Why are we consulting on bus open data?

Since 2001, section 33 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 has required Local Traffic Authorities to seek to arrange for operators of local services to share some bus service information with the public, and many operators also share data voluntarily to provide a better passenger experience. In 2019 the Scottish Government brought in new primary legislation for transport (the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019), which included new provisions to better define bus open data, and to require it be shared for the new purpose of directly informing passengers (or potential passengers) about services. We believe that bus open data is essential to make travel on public transport more accessible, and to increase patronage of public transport in Scotland.

We intend to introduce new supporting legislation, known as Regulations (or ‘Secondary Legislation’) which define what specific information is required to be published, when, and in what format. This will allow for consistency across Scotland and will help us align with changes already underway in the wider UK.

This will directly affect bus operators in Scotland, as well as bus passengers and potential bus passengers, and may also be of interest to other groups whose members have an interest in bus operations in Scotland.

The Scottish Government’s role in bus open data is to:

• Set the vision and objectives of what bus open data will achieve and how
• Establish the case for change and rationale for intervention regarding existing bus journey planning practices
• Introduce regulations to provide for and facilitate bus open data
• Specify the data standards and requirements for bus open data
• Support the wider bus industry and operators to deliver bus open data