Lessons in Building an Open Transit Data Platform for Delhi, India: A Case Study for the Developing World

Opening transit data allows for the development of commuter-centric applications, elevating the commute experience and increasing public transit use. Consequently, more governments and transit agencies are building Open Transit Data (OTD) platforms. Such platforms are prevalent in developed countries with policies and infrastructure supporting these digital initiatives. However, the potential for impact of OTD is significantly greater in the developing world, where a major part of the population depends on public transportation to earn their living. In 2018, the authors built the first real-time OTD platform in India for the buses of New Delhi. It now has more than a hundred users that include many popular mobile applications displaying real information to passengers. This paper discusses the underlying framework of the platform elucidating the administrative and technical aspects of it. The authors discuss their experiences with data collection and publishing on the OTD platform along with insights - many of them counter-intuitive - on what processes to follow for optimal results. The authors look at the tools and dashboards made for data collection and monitoring quality. The authors also discuss some applications of OTD that are currently being used by the public.

• Record URL:
  https://annualmeeting.mytrb.org/OnlineProgram/Details/17177
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper was sponsored by TRB committee AP090 Standing Committee on Transit Data.
• Authors:
  • Srivastava, Kshitij
  • Jain, Atul
  • Girsa, Rajan
  • Biyani, Pravesh
• Conference:
  • Transportation Research Board 101st Annual Meeting
  • Location: Washington DC, United States
  • Date: 2022-1-9 to 2022-1-13
• Date: 2022

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 17p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Data collection; Databases; Developing countries; Mobile applications; Public transit
• Geographic Terms: Delhi (India)
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01857917
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: TRBAM-22-04580
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Sep 16 2022 4:31PM