The document discusses the value of open data in transportation. It begins by defining open data and what constitutes high quality open data. It then discusses how in 2005, Portland opened its transit data in the GTFS format, which has since been adopted by 596 transit agencies worldwide and led to the development of many transit apps. The document also notes that open data in London and Massachusetts has gone beyond just bus data to include other modes of transportation. It argues that making transportation data openly available can save agencies money and improve commutes by enabling private sector innovation and app development.

1. A product of WRI Ross Center for Sustainable Cities
JYOT CHADHA
THE VALUE OF OPEN
DATA IN TRANSPORT
Talking Transit 2016

2. WHAT IS OPEN DATA?
• available for anyone to access, use,
and share
• free of royalties and restrictions
• can be re-used, modified, and shared
by anyone for any purpose
Source: Open Data Institute

3. WHAT IS HIGH QUALITY OPEN DATA?
• linkable and easily shared
• standard format
• machine readable and easily processed
• reliable in terms of availability, consistency
• traceable to the original source
Source: Open Data Institute

4. OUR STORY BEGINS IN PORTLAND

5. FORMAT FOR TEMPORAL AND SPATIAL ELEMENTS

6. LAUNCH ON 7 DEC 2005
• Unprecedented downloads
• Hugely positive public response
• Developed GTFS and brought other agencies on
board
• In two years ~20 cities opened their data in GTFS
Source: http://beyondtransparency.org/chapters/part-2/pioneering-open-data-standards-the-gtfs-story/

7. WITHIN 1 HOUR OF MASSACHUSETTS DOT OPENING
ITS DATA : REAL TIME BUS LOCATION

8. WITHIN 1 WEEK: COUNTDOWN WIDGET

9. WITHIN 5 WEEKS: IOS AND ANDROID APPS

10. WITHIN 7 WEEKS: REAL TIME DATA BY PHONE

11. 596 AGENCIES HAVE ADOPTED GTFS, GTFS-RT
Source: transitfeeds.com as accessed on 2 April 2016

12. AND MANY HAVE GONE BEYOND BUS DATA
• Portland: bus, light rail, commuter rail, and street car
• London: tube, bus, coach, river, road traffic, Barclay’s cycle hire,
Oyster card journey information, and toilet data
• Massachusetts: bus, commuter rail, subway, ferry, bicycle, park and
ride lots, private bus carriers, roadway traffic and events, traffic
camera information, MV registry, MBTA data, Massachusetts Port
Authority data
• Manila: 98 datasets and crowd-sourced data for informal jeepneys
• Mexico City: subway, rapid transit, trolley bus, light rail lines,
suburban rail lines, formal city buses, informal minibuses, and public
bikes
Source: Transit agency websites

13. IS IT WORTH ALLOCATING RESOURCES TO?
“Due to the large proliferation of transit apps on mobile
platforms,
the market is able to react quickly
to changes and to fill gaps in service.
This is something that one
government IT department could not
develop or support with the same level of
spontaneity and flexibility.”
McHugh, personal communication to Bibiana McHugh of TriMet, 2013

14. 362 APPS FROM TFL FEEDS, 4 MN DOWNLOADS…

15. SAVING TFL UPTO £42M & COMMUTERS UPTO £58 M
Maps and apps of the Tube Trip planning apps across modes

16. 80+ TOOLS OUT OF NYC FEEDS…

17. …IMPROVING 8.5MN PEOPLE’S COMMUTE IN 2013

18. CONSIDERATIONS
• Availability and format of data
• Privacy
• Available resources
• Internal capacity

19. WHERE ARE WE IN INDIA?
• Reactive data access: RTI Act
• Proactive data access: NDSAP
• data.gov.in
• Sikkim open data policy

20. CONTRIBUTION TO INNOVATION
$0.7 – 0.9 trillion
of economic value through innovation and new business development
by open data in transport
Source: McKinsey

21. innovation@wri.org