PSI DIRECTIVE AND RE-USE OF MULTIMODAL MOBILITY INFORMATION

The PSI Directive is a legal instrument allowing for the implementation of a horizontal policy that aims to facilitate the re-use of public sector information. However, it is not the only one. There are other directives, regulations and proposals for regulation which provide rules for the re-use of information in specific sectors. One of them regards the multimodal infomobility.

EU-wide multimodal infomobility

In the framework of the Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) across Europe, the main reference for which is the ITS Directive (Directive 2010/40/EU), an important role is played by multimodal infomobility. When passengers have to combine different transport modes to reach a destination, they face difficulties such as route planning, ticketing and payments.

Over the years, the European Commission has integrated the ITS Directive with some delegated acts dealing with specific aspects of infomobility:

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 305/2013 about the interoperable EU-wide eCall,

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 885/2013 about safe and secure truck parking,

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 886/2013 about road safety-related minimum universal traffic information,

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 962/2015 about road and traffic data by road authorities,

Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2017/1926 about EU-wide multimodal travel information services.

In particular, Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2017/1926 foresees that by 1 December 2019 the EU Member States will have to communicate to the European Commission the actions put in place to set up the national access points to multimodal infomobility and the modalities of their functioning.

These national access points have to constitute a single point of access for users to the static travel and traffic data and historic traffic data of different transport modes. The provision of dynamic real-time travel and traffic data is left as an option.

Consequently, travel and traffic data provided by the national access points have to be considered reusable open data. The conditions for the reuse are described in article 8 point 1 and 4.
In short, they shall be accurate and up to date, accessible for re-use on a non-discriminatory basis and may be subject to a license agreement provided that the restrictions are minimal and the costs reasonable.

ARTICLE 8 of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 2017/1926

The travel and traffic data listed in the Annex and the corresponding metadata including information on the quality thereof shall be accessible for exchange and reuse within the Union on a non-discriminatory basis, through the national or common access point and within a time-frame that ensures the timely provision of travel information services. They shall be accurate and up to date. [Point 1]

The terms and conditions for the use of the traffic and travel data provided through the national access point may be determined through a licence agreement. Those conditions shall not unnecessarily restrict possibilities for reuse or be used to restrict competition. Licence agreements, whenever used, shall in any event impose as few restrictions on reuse as possible. Any financial compensation shall be reasonable and proportionate to the legitimate costs incurred of providing and disseminating the relevant travel and traffic data. [Point 4]

What are the travel and traffic data?

Traffic and travel information is everything that allows a traveller to obtain door-to-door information for well-informed travel decisions (pre-trip) as well as information during the journey (on-trip). Annex I of the Delegated Regulation provides for three levels of service.

Level of service 1, which shall be set up within 1 December 2019, includes static travel data as shown in the table.

Level services 2 and 3 have to be accomplished by 2020 and 2021.

New opportunities for the re-users

Re-users can play a productive role in the development of a traveller information service at European, national and local level. These opportunities are interesting and the legal framework to support them is in place.

The PSI Directive provides the general framework for the conditions governing re-use of public sector documents in order to ensure fair, proportionate and non-discriminatory conditions for the re-use of such information whereas article 8 of 2017/1926 Delegated Regulation of 31 May 2017 reinforces the concepts of the multimodal mobility information.

The availability of public data on mobility, traffic and transport will surely bring new business opportunities to light but they will have to be in line with the public urban mobility policy; this is why the Delegated Regulation allows the use of Licence agreements for the mobility data.

Possible applications and services may vary from the assessment and improvement of the quality of the infomobility data to the evaluation of the efficiency of the activities of the operators, from the comparison of fare data to integrated ticketing, from the analysis of historic data to the prevention of accidents and so on.

Where we are?

The process of setting up of the National Access Points is progressing at different speeds depending on the country. According to the official list:

20 countries have already set up their RTTI National Access Points as required by Delegated Regulation 962/2015 (where RTTI stands for Real-time traffic information);

8 countries have set up their MMTIS National Access Points as required by Delegated Regulation 1926/2017 (where MMTIS stands for multi modal information services).

This means that there are still many barriers to be overcome.

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