Author Archives: Ideal Interface

Open Transport Customer Account API now available on ProgrammableWeb

We have submitted our “Customer Account” API to ProgrammableWeb, the world’s leading source of news and information about Internet-based APIs and this has been accepted. Details can be found here:https://www.programmableweb.com/api/open-transport-initiative-uk Note: This version submitted (v0.8.1) was the one issued for wider industry peer review and ratification. However it has been updated since, based on some …

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The problem with a dis-aggregated transportation network and why one MaaS Platform is not the answer

Residents and visitors of cities, regions and even countries often face a dis-aggregated public transportation network (what we have alternatively called a fragmented transport landscape). Making it more difficult for them to move around without resorting to private transport modes that are typically higher carbon producing than their mass transit competitors. So the idea of …

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Benefits of Open Standards in Transport

Open Standards are useful when developing a technical system. They help to ensure that one application can work with another application in a common way. They therefore provide flexibility to the solution, as they enable: Data to be shared Software to be written by different people or organisations Components to be reused and adapted And …

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The first API Directory for Transport?

Devising a centralised transport operator look-up service has been an interesting output for the Open Transport initiative (as well as creating the actual customer account integration API). But it wasn’t something that we originally anticipated that we would need to do. It was just something that we identified along-the-way as being necessary for true interoperability …

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User Experience principles for Open Transport adoption

When creating the Open Transport API and its associated documentation, it would have been easy to fall into the the trap of just of just focusing on the technology tasks. However, it was also a key consideration of the team to consider the User Experience of those systems that have adopted the Open Standard for …

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An improved user experience with interoperable transport accounts

One of the expected benefits of an interoperability standard for transport accounts is the improvement it gives the end user. Suppose you are a traveller who uses 6 different transport services on a pretty regular basis. This means that (aside from how you plan and buy your tickets) to get a collective view of what …

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Open Transport account integration. Where’s the trick?

Our aim for the Open Transport Initiative is for it to be adopted as a standard by as many transport operators and MaaS platforms as possible. It is why we plan to make v1.0 an Open Standard and freely available without conditions or constraints. “So what do the participating organisations expect to get out of …

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Open Transport Phase One in more detail

The incremental delivery of the the Open Transport initiative has been the plan since it started. Trying to deliver (what we believe) all the functionality the transport industry needs at once Would not be realistic, given the limited resources of the founding team Does not allow for flexibility in delivery over time, as our understanding …

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The benefits of a mobility account Open Standard

We have been asked if it is possible to list out the possible benefits of releasing and adopting a standard for transport account interoperability. So here are a few we have come up with: Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) needs to provide a joined-up view of transportation made across multiple modes to the customer. This is especially relevant …

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