Hayden Sutherland, Founder & Chair of the Open Transport initiative gave this presentation on 28th January 2020 at the Transport Ticketing Global 2020 event in London.

1. Introduction to
Open Transport
Hayden Sutherland

2. Introduction
o Hayden Sutherland
o Founder and Chair of the Open Transport Initiative
o Director of Ideal Interface, a digital consultancy
o The work I am presenting is a joint effort from
25+ contributors across the transport &
mobility industry:
o Public transport: Bus, Rail, Ferry, etc.
o Private transport: Car hire, MaaS Platforms,
EV suppliers, car parking, etc.
o Industry vendors & consultants

3. In a nutshell
Open Transport has created an
Open Standard for federated transport &
mobility account interoperability
Open Banking
For Transport

4. Current situation
• Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) is maturing as a
concept
• Transport start-ups are growing in number &
market share
• But…
– Each new entrant into the transport (public or
private) market is a new source of customer data
– Each new MaaS platform creates its own
customer account AND can introduce proprietary
integration standards
– Transport Providers are enriching their self-
service accounts to provide a better user
experience AND build a relationship with their
customers…
And they want to maintain this.

5. How it could look to the customer
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
MaaS Platform
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
a/ca/c
MaaS Platform
a/c
Transport
Service
Providers
a/c
?
a/c a/c a/c
Customer has to access
multiple accounts to get a
complete view

6. How it should look with Open Transport
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
MaaS Platform
a/ca/c
MaaS Platform
a/c
Transport
Service
Providers
a/c
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
Transport
Service
Providers
a/ca/c a/c a/c
Customer can access just
one integrated account
now to get complete view

7. What does Open Transport Provide?
1. An Open Standard for federated
transport customer account
interoperability
– API specification for integrating data (not
customer PII) held in participating systems
– Allows Transport Providers to still maintain
relationship with their own customers
2. An Open Standard for a centralized
operator information look-up service
– The first transport / mobility API directory
– “An API for transport APIs”

8. 3 account data entities
1. Purchase
– Ticket, pass to travel, contract to
use service, etc.
2. Usage
– Journey, parking duration, etc.
– Includes services used (e.g.
charging, calls, etc.)
3. Concession
– Railcard, staff discount scheme,
voucher, etc.

9. Centralised Operator Look-Up
• Directory service
– The UK banking system has Sort-Codes
(IBAN/SWIFT)
– But… there was no directory service (e.g.
account API URLs) for every MaaS platform or
transport provider
• Validation service
– In a fragmented transport landscape some
reference information is needed
– Other standards have loose compliance which
can cause issues
– And…. A consistent “mode” reference for a
transport & mobility

10. High-level architecture

11. Potential supporters & adopters
1. Transport Authorities/ Regulators
– Mandate its use in new franchise & contracts
– Potential wider aggregated view
2. Public Transport Operators
– Wider multi-modal interoperability
3. Private Operators
– Established Mobility-as-a-Service Platforms
– Start-ups, for wider integration possibilities
4. Transport software vendors
– Ease/speed of implementation
– Wider market potential (WORM: write once, reuse
many)
5. Other new services?
“Anyone with a
transport account or
with responsibility for
ensuring future
transport account
interoperability”

12. Deliverables & timescales
• 14th October 2019 (International Standards Day)
– Draft ‘Customer-account’ API specification v0.9 issued for
industry peer review
• 4th November
– Draft ‘Operator-info’ look-up API specification v0.9.1
issued for industry peer review
• 3/4/5th December
– Industry presentations & sessions
• 20th December
– Final date for feedback and questions
• 3rd January 2020
– Launched 2 x specifications as Open Standards
– Official handover of on-going management and further
changes of specification & documentation from Ideal
Interface to the new ‘Open Transport’ organisation

13. Open Standard?
• Yes, the standards are fully Open
– Free to use (adopt & adapt)
– No conditions – just a public reference
please
• v1.0 is now generally available from
3rd January 2020
– SwaggerHub
– ProgrammableWeb
• Standards Board created
– Provides ongoing management
– Assesses proposed incremental changes

14. Connect/join accounts
Disconnect/sever accounts
View source tickets
View source journeys
View source concessions
Account Functionality
Centralised look-up service
Back-end Functionality
Update source tickets
Update source journeys
Update source concessions
Account Functionality
Centralised look-up
service?
Back-end Functionality
Integrate payment service
View source a/c balance
Update source a/c balance
Account Functionality
Centralised look-up
service?
Back-end Functionality
Phase 1 (3rd Jan 2020)
Join & View Accounts
Phase 2 (TBA)
Update Source Account
Phase 3 (TBA)
Payment & Source Account Update
Our Roadmap

15. Get involved
• Review our Open Standard
– Does it meet your needs?
– If not, propose an amendment
• Adopt our Open Standard
– Download
• Get involved
– Spread the word!

16. Find out more
• Website
– https://opentransport.co.uk/
• API Specifications
– https://app.swaggerhub.com/apis/open-transport
• Contact us:
– contact@opentransport.co.uk