On behalf of the TRICS® Consortium, I would like to welcome you to the TRICS® Community website.

2008/09 is a very important year in the development of TRICS®. In June 2008 the system went fully web-based, alongside the introduction of an "off-line" downloadable version for users on the move. We have also migrated our site mapping function to the Google Maps website, and have introduced a new Accessibility facility, incorporating accessibility index and census information, which shall be available for new data entering the system this year. These developments are just a few examples of the work undertaken in TRICS® development following our successful ongoing consultation with the TRICS® Community.

The TRICS® Good Practice Guide has also been re-written for 2008, taking into account comments from users throughout the previous year, and remains an integral part of the system. I encourage everyone to read this document, as it provides essential guidance on the production and audit of TRICS® data.

Our data collection programme remains as committed as ever, with a total of 270 surveys being undertaken in 2008, across all regions of the UK and Ireland, and covering a wide range of land use categories. Again, the TRICS® Community has given us much valued assistance in identifying this programme of surveys, two thirds of which are multi-modal in nature. London in particular is seeing an increase in multi-modal data coverage, with some 30 surveys taking place across the capital this year.

Our annual User Meetings have become increasingly popular, with a record attendance at the 2008 events in London and Edinburgh. These productive forums have been essential to the development of TRICS® since they began in 1996, and along with our annual user questionnaire have become valuable interactive mediums for discussion and debate on the future of the system. The annual TRICS®/RTPI Conference in November also continues to be a popular event in the industry's calendar, where discussion and debate on a range of important transport-related issues takes place.

The Standardised Assessment Methodology (SAM) for the monitoring of travel plans continues to be taken on board by local authorities across the UK, and our Travel Plan data section is being adapted and enhanced as our first survey results are input and analysed. This website contains a section on SAM, so please visit this and let us know what you think.