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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Data Sharing Guidance for Public Transit Agencies—Now and in the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25696.
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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Data Sharing Guidance for Public Transit Agencies—Now and in the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25696.
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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Data Sharing Guidance for Public Transit Agencies—Now and in the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25696.
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Suggested Citation:"Summary." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2020. Data Sharing Guidance for Public Transit Agencies—Now and in the Future. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/25696.
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SUMMARY Data Sharing Guidance for Public Transit Agencies— Now and in the Future Data is becoming an increasingly valuable commodity. Transit agencies, as owners and users of data, seek to maximize the value of their own data and to access external data sets that can help them serve their communities and operate efficiently. Many transit agencies have realized benefits from sharing their internal data sets, ranging from improved customer information to innovative research findings that help the transit agency improve performance. This report provides practical guidance for transit agencies regarding how to make decisions about sharing transit agency data, including how to evaluate benefits, costs, and risks. The report addresses the following: • Transit Agency Data. How to make decisions about sharing transit agency data, including how to respond to public records requests. • Data from Others. How to access external data sets and factors to consider when seeking access to external data sets. Through interviews and information review, the research team identified two types of models for sharing public transit agency data: • Public Data Sharing (Open Data). Data is shared publicly in an online data repository or dashboard through an Application Programming Interface (API) or in a public-facing report. These sharing models promote transparency and can spur innovation, they but cede control over how the data is used. • Private Data Sharing. In a private data sharing agreement, data is shared with a spe- cific partner, often with a nondisclosure agreement. These types of sharing models can enable transit agencies to meet targeted goals. For example, many transit agencies have research partnerships in which they share data with researchers who address transit agency planning and performance goals. The research team identified numerous examples of benefits that transit agencies have realized through sharing their data. Sharing data can facilitate the following: • Promote transparency and increase awareness of the transit agency and its engagement with transit customers. • Spur innovation and support research that can help transit agencies plan better service and operate more efficiently. • Enable cost savings for transit agencies by using outside resources for data processing and analysis. • Generate revenue (e.g., through advertising). • Support improved customer information. • Support other community functions, such as informing municipalities, real estate developers, and even law enforcement agencies. 1  

2   Data Sharing Guidance for Public Transit Agencies—Now and in the Future • Facilitate multiagency and multimodal mobility solutions. • Support benchmarking activities that help transit agencies track and improve their performance. Through the interview execution and the information review the team also identified risks of data sharing that are perceived by transit agencies and documented in the literature. • Privacy risks are present whenever data has personally identifiable information (PII). Sometimes, the potential for a data set to be combined with other data sets increases this risk. Transit agencies can take steps to protect privacy that include encryption of identifiers, aggregation, and addition of noise (random variation) to data to obfuscate individual patterns. • Security risks can be present if data provides special insight into infrastructure and the locations of the people who use transit that could be used in a physical attack. Through- out the data management and sharing process, there is also risk of a cyberattack exposing private data. • Risks of data misuse can be present whenever data is shared. Although transit agencies seek to mitigate this risk through data documentation, some users may intentionally or unintentionally misinterpret data, drawing conclusions that are incorrect. • Strategic risks are defined as the risk that sharing data could compromise the transit agency’s ability to serve its customers. This includes risks to the transit agency’s reputation and the risk that the information will be used against the transit agency (e.g., by competitors). Transit agency interviewees also noted the costs and effort required to share data. Effective data sharing is built on data collection and management. Many transit agency interviewees indicated these processes are challenging, they lack dedicated staff or a division responsible for data collection and management, and often data collection efforts are not designed with end uses and data sharing in mind. In addition to maximizing the value they can accrue from sharing their own data, the transit agency interviewees indicated their agencies are interested in accessing external data sources as well. Transit agencies have successfully accessed external data sets through the following models: • Purchasing data • Accessing data through a mobility services partnership • Accessing data through a third party • Accessing data through legislation • Accessing publicly available data These models reflect the evolving nature of mobility, including technology-enabled mobility as a service (MaaS), which is changing the data that is collected and the data analytics needs of public transit agencies. In addition, legislation around data privacy is evolving, and transit agencies may choose to play a role in shaping it. Overall, a movement toward data standards, open data, and open data tools can help transit agencies generate more value from their own data and external data sets. Looking into the future, it is important for transit agencies to set goals that can be accomplished through data analysis and data sharing and develop staff capabilities and data sharing processes to work toward those goals. The following are the key findings of this report. Transit Agencies Share Data Frequently and See Many Benefits • Transit agencies collect data on the transit system, including route, schedule, and vehicle location data, which is commonly shared and contributes to customer information. Private developers routinely use route, schedule, and vehicle location

