friday lunchtime lecture - how can open data revolutionise your rail travel?

How  can  open  data  revolu0onise  your  rail  travel?  

Jonathan  Raper  CEO,  Placr  

Outline  Revolu,onalising  your  rail  travel  means  answering  these  ques,ons  first…  

•  Who  controls  the  railways?  •  How  is  the  industry  structured?  •  Who  pays  for  the  railways?  Then  we  can  drill  down  on  the  issues  that  ma@er…    •  How  do  we  monitor  punctuality?  •  How  do  we  get  the  cheapest  fare?  •  What  are  the  cool  new  apps/services?  

Who  controls  the  railways?  Your tax

Your fares

Courtesy: Network Rail

How  is  the  industry  structured?  

How  are  the  railways  funded?  

•  “Network  Rail…  operates,  maintains,  renews  and  develops  the  infrastructure  to  deliver  the  outputs  that  governments..  wish  to  buy”  ORR  

•  High  Level  Output  Spec  is  what  government  buys  •  “Delivering  a  Sustainable  Railway  2007”  specifies  service  levels  etc  that  will  be  funded  CP4  09-­‐14  

•  Periodic  Review  08  by  ORR  matched  task  &  funds  – Next  PR  this  year  for  CP5  

•  NR  also  borrows  for  capital  investment  

The  governance  problem  for  railways  

•  DfT  only  buys  services  at  a  high  level  •  Almost  all  ToCs  are  monopolies  on  each  line  •  ORR  tolerates  self-­‐regula,on  by  ATOC  •  Passenger  Focus  have  influence  but  no  power  •  The  industry  is  fragmented  and  complex  •  Very  li@le  informa,on  escapes  the  industry  •  Passengers  are  nihilis,c  about  system  

Some  tweets  

•  Ahh  #firstcapitalconnect  -­‐  trains  appear  on  the  KingsX  board  but  it  doesn't  mean  the  train  exists  -­‐  silly  me  [@JerryMarwood]  

•  @FirstCC  We  all  know  Ally  is  a  robot.  Automated  answers  heh  heh  [@penaltyfare]  

•  @FirstCC  I  used  to  get  the  909  from  letchworth  and  it  always  arrived  at  912  so  FCC  cleverly  made  that  train  the  912  but  then  arrived  at  914  [@tumsguide]  

Role  of  Na,onal  Rail  Enquiries  •  NRE  are  a  service  of  ATOC  •  Set  up  to  provide  phone  service  at  priva,sa,on  •  Funded  by  TOCs,  who  are  part-­‐funded  by  taxes  •  Developed  organically  to  run  a  web/API  service  •  Un,l  2012  a  monopoly  supplier  of  all  rail  data  •  Network  Rail  movement  data  now  #opendata  •  NRE  s,ll  exclusively  collect  opera,ng  data  from  TOCS  that  enhances  its  feeds  

•  NRE  license  rail  data  @  £1.50/app  

Role  of  NRE  in  passenger  info  •  What  passengers  want  

– Train  ,mes  for  free  on  web  and  good  value  apps  – Fares  info  to  get  the  cheapest  ,cket(s)  for  journey  –  Integrated  transport  op,ons  

•  What  NRE  say  their  aims  are  (with  some  simplifica,on)  

– “to  increase  ,cket  sales  –  to  grow  our  registered  customer  base  –  to  con,nue  our  dominance  as  the  #1  web  site  in  travel  –  Improving  speed,  accuracy  &availability  of  informa,on  – keep  the  cost  of  informa,on  to  ToCs  down”  

What’s  the  solu,on?  

•  Informa,on.  Lots  of  it.  From  open  sources.  •  Arm  the  consumer…  and  open  up  the  industry:  

– Timetables  to  analyse  service  pa@erns  – Real  ,me  data  to  monitor  delays  – Fares  data  to  iden,fy  savings  eg  fare  spliing  –  Integra,on  with  other  transport  data  eg  bus  

•  Developers  can  help  with  this…  can’t  they?  •  Placr  created  h@p://transportapi.com/  for  this  

NR  train  movement  feeds  •  003-­‐moves{"event_type":  "ARRIVAL”,"gb@_,mestamp”:  

"1358780700000","original_loc_stanox":”  ","planned_,mestamp":"1358780700000",",metable_varia,on":"0","original_loc_,mestamp":"","current_train_id":"","delay_monitoring_point":"false","next_report_run_,me":"1","repor,ng_stanox":"00000","actual_,mestamp":"1358780700000","correc,on_ind":"false","event_source":"AUTOMATIC","train_file_address":null,"planorm":"","division_code":"60","train_terminated":"false","train_id":"072G54MP21","offroute_ind":"false","varia,on_status":"ONTIME","train_service_code":"13569815","toc_id":"60","loc_stanox":"07132","auto_expected":"true","direc,on_ind":"UP","route":"0","planned_event_type":"ARRIVAL","next_report_stanox":"07136","line_ind":""}  |  2013-­‐01-­‐21  15:04:09  |  2013-­‐01-­‐21  15:04:09  

