Leveraging Resources for
Customer Information by
Exposing Transit Data
Business Intelligence: Focusing on Customers
APTA TransITech 2008
Tim McHugh, CTO

TriMet’s Developer Resources
began with GM request to
promote innovation and public transit
by providing resources to an
emerging creative class

TriMet’s Developer Resources
began with GM request to
promote innovation and public transit
by providing resources to an
emerging creative class
Can we leverage existing software development
by exposing data to the public?

TriMet’s Developer Resources
began with GM request to
promote innovation and public transit
by providing resources to an
emerging creative class
Can we leverage existing software development
by exposing data to the public?
Developer.TriMet.org

Public Resources for
Customer Information
Promotes use of transit and
information related to transit

License Agreement
Worked with Legal Dept
Provides protection
Defines Terms of Use

Registration Process
Agree to Terms of Use
Update Notifications
Monitor usage/thresholds

Provides direct access to most
current schedule data
in common open format

Provides direct access to most
current schedule data
in common open format
“GTFS is a lightweight, open format that
provides a common, easy way to exchange
transit data. You don't have to be
Google™ to use it.”
Tim Moore, Bart

IamCaltrain.com
Source:
“Caltrain station and route data was scraped
from the Caltrain Website… The results of their
work can be downloaded in the form of a
MySQL Dump.”

GoogleMaps.com
Get Driving Directions
AND
Public Transit Directions

TransitTrips.com
Sits on Google Transit
Make it easier to save links to common trips

“As a public service, PublicRoutes.com believes in
allowing public information to be shared openly by
municipalities across the country in hopes of
maximizing travel efficiency and better serving the
greater public.
By pooling available data and advocating an open
source platform, PublicRoutes.com and municipal trip
planners will accurately ensure that all people will
have the best possible information available when
traveling via public transportation.”
Submitted on behalf of PublicRoutes.com February 13, 2008

Spek.org/trimet/map.php
Draws route lines using the GTFS

Provides direct access to
real-time data
via web services

Customer Information
at Airport
Port of Portland’s Use of Data

TriMet.OnMyiPhone.net
Free Application for iPhone
Access to transit next arrival times
“At first I was just going to scrape the
Trimet site to get the information. But
then I came to find out that Trimet
actually has a really nice API to all their
tracking information!”
Matt King, TriMet Rider & Software Developer

PortlandTransport.com
Free Applications for
Cell Phones,Handhelds
Full Size PC Screens
SMS Text Messaging
Access to transit next arrival times

TrainCheck.com
Free SMS Services for Cell Phones
Access to transit next arrival times

TransitCast
Presents arrival times and locations
of buses that are approaching
selected stop

Future Web Services
Access to Trip Planner for
Planned Trip Itineraries

Mobile Trip Planning
I’m downtown searching
the web for something
interesting to do, and LBS
tells me how to get there.
Current GPS
Location, Current Time, Formatted
Requested Event/Place Request
Web Trip
LBS Service Planner
En Route Formatted
Planned Itinerary Return
To Event/Place

Free OS Software:
TimeTable Publisher
T3 Webinar May 14, 2008
How to Implement the TimeTable
Publisher: An Open Source
Application for Transit Agencies

Who else is making their data
publicly accessible?

By making the GTFS data publicly
accessible, you can avoid addressing
multiple and varied data requests on
an individual basis.

mtsotp.com/mts/stop_finder/stop_finder.cfm
Built on the GTFS – other agencies coming
Finds all stops, buses & trains in an area

Public Records Act: any person
has a right to request public data,
and the public agency has a
responsibility to provide it.

BART:
“We want to foster innovative
new applications, reach a
broader audience and
encourage more people to
choose BART.
And frankly, we just can't
justify spending time on some
of the things our customers
have asked for…”

Thank You
For more information, please visit:

Thank You
For more information, please visit:
Developer.TriMet.org