UITP launches data-sharing project for EU countries

An EU-sponsored project to help European countries share transport data has been launched by the International Association of Public Transport (UITP).

Data4PT plans to support the development of data exchange standards and models across Europe by building a centralised national access point for public transport authorities.

Nine partner states (Austria, Italy, Croatia, Czech Republic, Portugal, Slovenia, Denmark, Norway, Sweden) will form the first stage of the initiative, which had its first virtual meeting last month.

Speaking to Cities Today, Guido Di Pasquale, Deputy Director, Knowledge and Innovation, UITP said: “The first thing we’re doing is working to collect available data from all member states and then assessing what their requirements are, because some already have well-developed national access points, but others don’t have any.”

By supporting countries in deploying a set of harmonised public data standards (including Transmodel and NeTEx), UITP wants to enable regional multimodal travel information services.

While the website for the project has yet to be launched, Di Pasquale said it would be up and running towards the end of May.

In March UITP–along with the International Road Transport Union, Polis, EuroCities and the Community of European Railways and Infrastructure Mangers–drafted an open letter to EU institutions stressing the importance of public transport continuity and the need for personal protective equipment (PPE) to be made available to safeguard the health and safety of public transport workers during the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Some cities have scaled back service frequency due to the subsequent drop in passenger numbers, but this has raised concerns in some quarters about the knock-on effects on both passengers and staff.

The letter also urged the EU to consider budgetary flexibility in order to allow member states and local authorities to respond with measures they deem necessary to stem the outbreak.