At Transport for the North we see trusted and reliable customer information as key to encouraging use of public transport – which in usual circumstances is one of our key goals.
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, we are currently urging everyone to avoid using public transport if possible. It is important we keep our trains, buses, and trams safe for essential workers who still rely on those networks to get around.
For those who still need to get from A to B however, the need for quality, reliable information is as important as ever.
We commend the efforts of operators who have worked tirelessly over recent weeks to reschedule and keep services running to best meet changing demand. As well as being a major logistical challenge, it has also required a lot of work from local authorities to keep the back-office data that feeds this information to customers up to date.
In this light, we are pleased to announce that our Integrated and Smart Travel (IST) programme’s customer information initiatives have taken a major step forward with the go-live of the our Open Data Hub and Disruption Messaging Tool.
These tools aim to make it easier for passengers to find out important information about travel on public transport via their regular journey planning apps and other digital platforms.
The initiatives were originally conceived to help local authorities publish enhanced information about planned disruptions caused by local events such as music festivals, sporting events, or roadworks.
In current circumstances, the tools offer an innovative way to openly share important alerts about revised lock-down timetables and service changes – particularly for smaller bus operators – and ensure these disruptions are represented in non-owned digital channels.
This will help ensure that those passengers who are still required to travel can also still plan their journeys using accurate, up-to-date information.
We look forward to seeing the tools’ full benefits later in the year, after the current crisis is over, when more of the public are able to safely and responsibly enjoy public transport again.
The disruption tool allows our local authority partners to share messaging about planned and unplanned disruptions to transport services across their customer facing channels and to publish these messages as ‘SIRI-SX’ open data.
The Open Data Hub then provides developers and other mobility data-driven-businesses – such as Google, Citymapper and Moovit – with a central source to access the disruptions data.
Developers can then use this to enhance their journey planning apps and other digital information services. Fares data will also be made available via the Hub later in the year.
Transport for Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Merseytravel are the first authorities in the North to adopt these tools. Other city-regions are also scheduled to start using them over the coming months.
In great news, Moovit have already started integrating this data into their live app to provide their customers with the most relevant information.
“Moovit has served hundreds of millions of public transport passengers around the world, who have consistently said that accurate real-time arrivals and transport information are a top priority for them. As always, we are committed to providing the most updated information to riders for a smoother journey through the free Moovit app – even when ridership has decreased significantly due to COVID-19, with changes happening at lightning speed.
“With integrated information from TfN’s Open Data Hub, users in the North of England will have the most accurate information they need to better plan their journeys for a transformed trip experience using the free Moovit app.” – Yovav Meydad, Chief Growth and Marketing Officer at Moovit
It has been fantastic to see the appetite from the open data community for this enhanced information.
An initial select group of developers have been granted early access to the Hub to test the first samples of disruption data before it is opened to everyone.
More information about the Open Data Hub and the data roll-out schedule is available on our website.
The Open Data Hub has been developed in partnership with Trapeze Group UK and Transport API. The Disruption Messaging Tool was developed by Ito World. We would like to say a big “thank you” to these teams for their help and expertise.
The ultimate aim of ‘Phase Two’ of the DfT-funded IST programme is to extend the same open source fares data and disruption information experience that rail passengers currently enjoy, to bus and tram journeys. By providing quality, open and reliable data, these ‘smart’ innovations will help make travel on public transport an improved and more seamless experience.
The latest Integrated and Smart Travel programme updates are available via the April 2020 newsletter.
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