Essex County Council has introduced two mobility solutions to help locals travel more sustainably and conveniently – a new digital demand-responsive transport (DRT) service called DigiGo and a free-to-use travel planning app.
The DRT service aims to allow users to plan shared transport journeys with real-time arrival information. It is booked via the TravelEssex app, which is designed to make it easier for users to view all sustainable travel modes across Essex and plan multi-modal journeys.
The offering was created with Moovit, an Intel company and a Mobility-as-a-Service solution provider, powering the technology behind the app and DigiGo service.
DigiGo will initially operate within two rural and suburban areas of Essex to provide a more flexible public transport service with shortened wait and walk times. The service has been designed to provide easier connection to Essex’s transport interchanges, such as bus and train stations, for onward travel.
Funded by the UK Department for Transport’s Rural Mobility Fund, DigiGo services will run for two years, with learnings and development used to inform any potential future rollout of the service to other areas of Essex or the UK.
The service will operate between 7am and 10pm, seven days a week (excluding bank holidays) and journeys can be booked and paid for through the TravelEssex app, where users can view real-time arrival information and track the vehicle along its route.
According to the council, DigiGo will connect to various points of interest as well as other transport hubs to improve onward travel opportunities.
Cllr Lee Scott, cabinet member for sustainable transport, Essex County Council, said: “We want to see more people travelling sustainably and thinking differently about how they travel, particularly for shorter journeys.
“To do this we recognise the need to offer choice and flexibility and think about how we work with some of the latest technologies and innovations to attract more people to use new forms of shared public transport services.
“Working with Moovit over this two-year period, the trial is aiming to provide a service which becomes embedded into local communities, attracting users of all ages and creates a platform to be rolled out into other parts of the county.”
The new TravelEssex app has been developed to provide real-time travel information, with users given detailed expected journey and departure times for walking and cycling routes as well as bus services.
These include services operated by First, Arriva, Hedingham and Stephensons, as well as Greater Anglia and C2C rail, National Rail and London Underground trains.
The app has been launched to encourage residents to make sustainable journeys more frequently as part of Essex County Council’s ‘Safer, Greener, Healthier’ approach to travel.
It brings all sustainable travel options into one place for ease of use and with features such as live-alerts, and has been designed to enable users to stay up to date with travel disruptions.
The new resource is part of a number of measures launched in response to the Essex Climate Action Commission’s report Net Zero: Making Essex Carbon Neutral, published last year, recognising the need to encourage more sustainable travel and help people to move away from using their car.
Scott said: “Whether you are heading to work, taking the family on a day out or simply exploring our beautiful countryside, this new app is a practical tool that makes it that much easier to access sustainable travel options and encourage us all to put the car keys down.”
The TravelEssex app can be downloaded via the Google Play or Apple app store.
