Skip to Content
Streetsblog New York City home
Log In
Bike Sharing

Bike-Share Open Data Standard Clears the Way for Better Trip Planning Apps

1:58 PM EST on November 25, 2015

It's about to get easier to plan trips that include bike-share.

lhj
It's about to get easier for developers of apps like Citymapper to incorporate bike-share data.
lhj

Yesterday, the North American Bikeshare Association, a trade group representing transportation agencies and private firms involved in operating bike-share systems, announced that it is adopting an open data standard. NABSA includes Motivate, the company that operates Citi Bike, Divvy, Bay Area Bike Share, and several other systems in American cities.

The policy means that data about station locations and bike and dock availability will be much easier for software developers to incorporate into trip planning apps. Bike-share data will be released in the same format that transit agencies use, known as the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS).

Previously, variations between systems made the use of bike-share data a cumbersome, one-city-at-time process for developers. Motivate spokesperson Dani Simons said in an email that the open data platform clears the way for rapid integration of bike-share information by companies with huge user bases, like Google and Apple.

"Transit provides a standard data feed already," she said, "which makes it easier for these bigger players to provide transit information to customers, which in turn makes it easier for an individual to decide to take the MTA or the Tokyo Metro or the Portland Max, even if they're new to taking transit in New York, Tokyo or Portland. We want that same level of seamlessness and ease for bike share customers as well."

The bike-share open data standard should also prove useful in other contexts. The GTFS format has enabled sophisticated but accessible geographic analysis like the Regional Plan Association's "Access to Jobs" map, which showed the number and type of jobs you can reach from a given location using different modes of travel.

"I expect we will see similar tools looking at the impact of bike-share, because the effort of getting started and consuming a data feed will be much reduced," said Motivate's Frank Hebbert. "Exactly what function those tools have and the questions they investigate is up to the ingenuity of software and transportation people. I'm excited to see what they come up with."

Have a great Thanksgiving, Streetsblog readers. We'll be publishing regularly again on Monday.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog New York City

Tuesday’s Headlines: Gridlock Alert — And Gridlock Abort — Day Edition

A "Gridlock Alert" day is a perfect day for supporters of congestion pricing to rally in Union Square! Plus other news.

December 5, 2023

‘Crazy Nonsense’: City Now Allows (Cough) Plateless Vehicles to (Cough) Break Idling Law

City environmental protection officials are now refusing to punish owners of commercial vehicles for idling if the trucks don't have license plates — a move that has enraged citizen enforcers.

December 5, 2023

The Explainer: What’s Next for Congestion Pricing?

Let's run through the major issues still looming over New York City's first-in-the-nation congestion toll.

December 4, 2023

Monday’s Headlines: Congestion Ahead Edition

Good news: We're not going to start our week with our typical ascent on our long-legged steed to criticize the Times for its flawed, car-centric coverage. Plus other news.

December 4, 2023
See all posts