Objective-Driven Data Sharing for Transit Agencies in Mobility Partnerships is a 25-page white paper intended to support the decision-making of transit agencies that are considering implementing a Mobility on Demand (MOD) or similar integration with private mobility service providers, with a focus on data exchange requirements.

The paper 1  outlines the types of information transit agencies might need, depending upon the type of project and its objectives. The paper then discusses the challenges that agencies have faced in attempting to obtain the data, including concerns over privacy, proprietary data, security, level of 

aggregation, data needed for the National Transit Database and to support federal funding, and the capability limitations of the agencies. The white paper states that reaching data sharing agreements between the public and private partners was one of the primary challenges of MOD Sandbox projects. Throughout the paper, specific MOD Sandbox projects are discussed as examples for data needs, challenges, and solutions. Much of the content is based on lessons learned from the FTA’s MOD Sandbox program.

The white paper then presents project level, regulatory, and legislative options for overcoming these challenges. It includes a decision tree to aid agencies with sequential decision-making to determine the best approaches based on project type, project objectives, and constraints. The decision tree at the end addresses two types of projects: MOD service projects and Multimodal Trip Planning App projects. Project and policy level decisions are identified in the tree, and the advantages and disadvantages of each decision are presented in a table. Decisions include whether to pursue modernizing public record laws, whether to manage data in-house versus using a third party, and whether to establish a common API or pursue individual API agreements with each service provider.

In addition to this paper, readers can also access a webinar 2 presented by the FTA and the Shared-Use Mobility Center. The webinar aims to help transit agencies overcome this hurdle by determining the right data-sharing approach for their project and considering the benefits and trade-offs of various options.

Type
External Resource
Category
Research Reports & Papers