A web portal enabling people to plan journeys by public transport is running a year behind schedule, the government admits.

Transport Direct is due to go live this summer, transport minister Kim Howells told Parliament last week, rather than the target date of 2003.

The project has a high political profile because it is one of a handful of e-services promised when Tony Blair set out Britain's most recent e-targets in November 2002.

Blair said: "Direct will provide travel information linking trains, buses and taxi connections to improve public transport as an integrated system."

Development of the site finished on schedule last November, said Howells. The delays are caused by the need to integrate with "12 remote journey planners, three retailers and several real-time travel information providers" and to test the results. Operating information from the whole network and 40% of the bus network has been put in place.

Howells said that the portal will allow people to plan journeys using different modes of transport.