Train timetable information
Problem: Free and low-priced WebApps and Apps were available on the iPhone via the built-in browser and the AppStore until National Rail Enquiries decided in Spring 2009 to kill them off by denying them the use of the rail timetabling and other information they needed to work.
Solution: Simultaneously National Rail Enquiries introduced its own App on the AppStore at a price of £4.99. While that may seem low, it is both high compared to other Apps (that were either free or low priced) and against the fact that Network Rail's information is still free of charge to the end user via the National Rail Enquiries website.
Proposal: National Rail Enquiries seems to object to third party applications and websites reformatting its data. Yet many users complain that the new National Rail Enquiries App is less functional than the applications like MyRail Lite and UK Train Times that it replaces.
Comments (6)
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What is the latest?
My spies tell me something is moving on this front, but is this actually true?
Train Timetable
Surely once they have been published they're public domain. i beleive that this follows the same process as football fixtures. In the case of football fixtures the FA blocked users from listing fixtures lists on websites without a licence. To get a licence you had to (i belive) pay for one. The FA claimed copyright and intelectual property on the fixture list, but the courts ruled that once its in the public domain its free from copyright. This sound exactly the same af train time tables...
Train timetable
See: http://data.atoc.org/
If you want a site already using it, check out http://trains.im
Ralway timetables and prices too!
The cost of timetables and fares in the past was as a function solely of their means of production, not as a profit centre. In my opinion there should be a national right of access to strategic services information especially now when there is virtually no additional cost in disseminating it. The tangled "accounting offsets" ralating the various cost centres organizations set up are impenetrable and unverifiable and they provide no reasonable justification for nor offset to the radical reduction of transparency this accounting web creates. It is simply against the public interest.
Contradiction
what I find hard to get my head round is that National Rail already have this App - it costs nothing to maintain and was paid for by travellers on the rail network. Why do we have to pay £4.99 to access the app which has no ongoing cost and yet can get environmentally damagin printed copies for FREE from any rail station? Surely just as a sales incentive it must make financial sense to release the timetables app for FREE to drive more ticket sales. I work for a company selling lottery tickets and we release our euro-millions iphone application for free in the knowledge that people using it will go on to buy lottery tickets - surely the same principles apply to train timetables?