The document discusses the evolution and benefits of open source software (OSS) in public transportation, focusing on projects like OpenTripPlanner and OneBusAway. It highlights OSS advantages such as avoiding vendor lock-in and fostering collaboration among agencies while addressing potential risks. The paper is a collaborative effort within the FTA’s mobility on demand sandbox program and includes case studies, stakeholder interviews, and recommendations for effective OSS implementation.

1. Added bike/scooter-share &
ride-hailing to OTP
• Focused on real-time info
• Includes native apps & tools
• Started as grad. student
project at University of
Washington in 2008
• Deployed in over 10 cities
across four countries
• Maintained by non-profit
Open Transit Software
Foundation (opentsf.org)
Open Source Software in Public Transportation: A Case Study
The public transportation industry increasingly uses software to support
mobility services. This paper provides a review of how open source
software (OSS) in the transit industry has evolved into production
deployments at transit agencies, including the opportunities and risks vs.
closed-source software and platforms. OSS offers several potential
benefits, including avoiding vendor lock-in, avoidance of proprietary
software licensing and subscription costs, collaboration and resource-
sharing with other agencies, and a greater control and faster response
with respect to strategic software development priorities. Suggested
strategies include working with multiple stakeholders, developing a
governance and funding structure, and leveraging widely-used and tested
guidance and templates to address OSS procurement, legal, licensing,
governance, and financing.
Abstract
OpenTripPlanner (OTP) 2016 FTA MOD Sandbox OTP Projects
Conclusions & Recommendations
Sean J. Barbeau1, Steven Polzin2
What is Open Source Software?
• Source code that is publicly available and can be viewed,
copied, modified, or enhanced by anyone
• OSS dependence is increasing trend in general industry
Methodology
This paper is output of collaboration between the IBI Group, TriMet, the Federal Transit Administration, and the authors as part of
the Federal Transit Administration’s Mobility on Demand (MOD) Sandbox program. The opinions, findings, and conclusions
expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the U.S. Department of Transportation. Thanks to
Bibiana McHugh from TriMet for serving as the Project Manager and to the individuals and organizations who were interviewed for
this paper. Dr. Sean Barbeau serves on the Board of Directors for the Open Transit Software Foundation and on the OpenTripPlanner
Project Leadership Committee, which are unpaid, volunteer positions.
Acknowledgements
1Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) at University of South Florida (USF)
1USDOT (CUTR @ USF when paper was authored)
Download paper @
http://bit.ly/trb-open-transit-software
OneBusAway (OBA)
• Interviewed over a dozen public and private sector
stakeholders involved in the development, governance, and
deployment of transit OSS
• Reviewed Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Mobility on
Demand (MOD) Sandbox projects with TriMet and Vtrans
• Examined OpenTripPlanner.org and OneBusAway.org as case
studies
• Investigated primary perceived risks of OSS - lack of support
for software, lack of turn-key solutions, project fragmentation
• Focused on multimodal
trip planning
• Started by TriMet in
Portland, OR in 2009
• Deployments in over 7
cities and 3 nation-wide
• De facto open data standards (GTFS/GTFS-realtime) have
accelerated transit OSS deployments
• OSS can help avoid increasing licensing costs of proprietary
subscription solutions (but requires expertise to deploy)
• OSS can help avoid vendor lock-in
• OSS may be more responsive and flexible to needs
• OSS supports increased cost sharing & collaboration
opportunities among transit agencies
• Need to update procurement requirements and practices
• Various OSS licensing options exist (e.g., GPL vs. Apache v2)
• Similar security concerns for proprietary and OSS
• OSS risks can be effectively managed via governance
structures, collaboration, and agile development strategies
• Resources are needed to coordinate OSS projects
Added flex routing to OTP
Pelias open-source geocoder
• Mapzen, developer of Pelias,
shut down in Jan 2018
• TriMet MOD Sandbox project
was able to continue with OSS
• Good example of OSS mitigating risk of innovation
trimet.org/newplanner
plan.govermont.org
Chromium
Microsoft Edge