multi-modal journey planners is a priority for the European Commission. In 2011, the Commission conducted a study "Towards a European Multimodal Journey Planner”, available at:  http://ec.europa.eu/transport/its/studies/index_en.htm.

The challenge, launched by Vice-President Kallas on 6 June 2011, invited industry stakeholders and European citizens to submit either solutions of European (at least cross-border) multi-modal journey planners, or innovative ideas that would allow the development of such truly European and multimodal tools.

In the first category, 28 journey planners were proposed out of which the 12 most promising were put to an electronic public vote between 5 December 2011 and 13 January 2012. In parallel, an expert jury evaluated the 22 submitted 'innovative ideas'.