The CVI journey planners

CVI, Centrum Voor Informatieverwerking, was established in 1964 as an autonomous EDP department of the Dutch Railways (NS). CVI has gradually developed into a specialist in information technology for public transport and administrative applications. By the end of 1987 the overall quality of travel information at the Dutch Railways was too poor and many customers were dissatisfied. In order to improve the quality of information, CVI developed a computerized tool for use at three telephone enquiry offices. In the spring of 1988 this system (the NS Reisplanner; the NS Journey Planner) was introduced at these enquiry offices. The author discusses the system