FTA Open Data Policy Guidelines (Report 0095)
This report identifies and documents best practices from transit agencies that have implemented open data practices to improve operational efficiency and increase customer satisfaction and to provide guidance to FTA regarding measures it could take to encourage open source data to the entire transit industry. The mechanisms used to identify best practices were a conference workshop and two webinars where presenters provided information, experiences, practices, and lessons learned from their unique perspectives. The results of the workshop and webinars are consolidated in this report, which is intended to serve as a guidebook for transit agencies desiring to make their data open to the public. Agencies did not report a cost-benefit analysis to justify the effort required; rather, the focus was on a shift in mindset toward liberating the data to improve customer interaction and leveraging technological advancements to extend the agencies’ reach to potential customers.