Agency Name: | Bus Open Data Service |
Parent Department: | Department of Transport |
Formed: | 28 January 2020 |
Jurisdiction: | England |
Region Code: | GB |
Minister1 Name: | The Rt Hon. Grant Shapps MP |
Minister1 Pfo: | Secretary of State |
Minister2 Name: | The Rt Hon. Baroness Vere of Norbiton |
Minister2 Pfo: | Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Devolution, Roads and Light Rail |
Website: | https://www.bus-data.dft.gov.uk |
The Bus Open Data Service (BODS) is a government-funded service in England, established in 2020[1] as part of the Bus Services Act 2017. It was created in a partnership between ITO World, the Department for Transport and KPMG.[2]
The service is described by ITO World as "an international first", as it provides Open Data of bus timetables, fares and Automatic Vehicle Location of buses across England.[3]
As part of the requirements set by the Department for Transport in The Public Service Vehicles (Open Data) (England) Regulations 2020,[4] the Bus Open Data Service set deadlines for operators to provide data.[3]
The implementation requirements only applied in England[5]
Following the introduction of the Bus Open Data, there have been a number of uses for the system.
Despite providing fare, time and vehicle location, the Department for Transport has ruled out including key accessibility information on bus stops, stations and vehicles despite the Bus Services Act making specific provision for open data, 'for the purpose of facilitating travel by disabled persons'.[9]
A number of operators have struggled to provide the data required by the deadlines provided by the Bus Open Data Service, requiring providers to implement alternative solutions.[10] [11]
The Confederation of Passenger Transport, and operators of home-to-school transport, criticised the requirement for operators to provide data about registered home-to-school bus services, and the exemption of Section 22 community bus services.[12] [13]
Writing in Buses magazine, Centrebus Group owner Julian Peddle called the service "a horrendously bureaucratic and over-engineered system designed by well-meaning but clueless officials in London. It’s running late, does not work properly, and has involved the industry and local authorities in vast amounts of needless work. It’s supposedly been running since January 2021, but has not improved things in the wilds of Shropshire, and never will, because government bureaucrats don’t understand the problem, so have no chance of solving it."[14]