ICT Travel Task for Real-Time internet services

If I wanted to go to Tottenham Court Road, London, I could go by train or by car. It would take me 59 minutes and cost £12 in total to get the train from Tonbridge station to London Charring Cross station and then get the tube from Embankment to Tottenham Court Road tube station. My train from Tonbridge would be at 14:49 on the 8th November 2006, I would arrive in London at 15:33. If I were to make this journey by car it would cost £12.95, this being broken into £4.95 for petrol allowances and £8 for the congestion charge. It would take 1 hour and 31 minutes. This time may vary however due to rush hours and road congestion.
To collect the above information I used real-time information websites. I used the Nation Rail Enquiries website (http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/) to calculate the journeys duration and costs. This website is easy and simple to use. All you need to know is the station you are travelling from, the destination and the time and date you wish to travel. By entering this information it is possible to find the train times from your station to your desired destination around the time you require. It is then possible to find out the cost of the journey by entering the number of people travelling. For one adult travelling to London Charing Cross it costs £10 for a standard day single. It is also possible to purchase these tickets over the internet for your journey. This service is useful because its means that you can look at the relevant times and easily compare the duration and the number of changes needed. The website also offers the ability to send information about desired train times to your mobile phone via test messaging. It is also easy to look at the following train in case you miss your favoured departure. After finding out the train times, I looked up tube times from the nearest underground station, Embankment, to Tottenham Court Road underground station. I went to the Transport for London website which has a journey planner for underground trains (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube/). I allowed myself 2 minutes to walk from Charring Cross station to Embankment and purchase my tube ticket. This meant I was looking for the next departing tube after 15:35. This was the 15:36. This website was similar to the National Rail Enquiries website as it used the same principles. Both websites were quick and provided the relevant information. If I wanted to plan this journey by train without the aid of the internet I would have to go to the station to find times, look in a booklet, or call the Nation Rail Enquiries hotline. This takes time and the hotline may not be as clear as the internet. If you have to go to the station it will take time and effort to get there, this would take longer than going on the internet to find out the times.
To calculate the time it would take to travel to Tottenham Court Road I used the AA route planning service on www.theAA.com . This website is simple to use as you only have to enter the starting point and your destination. The advantage of using a car is that it can get you to a specific point, however because there is an underground station in Tottenham Court Road it is also easily accessible via rail. The website also offers easy to follow instructions of how to get to your destination and a map of the journey. If I were to drive it would take 1 hour and 31 minutes however this time does not allow for rush hours or traffic jams. To travel by car it would cost £12.95. This includes petrol if using a Nisan Micra for the 40 mile trip, this cost may change if a different car was used. I used the average petrol price to work this out which was 96.5 pence per litre; the total cost of the petrol needed would also differ if the petrol price was higher/lower. £8 of this money also goes towards the congestion charges for entering the city of London.
Before Real-Time internet services this would have had to be worked out using maps and average speeds. You would also not know about road closures or delays unless you listened to the radio or called a traffic hotline however even if you used this method you would not be able to alter your route as quickly as you could using the internet as it can do it automatically for you. Using the internet it is also possible for you to avoid toll roads and motorways. This would take longer to work out if you were to use a map. The use of real-time websites to calculate journeys may now be declining after the popularity and declining price of satellite navigation systems as these have very similar functions as the websites and in some cases more.
Travelling by car is 95pence more expensive than travelling by rail however the train saves a lot of time and is easier because you can relax on the train instead of having the strain of driving. If you were to drive to Tottenham Court Road there would be more expenses because of the parking fees. I could not include this figure in my investigation because this information was unavailable for local car parks on the internet. Travelling by car would also take ¾ hour longer than by going by train.
I found that it was easiest to research the journey via rail because there were no calculations to do. The websites I used were also straight forward and clear. Using the internet is much quicker than finding all the information from maps, posters and books and is hassle-free.
From my research I would chose to travel by train as it is a more interesting, relaxing journey than travelling by car and is much quicker.