Summary  3   data in customer-facing apps that help transit passengers plan their routes and find out when transit vehicles will arrive at stops and stations. • Transit agencies collect a wide variety of data on transit passengers. Sharing this data also generates value, including research that can improve system performance and increase advertising revenue for the transit agency. Sharing passenger data can generate insights and innovation that are beneficial to the transit agency and may even generate revenue, particularly through advertising. However, these data types have the potential to be used to identify individuals, posing privacy risks. • Transit agencies share some data openly and share other data sets directly with partner institutions or individuals through private data sharing agreements. Route, schedule, and vehicle location data were the most common type of open data shared, but transit agencies also share ridership, on-time performance, survey, and financial data publicly on their websites. In addition, all transit agency interviewees indicated that their agen- cies respond to public records requests for data. Several transit agencies have established data sharing relationships with research institutions and reported on beneficial insights gained through these relationships. • Information disclosure laws govern many aspects of data sharing by transit agencies. These laws vary by state but may include exemptions for data pertaining to individuals or for specific data types. • Private companies in the MaaS industry, including private mobility providers and user information app developers, are interested in transit data. Some expressed a willingness to further discuss the potential to purchase data from transit agencies; others questioned the notion of monetizing data collected by public transit agencies. They are especially interested in geospatial details of transit stations as well as data, such as passenger counts, that can help them plan their services. Transit Agencies May Be Able to Increase the Value of Data Sharing in the Future with the Development of New Data Standards, Moving Toward Open Data and Tools, and Leveraging the Interests of the Private Sector • Data standards have the potential to increase the value of public transit data and make transit agency use of external data sets more efficient. The majority of the transit agency interviewees were supportive of the idea of standards for public transit data types, noting that standards could promote the development of shared tools and other resources. Transit agencies are looking to external organizations for standards creation and adoption. • Open software tools could augment the value of public transit data and help transit agencies use external data sets. A general movement toward open data and open tools can continue to benefit transit agencies. • Private companies in the MaaS industry, including private mobility providers and user information app developers, are interested in transit data. Some expressed a willingness to further discuss the potential to purchase data from transit agencies; others questioned the notion of monetizing data collected by public transit agencies. They are especially interested in geospatial details of transit stations as well as data, such as passenger counts, that can help them plan their services. Data Sharing Challenges are Part of Broader Data Management Needs • Often, transit agency data collection processes are byproducts of other functions of the transit agency (e.g., fare collection, operations, management). More deliberate data collection efforts can ensure transit agencies can maximize the value of their data.

4   Data Sharing Guidance for Public Transit Agencies—Now and in the Future • Collecting, cleaning, processing, documenting, and cataloging data requires significant effort. Those transit agencies that had developed procedures for processing and catalog- ing data found that this saved time responding to both public and internal data requests. Transit agencies may consider charging processing fees for public records requests that require significant effort (if allowed under state law). • Transit agencies identified internal organizational and technical needs to improve their processes for sharing data. Data-focused staff can drive transit agencies’ data sharing programs, developing goals, identifying needs, creating internal data management processes, including a data catalog, and evaluating data sharing opportunities. Transit Agencies are Beginning to Harness the Value of External Data, But Challenges Remain • There is potential value in linking transit agency data sets to external data sets. This can help transit agencies understand first- and last-mile trips and understand modal alternatives to transit. • Transit agencies access external data sets, either by purchasing data or leveraging a mobility services partnership. Or in some cases, they may gain access to data through a third party. The transit agency interviewees acknowledged the challenges of negotiating data sharing agreements with private mobility providers, even when they have reached a service agreement. • Although private sector data, app, and mobility company representatives expressed interest in cooperating with transit agencies, they also cited privacy concerns as one reason their companies avoid sharing individual-level data with transit agencies. In some states, transit agencies may need to work with state legislatures to ensure that data on individuals is exempted from state information disclosure legislation. Or transit agencies can work to access information through a third party. • Cities are beginning to exercise their regulatory power by demanding private mobility providers submit mobility metric data when applying for operational rights on city rights of way. Transit agencies can work with cities to ensure that data requirements meet transit agency needs and that data is shared between the two public entities.

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Transit agencies are beginning to harness the value of external data, but challenges remain.

The TRB Transit Cooperative Research Program's TCRP Research Report 213: Data Sharing Guidance for Public Transit Agencies – Now and in the Future is designed to help agencies make decisions about sharing their data, including how to evaluate benefits, costs, and risks.

Many transit agencies have realized benefits from sharing their internal data sets, ranging from improved customer information, to innovative research findings that help the transit agency improve performance.

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