Why all transport accounts need to make their data shareable. Hayden Sutherland, Founder & Chair of The Open Transport Initiative explains: - UK Gov has now clearly stated the intention to use legislation to “mandate industry involvement in Smart Data initiatives across the economy" - including transport & mobility - Now is the time for Rail to lead by example and commit to adopting interoperable customer account data standards to enable innovation across our industry

1. Why all transport accounts need
to make their data shareable
Hayden Sutherland
The Open Transport Initiative

2. Hayden Sutherland
o Founder & Chair
The Open Transport Initiative
o Also… Director at Ideal Interface
A digital strategy, technology & marketing
consultancy

3. Why make data difficult?
1. The travelling customer has to work
hard to access all their transport &
mobility data
2. There are dozens & dozens of
different online accounts – one for
every major Transport Provider
and MaaS Platform
3. Customers have to log into every
account to get a complete view of
all their transport tickets and
usage

4. Why isn’t there…?
• A way for the travelling customer to
view their data in all disparate
accounts in the same way?
• New online services that can present
all tickets, permits & passes across
multiple different transport modes in
a single dashboard (without them
being part of one bespoke platform)?
• Innovations that join up customer
journey data.. that help them made
faster, cheaper, or greener future
transport decisions?

5. The biggest inhibitor to
Transport Smart Data
integration is not technology,
but the lack of an adopted
framework to securely access,
use and share data

6. Definitions: Open & Smart Data
• Open Data for Transport
– Data available to all & free to use for any purpose
– Public transport timetables, mass transit vehicle
locations and arrival times
– Example: Bus Open Data Service , DARWIN, etc.
• Smart Data for Transport
– Data that is owned by a customer and
then shared with their permission
– Data that is portable and interoperable
between multiple services
– Some industries call this “shared data”

7. Smart Data in other industries
• Open Banking
– Gives consumers the right and the ability to
share their financial data with third parties
– Significantly pushed forward by the
European Payment Services Directive 2
(PSD2) in 2018
– The Competition & Markets Authority
(CMA) legislated that UK banks must create
API Standards that allow third parties to
access smart / customer data in a
consistent way

8. Smart Data in other industries
• Open Finance
– Financial Conduct Authority defines this as:
“the extension of open banking-like data
sharing and third-party access to a wider
range of financial sectors and products“
– Example: Interoperable vehicle telematics
data can open up the car insurance market
• Open Energy
– Exchanging contract and usage data opens
up the market for better and more
personalised products & billing and easier
switching

9. What has this to do with Transport?
• 9th September 2020 the UK Government
published the report:
“Next steps for Smart Data. Putting
consumers and SMEs in control of their
data and enabling innovation”
• Clearly states the intention to use
legislation to “mandate industry
involvement in Smart Data initiatives across
the economy”
• Parliament will make different sectors
participate in these Smart Data initiatives,
including Transport

10. The Open Transport initiative
• Set-up to further the creation &
adoption of Open Standards in Transport
• 2019 obtained input from over 30
providers, suppliers and specialists
(rail, bus, ferry, car hire, parking, air, etc.)
• Early 2020 published THE FIRST & ONLY
Open Standard API specifications for
Transport & Mobility customer account
data sharing
– Known as the “Open Banking for Transport”

11. The current state creates customer
confusion & encourages data silos
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
MaaS Platform
a/c
a/c
MaaS Platform
a/c
Transport
Service
Providers
a/c
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
a/c
a/c a/c a/c
Customer requires individual access to
their transport data in every account

12. Customer can use a single account of
their choice for a consolidated view
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
MaaS Platform
a/c
a/c
MaaS Platform
a/c
Transport
Service
Providers
a/c
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
a/c
a/c a/c a/c
Our common interoperable account Open
Standard now makes consistent sharing of
transport & mobility data possible

13. Open Standard?
• Yes, the standard are fully Open
– Free to adopt
– No conditions or caveats
• This creates the opportunity for
much easier transport & mobility
industry-wide innovation
• Published on
– SwaggerHub
– ProgrammableWeb

14. Early Adopters Include…
• Modal : InnovateUK & GeoSpacial
Commission project to integrate
location and MaaS account data via
Open Transport API
• 2 x University of Glasgow IT
student groups building reference
implementations
And statements of intent from:
- Major European transport operating
group with several UK franchises
- TravelAi : Carbon travel calculation App

15. What can you do? Get involved!
If your software / system has a customer account
that contains transport data (e.g. tickets,
agreements, passes, journeys, usage,
concessions, etc.) then we want you to be part of
this too.
1. Review:
Do they meet your needs?
2. Feedback:
Further updates to meet all use cases
3. Adopt & Implement:
– Add the Open Transport APIs to your Product backlog
– Make them part of your next system Procurement/RFP
– Include them as part of your next innovation challenge
“The account must
support the secure
sharing of customer
data with other
transport accounts
using a Common and
Open Standard API”

16. Time to shape or be shaped
• To optionally work to adopt Transport
& Mobility Smart Data sharing
practices
• To help put customers back in control
of their data
• To kick-start and enable an ecosystem
of innovation in our industry
• To learn from & share best practice
with other industries (Open Banking)
• Before we are all legislated and
mandated to do so

17. Find out more
• Website
– https://opentransport.co.uk/
• API Specifications
– https://app.swaggerhub.com/apis/open-transport
• Contact us:
– contact@opentransport.co.uk

19. 2 x APIs : Account & Directory
1. An Open Standard for federated
transport customer account
interoperability
– API specification for integrating transport
(not customer PII) data held in
participating systems
– Allows Transport Providers to still maintain
relationship with their own customers
2. An Open Standard for a centralized
operator information look-up service
– The first mobility API directory
– Defines “mode” of transport

20. Account data shared – Not PII
1. Purchase
– Ticket, pass to travel, contract to
use service, etc.
2. Usage
– Journey, parking duration, etc.
– Includes services used (e.g.
charging, calls, etc.)
3. Concession
– Railcard, staff discount scheme,
voucher, etc.

21. Interoperability standards
across transport providers
Ticketing Ticketing system
Ticketing
Customer
Account
Customer
Account
Customer Account
Customer
Account
Smartcard Smartcard Smartcard
Smartcard
Inventory
& payment
Open Transport
facilitates
interoperability between
customer accounts
ITSO specification allows
interoperability between
smartcards and smart
back-office services

22. High-level architecture