This month, Jawnt became the latest organization to co-sign the Mobility Data Interoperability Principles (MDIP), joining a coalition of transit agencies, mobility companies and nonprofits that are committed to realizing an interoperable future. We’re proud to be among the transit industry leaders calling boldly for a relationship between transportation and technology that supports efficiency, connectivity, and flexibility for mobility service providers.

What is interoperability?

Put simply, interoperability is the ability of two computer systems to exchange information. This works when the systems follow the same standards. For example, you can send an email in Gmail to someone else who reads it in Outlook, because the protocols around how we manage email are standardized. Email is highly interoperable.

What should be interoperable that’s not?

Even a frequent bus rider may be surprised by how much technology is needed to schedule, dispatch and operate a bus. The chart below, for example, shows all of the hardware and software components needed to keep buses moving at Community Transit in Washington state, which operates a fleet of 282 buses. Larger agencies like SEPTA have even more complicated systems, especially once rail gets involved.

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Source for above image

Each of the boxes above represents a piece of hardware or software that had to be procured. Someone had to win a grant, issue a request for proposals, review the submissions, and make an award. Government procurements are designed to ensure fairness, but they require a lot of effort to be implemented at all, let alone well. 

A reasonable person could look at the mess above and think, “Couldn’t I just buy something that consolidates these steps?” And they could – many vendors offer solutions that solve multiple problems at once. But what if the routing solution that you want to procure runs on its own driver dispatch system, and you don’t want to change the way you dispatch your drivers? This business tactic — to create a universe of products that exclusively work with one another — is called “vendor lock-in,” and it happens all too often. Vendor lock-in forces transit operators to either spend limited funds buying duplicative systems, or toss out things that were already working. It also prevents new vendors with new ideas from breaking into the market, because if they can’t replace everything at once, then they can’t compete with the legacy systems.

Why does interoperability matter to transit payments?

The chart above doesn’t include fare processors, and they’re another complex set of transit technologies. Let’s say you’re getting on a bus and the person in front of you pays with cash, placing the money into a large machine with hardware and software. That’s technology. You didn’t have cash so you bought a pass at a kiosk, which uses another technology. You tap that pass to pay, and then the person behind you taps their debit card — that’s more technology. With interoperability, all of these technologies would work together so the agency can seamlessly tabulate received funds and rides taken.

Jawnt wants to make it as easy as possible for people to pay for and ride transit. Allowing transit agencies to select the best tools for each individual job is a key part of delivering on our vision. 

What are the Mobility Data Interoperability Principles?

1. All systems creating, modifying, or consuming mobility data should be interoperable.
2. Interoperability should be achieved through the development, adoption, and widespread implementation of open standards that support the efficient exchange and portability of mobility data.
3. Transit agencies and other mobility service providers should have access to tools that present high-quality mobility data accessibly, equitably, and in real time to assist travelers in meeting their mobility needs.
4. Transit agencies, other mobility service providers, and travellers should be able to select the transportation technology components that best meet their needs.
5. All individuals and the public should be empowered through high-quality, well-distributed mobility data to find, access, and utilize high-quality mobility options that meet their needs as they see fit, while maintaining their privacy.

These five principles were established by a coalition of public sector and nonprofit organizations that want to navigate the transit technology industry towards a positive future. Read more about them at interoperablemobility.org.

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