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29 June 2006 Confused thinking at Technology GuardianThe Guardian's excellent Free our Data campaign today moves onto travel information, as hoarded by Transport Direct. It is spot on that the raw data of train/bus times and fares should be made available to all, such as Google Transit. It is flat-out wrong, though, when it says the Government shouldn't be building sites in "the knowledge economy". I've posted a fairly long screed over at the Free our Data blog explaining why, and citing, as ever, the Waterscape experience. In brief: use of public transport is a social good; an essential prerequisite is information on how to use it; the Government's role is to build a better society, and thus it is absolutely right to build such a site. Where it falls down is that transportdirect is bloody awful, and this is largely due to the usual Big IT Contractor malaise. But, actually, the Guardian contradicts its own point in the same issue. Michael Cross backs up his transportdirect argument by saying: "In an age when it is not seen as appropriate for the public sector to run power stations or railways"... whoa. Stop right there. Who says the public sector shouldn't be running railways? Well, clearly not the Guardian. In the very same issue of Technology Guardian, Chris Alden writes that "As England fans travel by train between World Cup cities in Germany, they can't fail to compare the comfort and efficiency of Deutsche Bahn, the German national train network, with what passes for a train service back home." Yes. That might have a little bit to do with the fact that the railways in Germany are run by the public sector, and ours are run by a bunch of avaricious, sorry, thrusting, entrepreneurial, go-ahead private-sector bus companies. Comments |
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