•  002-­‐cancella0ons  25739787  |  0002      |  561d0540-­‐ee1e-­‐012f-­‐9605-­‐00163e000001  |  632O31MY21  |  {"train_file_address":null,"train_service_code":"22710001","orig_loc_stanox":"","toc_id":"26","dep_,mestamp":"1358796120000","division_code":"26","loc_stanox":"63201","canx_,mestamp":"1358849100000","canx_reason_code":"YI","train_id":"632O31MY21","orig_loc_,mestamp":"","canx_type":"AT  ORIGIN"}  |  2013-­‐01-­‐22  10:06:05  |  2013-­‐01-­‐22  10:06:05  

•  001-­‐ac0va0ons  1679921  |  0001          |  C                              |                                        |  2013-­‐12-­‐06                |  321A42MO21  |  2013-­‐01-­‐21                    |  2013-­‐01-­‐21  11:05:15  |                                    |  2013-­‐01-­‐21  14:15:00    |  22108001                      |  65          |  00000                              |  MANUAL                    |  P50657        |  NORMAL                    |  O                          |  32000                              |  1A42M                      |  2012-­‐12-­‐10                    |  1415                        |  38260220-­‐ee20-­‐012f-­‐9605-­‐00163e000001  |  MANCHESTER  PICCADILLY    |  LONDON  EUSTON                            |  VT                |  2013-­‐01-­‐21  11:05:19  |  2013-­‐01-­‐21  11:05:19  

•  Requires  high-­‐speed  consump,on  of  stream  and  cross-­‐referencing  with  reference  sources  

`  

Feeds

Cache

Stop/station data

Joins Data tables

API

App logic

Updating

Lookups

Content

Displays

Maps

Geolocate

Keys App

Processing

TransportAPI architecture

Real-time

Cloud servers

Raw  data  

transportapi  gallery  

What  do  we  want  now?  

•  Ini,al  data  releases  have  enabled  us  to  start  up  services  eg  feeds  for  CityMapper  >>>  

•  Level  playing  field  for  businesses  •  Liberalised  data  market  •  Open  data  driven  innova,on  •  Open  fare  data  expected  soon  

Level  playing  field  

•  Access  to  the  rest  of  industry  data  streams:  – Short  term  cancella,ons  etc  Tyrell  – Rolling  stock  forma,on  etc  Gemini  – Cycle  policies  

•  Full  details  be@er  enable  us  to  launch  informa,ve  apps  about  your  travel  

Liberalised  market  

•  Open  up  commercial  interface  to  new  approaches  to  the  market  – “Liverpool-­‐London  by  train  on  a  Friday  night.  Fare  spliing.  Double  the  journey  ,me  at  a  third  of  the  price.  Not  an  op,on  on  Nat  Rail  Enqs  @Madprof  

•  Enable  innovators  to  find  the  best  deals  and  reliable  services  for  your  journey,  and  then  fulfill  their  order  without  onerous  T&Cs  

Open  data  innova,on    

•  Need  to  enable  new  insights,  build  confidence  e.g.  OpenTrainTimes  map  visualisa,on  

•  New  ways  to  view  performance  measures  

Prototype  open  train  ,mes  

FixMyTransport  

New  metrics  from  apps  

•  Apps  will  create  independent  streams  of  data  about  the  railway  – Typical  performance  cf  expected  performance  

•  Placr  already  been  asked  by  press  to  give  independent  view  of  performance  e.g.  h@p://tube-­‐radar.com/  

Apps  as  probes  

•  Smartphones  can  use  apps  as  probes  for  – Train  progress  – Accelera,on/decelera,on  via  phone  sensors  

•  Can  check  publicity  claims  

Train  lateness  map  transportapi.com  

Fares  

•  Fares  are  about  to  be  released  as  open  data  by  Rail  Se@lement  plan  

•   Will  become  possible  to  mine  the  data  

•  New  role  of  informa,on  facilitators  to  fare  portals  

In  summary  

•  Open  data  can  drive  – Accountability  – Reduc,ons  in  cost  – Disrup,ve  market  influences  

•  Placr  hope  to  play  a  key  role  with  – New  apps/services  – Easy  data  distribu,on  – New  value-­‐added  feeds  

Contact  

h@p://www.placr.co.uk/  jonathan.raper@placr.co.uk  @Madprof