The Scottish Bus Open Data Consultation

There are a variety of different data standards that exist which are used to provide different types of travel data or to provide data in a particular way to a data processor for data consumers. Data formats are established standards for data exchange which individual organisations can follow to provide their data to another person. Some data formats are more commonly known by their acronym, for example the National Public Transport Access Nodes standard, a UK Government standard for bus stops, railway stations ferry ports, is commonly known as simply NaPTAN data.

Within bus service information, the most common standards in operation are TransXChange (TXC) for timetables, Network Timetable Exchange format (NetEx) for fares, Service Interface for Real Time Information (SIRI) for real time data, and NaPTAN for bus stop information. There is no single data format which currently exists which can provide timetable information, fares information, real time data and bus stop information.

There are seven alternate data formats that can be used to provide Information about the times of services and stopping places in addition to TransXChange. These are ATCO CIF, JESS HASTUS, NetEx, and SIRI. There is a single standard for bus stop location and facilities data, the NaPTAN data format. Fares information can be provided in NetEx and GTFS standard, while real time location and real timetable information can be supplied via SIRI or GTFS. Real time onboard information about accessibility or capacity can use the SIRI standard.

While the intention is to prescribe the required standard in legislation, Transport Scotland also intends to keep the development of new and existing standards under review, and this may mean updating legislation to specify a different standard in the future, if that best serves the needs of passengers and operators.