The Opportunities for Smart Data in Transport & Mobility

Posted byIdeal Interface

The recent Smart Data Roadmap published by the UK Government’s Department for Business & Trade was a pleasant surprise for the Transport & Mobility sector, as it specifically mentions transport (alongside energy, telecommunications, retail, etc.). It even lists a number of actions to be carried out by the Department for Transport [DfT] over the next year, including:

  • Taking forward discovery work to develop transport use cases for Smart Data.
  • Using the outcomes of the discovery to shape the evidence for a Call for Evidence in Autumn 2024, along with potential questions.
  • Publishing further detail on the opportunities for Smart Data in the transport sector in 2025.

These activities are expected to highlight the range of purposes that Smart Data can be used for across the sector and hopefully allow it to make swift progress through the different stages of Smart Data maturity… from “Identification” to “Consultation”, then “Design” and then eventually “Implementation” of something like an Open Banking for Transport & Mobility scheme.

The need for Smart Data Pilots

The Smart Data Roadmap also contained some examples of the opportunities for Smart Data in Transport. Naming: The Bee Network in Greater Manchester (that uses Bus Open Data Service information for real-time feeds) and the Future Transport Zones [FTZ] (large scale DfT sponsored Mobility-as-a-Service [MaaS]  schemes being set-up & run in different areas of England).

However, it is important to note that none of the initiatives mentioned currently provides any form of Smart Data account sharing functionality to their customers. And perhaps more importantly… that no MaaS scheme being run anywhere in the UK has yet to fully comply with the GDPR individual right to data portability.

There are many benefits for the adoption of Smart Data in transport & mobility sector. It is therefore important to mobilise pilot Smart Data schemes across the UK, to understand the intricacies of implementing and running them at any scale.