Why better data sharing could help public transport

As the world’s industries become increasingly data-led and AI-driven, the lens is being turned on public transport and the ways in which collaborative data-sharing could improve its function. Let’s take a closer look.

What is happening in the public transport industry?

Local authorities are being encouraged to collaborate more effectively with data collection company providers and consultants in a bid to deliver better public transport modelling. This will help to improve service delivery and speed up the development of new projects, with higher quality outcomes. At the same time, real-time traffic management could improve with better access to data as it is available.

What is the challenge with data and public transport?

Huge amounts of data already exist for public transport. Much of this data is also held in private spaces, with data collection company providers such as Shepper able to gather and process huge amounts of data; however, transport data sharing and modelling are currently very disjointed, meaning that many opportunities are missed for a better service and a more joined-up transport provision across the UK.

Local authorities tend not to speak to each other, even though their public transport challenges are similar. The focus is now on collaboration, with the aim of achieving better results for service users and data collection economies of scale. Access to larger bodies of comparable data collected by data collection company partners can greatly improve modelling.

Another challenge for data collection company providers and local authorities is that the communication between the different bodies involved tends to be minimal. This means complex models cannot be quickly broken down into actionable takeaways.

The opportunities with better data collection

At the same time, there is a great opportunity to invest in complex modelling software, which the industry already relies on heavily to help decarbonise public transport, reduce car reliance, and encourage people to cycle, walk, and use public transport more.

The industry is now seeking to work together more collaboratively to tackle these issues and unlock better results for national service users.