Advancing Sustainable Transportation in Canada Through Open Data Standards
“As Canada strives to build a more sustainable future, transportation plays a pivotal role in achieving environmental and social goals. Our very own Heili Toome, Global Engagement Director here at MobilityData, provided a compelling perspective on how open data standards can transform the nation’s transport ecosystem. In her op-ed, Advancing Sustainable Transportation in Canada Through Open Data Standards, Heili highlights how making transportation data accessible and accurate is essential for increasing ridership, fostering trust, and equitably serving diverse populations. With insights grounded in real-world successes, Heili outlines how Canada can leverage open data to create integrated, multi-modal mobility systems that connect communities, improve infrastructure, and support the needs of a growing and diverse population. The full article can be read on TheFutureEconomy.ca or below.“
MobilityData is a unique organization: it’s a global nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of open transport data standards. If you ever use an app to tell you when the next train is coming, where the closest bus routes are, or how you can find a nearby shared bike or scooter, you’re part of our world.
Everyone should have access to safe, reliable, sustainable, empowering transportation options so that they can lead their best lives. To achieve that, we need data and standards, like the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) and General Bikeshare Feed Specification (GBFS), so that we can share information with riders thoughtfully, consistently, and transparently. GTFS is currently produced by more than 10,000 transit operators across the globe, while GBFS is used by over 900 shared mobility systems across five continents; data is made available through trip planners like Google Maps, Apple Maps, and the Transit app. Open data standards improve mobility for all.
Why are data and standardization at the crux of Canada building a sustainable transport ecosystem for Canadians? It increases ridership, builds rider trust, and serves riders equitably. GTFS is critical for riders to discover public transit services. When data is not compliant, it can’t be published to trip-planning apps, and riders can’t find it. When data is consistently missing or inaccurate, riders choose other transportation options. Riders need to know different factors about their trip (length of time, wheelchair accessibility, cost, etc.) depending on their needs.
The Importance of Data Standards for Sustainable Transport
Many cities across Canada have made great strides in improving sustainable transport through public transit, shared mobility modes, and on-demand solutions, focusing on building multi-modal friendly cities. But we’re not fully there… yet. Canada faces many challenges and opportunities, and transport data can help to influence advancement in building better communities, infrastructure, and services for our growing, diverse populations.
Using open data standards to inform decisions on how we plan and deliver housing that connects communities with fitted integrated mobility ecosystems—considering all modes from public transit to shared vehicles like bikes, scooters, and cars—is a sustainable way to build communities.
We are seeing an uprise in population from young professionals and families to the aging population moving out of urban centres to suburbs and rural areas. With some advancements in infrastructure connecting suburban and rural areas to urban centres, there are still many miles to go in advancing rural transportation on a similar scale. Traditional, fixed-route transit is often underdeveloped or not economically feasible in suburban and rural parts of Canada. How can we build a sustainable transport network if we’re not innovating on service offerings?
Many regions in Ontario and across Canada have started to implement demand-responsive transit (DRT) services to bridge the gap. But how do people discover and use these DRT options? Open data standards, specifically GTFS Flex, support the integration and discoverability of DRT options through trip planners, providing integrated routing options not only for fixed routes but also a range of additional services, such as dial-a-ride, routes with fixed paths but flexible detours or deviations for pickups and drop-offs, point-to-zone services, and point-deviation or “checkpoint” services, where passengers can board or alight at any point along a list of unordered stops. On a global scale, cities in the US, Europe, and Oceania are also seeing the benefits of flexible transit services and are implementing GTFS Flex to better connect riders to transportation options in areas where fixed-route transit is not available.
But, no matter where you live and what sustainable transport options are available to you, there’s a need for greater public awareness and acceptance of sustainable transport modes, public transit, shared mobility modes, and electric vehicles. Awareness and discoverability of sustainable transport options is a key piece to driving usage and to influence modal shifts. Through the widespread adoption and use of GTFS and GBFS in cities and regions across Canada, we can advance the availability of traveller information to support the discoverability and reliability of services.
What are the Challenges and Opportunities?
One of Canada’s key challenges is policy change, which must come from the government level to influence the ecosystem. Specifically, policy change that mandates open data standards and specifies clear, high-quality data practices.
Many cities are enhancing their public transit systems and multi-modal offerings, focusing on expanding networks and improving service efficiency. Data standards can help travellers get consistent, reliable information about their transportation options: for instance, when is the next bus coming? Which routes am I near right now? How can a bikeshare fill the first-mile or last-mile legs of a trip? System operators can also benefit not just by increasing ridership and rider satisfaction but by improving the efficiency of their services, better matching them to demand. Data can illuminate where people are going, where they want to go, and when, allowing operators to make informed decisions. The private sector, including vendors and consultants, benefits from a single market that can include all players, leading to new business opportunities and potentially new business models. Open data standards really are a win for everyone.
A great opportunity lies in prioritizing engagement with new and moving Canadian populations as they settle in Canada or into new communities. To catch these people during big moments of change in their lives while adapting to new norms and ways of life is perhaps the most powerful opportunity to influence travel habits. How will they now get to work? How will the kids get to school? Are grocery stores and shops close enough to walk, bike, or take a quick transit ride to? Once transport habits are formed, it is much more difficult to influence change. These decisions start with awareness and discoverability of mobility options available.
What Must Canada Do Now to Advance Open Data Standards for Transport?
Canada must harness collaboration and leverage public-private partnerships to support innovation. Open data standards help move the transport industry forward. They enable leaders in the technology, payments, mapping, and service sectors to advance innovative solutions that can be adopted by agencies and operators across the globe. Canada can capitalize on its technological strengths to create innovative transportation solutions, as we have seen with tap-to-pay.
The private sector, encompassing vendors and consultants, gains from a unified market that integrates all stakeholders, creating new business opportunities and the potential for innovative business models. Open data standards truly benefit all parties involved. MobilityData is committed to Canadian and global leadership in connecting stakeholder groups in all corners of the world with a common goal: better transportation through data. By analyzing and utilizing transit data, cities and planners can better understand travel patterns, demand, and behaviours, which are key factors in building sustainable, efficient, and livable communities around transit hubs.
This article was written by Heili Toome, Global Engagement Director at MobilityData. You can also read this article on TheFutureEconomy.ca.
