This is a guest post by Kirsty Pitkin, late of First’s @bathcsc experiment. She looks at how people outside the industry might use bus data to help passengers and she will end with a plea. She has a tribute site to the former Manvers Street bus station that is now replaced by a brand new terminus 
In my geekier web browsing, I recently came across an article which discussed how information from various sources in the USA might be combined to calculate a commutability “transit score” to an area. This included information about public transport and walking. The article argued that the “Transit score is a great example of why government agencies should open their data. Citizens can make better decisions when they have the data.”
Back home, we have the data openly available here, at NPTG that could offer commuters this type of service when investigating where to live. However, even where data are available, the article notes the need for regional developers to be involved, as this data was often “...very messy, out-of-date and error-ridden”. I don't know how true that would be here, but I do believe that local developers can be an extremely valuable and inspirational asset for bus companies that want to use technology to inform their passengers better and encourage bus use.
Ideas from the Geeks
Whilst I was running @bathcsc, I obviously attracted a lot of attention from Bath's not inconsiderable and highly creative IT community, many of whom were keen to share their ideas about what they could do if more bus data were to be made openly available for analysis and re-use.
Here are some of their suggestions...
“Where's My Bus?” Mobile Application
I was often asked whether the company could make available local GPS or tracking data so that local developers could combine this with timetable information, open maps etc to create mobile applications that provide real time information about delays to their choice of bus service. I can feel the intake of breath now! Of course, there may be very good commercial reasons not to make such data publicly available. However, in an idea world, I believe that allowing genuine bus users to develop their own applications would not only provide a useful range tools without great financial outlay from the individual bus companies, but would also help to increase trust in reliability and punctuality figures. It’s kinda already happening with public data in London and in Manchester.
I know that there are lots of projects underway to provide this type of information at bus stops, and even some projects like NextBus Bristol which are starting to make a move in this direction. How these are fairing in this age of austerity, I don't know. However, I would like to note that I did not receive a single request for RTPI at bus stops whilst running the @bathcsc experiment. Finding out that your bus is delayed when you reach the bus stop is just too late in the age of the mobile web.
To be concluded...
Monday, 30 August 2010
Geeky Things to do with Bus Data
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4 comments:
"However, I would like to note that I did not receive a single request for RTPI at bus stops whilst running the @bathcsc experiment. Finding out that your bus is delayed when you reach the bus stop is just too late in the age of the mobile web."
That's a very interesting and noteworthy point. It is easy to get carried away by the technical possibilities of systems and data, and to forget to analyse whether the proposed technical 'solution' actually solves (or helps to solve) a real problem.
It must be almost twenty years ago now that there was a scheme to setup display screens with real time information at bus stops in the city where I lived at the time. As one person observed, if an intending passenger goes to a bus stop and discovers that their bus is running ten minutes late, they may well be tempted to walk if their journey is short, or perhaps part of the way. Without that knowledge, they would simply wait at the stop until the bus arrives. So RTI may cause a loss of passengers and/or revenue! Then, of course, there was the money that would be spent on the scheme - at that time, estimated to be the equivalent of 80 new buses. That number of buses could have been used to make a genuine improvement to the service - and might actually have increased passenger numbers.
So, I would suggest that any new 'geeky' applications should be carefully analysed to assess whether there is a real need for them, and whether it is actually in the operators' commercial interest to release their data for such uses.
“...very messy, out-of-date and error-ridden”
That sounds like Naptan data alright. So very, very much.
I'd expect that in the next ten years, mobile internet technology would let a waiting passenger use his/her phone to see images from the forward-facing CCTV on the bus they're waiting for.
RTPI at bus stops is reassuring if nothing else. I think survey data suggested that, and it is better than timetable info!
But where RTPI is available, it is (in the settings I am familiar with) web/WAP/SMS accessible - so you can check when the next bus is and plan when to leave work/home/museum accordingly. I use it extensively in Yorkshire.
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