The Department for Transport (DfT) is running ‘pioneer project’ to encourage take-up of its Bus Open Data Service (BODS).
It has entered a collaboration with Israeli based mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) specialist Moovit to standardise the data and provide guidance on its use by bus operators around the country.
The project involves standardising and openly publishing bus operator data to support passengers in planning their journeys.
A spokesperson for Moovit said there will be three main elements to its work: helping the DfT to make the data available for MaaS platforms; making real time data on factors such as traffic incidents and service alerts usable for different systems; and encouraging bus operators to integrate with its own app.
While the latter element provides one option, the project is more widely aimed at providing scope for operators to run their own apps and open up data for third party developers to build services.
Service transformation
Meera Nayyar, head of passenger experience (buses and taxis) at the DfT, said: “This will significantly further the ability of BODS to digitally transform the delivery of bus services and, ultimately, the passenger experience. Moovit will help revolutionise the way in which the DfT, and other stakeholders, collect and analyse bus data, enabling us to identify network optimisations more easily and help us support operators in reporting their on-time performance statistics.”
The DfT launched BODS in January, with the aim of enabling developers to use information from bus operators in travel apps and develop new products.
During the summer it said it would add reporting and analytical services to BODS.
Moovit recently collaborated with Transport for the North (TfN) on the development of its open data hub as part of its Integrated and Smart Travel programme.
Image by Aubrey Morandata, CC BY 2.0 through flickr
