500 sign up to Facebook route planner

In just a few weeks, 500 Facebook users have signed up for Flemish public transport operator De Lijn’s new route planner, buzzynet.be. Mobility portal Eltis explains that users can plan their trip with one click via Facebook, as well as store routes to friends’ houses, events and favourite places on an interactive map. The planner also has a social function: if someone is going to a concert, they can share their journey with friends, who can plan their own trip to the venue by bus or tram once they have authorised the application to access their data. “Youngsters are a very important target group for De Lijn,” says marketing and communications director Tamara De Bruecker. “Six out of ten season ticket holders are younger than twenty-five, and youngsters are responsible for the bulk of route inquiries on the website. With our social route planner, we would like to extend their online lives to the offline world.”