RESEARCH: Windy weather blows UK users online
- Added:
- Oct 31, 2002
Many London commuters who travel into London for work, as well as people who traveled to the country for a weekend break, were left not knowing whether their return train journey would be running.
Recent Hitwise statistics show that UK traffic to Travel/Transport web sites increased by 21% over the weekend. Even though ferries, boats and aeroplanes were affected by the tremendous winds, it appears that the regional train companies have seen the largest increase in visits to their web sites. These sites provide the latest news in relation to train delays and construction on tracks, timetables and ticket purchasing facilities. UK sites in the Travel/Transport category that have seen the largest increase in UK visits include First Great Eastern Trains (www.ger.co.uk); Chiltern Railways (www.chilternrailways.co.uk); West Anglia Great Northern (www.wagn.co.uk); Thames Link Trains (www.thameslink.co.uk); South West Trains (www.swtrains.co.uk), and Anglia Railways (www.angliarailways.co.uk).
Another beneficiary of the heightened interest in train schedule information was the Alpha Nexus website (www.alphanexus.co.uk). Alpha Nexus produces control room information systems and is a provider of disruption information systems in the rail industry. Hitwise click stream information shows that leading British rail companies have been utilising the services offered by Alpha Nexus to alert disruptions to their rail networks to other rail stations on their networks. Over the last day, the Hitwise information showed that 58% and 20% of visits from www.ger.co.uk and www.chilternrailways.co.uk respectively, went to www.alphanexus.co.uk.
Not surprisingly, the UK population found the train information from search engines and other transport websites. 34.6% of traffic to Travel/Transport web sites for the week ending 26 October came from Search Engines and Directories, and a further 25.1% from other Travel/Transport sites.
Chart showing daily movements in market share of visits torail websites in the Travel - Transport category
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