Bringing open data solutions to our streets

The rapid rate of urbanization and inefficient transport systems lead to poor mobility for billions of poor people around the world affecting their health, safety, and economic development. In many cities across the world poor do not have adequate and affordable access to public transport modes. The poor either cannot reach, or rely on walking or cycling to reach economic opportunities. In some African cities, up to 70% of the urban population walks or cycles. Urban infrastructure is often unfavorable and unsafe for the poor, who are overexposed to motor fumes and form a large percentage of all motor accident-related deaths. Despite adverse living conditions, the poor often choose to live in slums close to their economic opportunities because affordable housing, located on the periphery of cities is far from economic opportunities, and is not well connected by affordable public transport.

Over a billion people across the world live in slums and this population is expected to double in the next 30 years. Furthermore, an estimated 7-20% of the urban population in Asian and African cities that relies on informal transport for their livelihoods is poor and faces unsafe working conditions.

CHALLENGES FACING URBAN MOBILITY DOMAIN

For two years, beginning in September 2011, Intellecap worked with the support of the Rockefeller Foundation to assess the scale, scope, impact, and root causes of the urban mobility problem, identify innovative business models in transport catering to the urban poor, and specific challenges in integrating formal and informal means of transportation. We understand that the impact of poor mobility globally is both wide and deep.

Mobility is likely to become progressively more challenging with the growth of middle class and rapid urbanization in developing countries.
Economic growth, growing aspirations of the middle class, and increasing affordability of motor vehicles pose an eminent threat to the mobility infrastructure. New car sales have increased 35% from 45 mn in 2005 to 61 mn in 2012 and motorcycle and scooter sales are expected to be 75 mn new units by 2015.

There are three systemic challenges that affect urban mobility for the poor:

Lack of data on the development impact of poor mobility means the sector does not capture the interest of development finance agencies.
Poor planning and inefficient resource management have led some cities closer to a point where it would take drastic measures and disproportionate amounts of investment to return to a sustainable state.

The success of interventions is highly dependent on the effectiveness of local implementation agencies.

PANACEA BY OPEN DATA APPS

Open data applications could help address some of these challenges. For instance, open data analytics could help in assessing the economic impact of poor mobility on the poor. Socio-economic data maps down to the street and community level could help accurately map the neediest groups. Connecting that to a spatial mapping of economic opportunities, schools, hospitals, and other essential services could help cities assess the economic impact of poor mobility. Google is trying to do this through the Open Data Kit-a tool developed to help create a repository of maps that capture a number of data points about global populations.

Moreover, University of Twente has independently done a similar mapping and analysis for Ahmedabad-helping the city plan its transport so that it connects its poor with economic opportunities better. Similarly, urban data sets made public in Chicago were accessed by the Urban Center of Computation and Data to build a multi-dimensional model that could simulate the impact of adding or subtracting bus lines on a region's crime, unemployment or access to healthcare.

Mobile connectivity and mobile data could bring about system efficiencies, and help create a better transport system and efficiently planned cities. Informal transit workers often work inefficiently because they are disconnected from information about their users. Connecting user demand information to informal transit service providers (such as rickshaw and taxi drivers) through mobile devices could help service providers become more efficient and increase their revenues. Fazilka Ecocabs is connecting thousands of riders to rickshaw service providers in a few districts in Punjab. Data generated from such operations can be used to make transit systems more efficient over time, and potentially increase revenues and improve living standards for rickshaw pullers. Additionally, such data could be used by city governments to plan for optimal provision of public transportation options.

Data analytics and information and communication technology have helped create smart cities that are able to achieve carbon reduction, and more efficient transportation and land use. Tracking user data on route utilization, on incidences of accidents and crime, and on cost of transportation could help in informed decision-making for policy makers and government implementation agencies. Technology applications can enable data collection on route utilization by just tracking the movement of cellphone data for users. Cities and even governments can become better equipped to plan for both efficient mobility and industrial development, and curb unemployment, if they have access to urban data.

BUT WE NEED MORE DATA...

While open data applications have tremendous potential to support solutions in inclusive urban mobility, the data available in the public domain today is just not enough. We need to encourage organizations and individuals to actively share more data to make open data tools more accurate, rich, and intelligent. Data is particularly scarce in developing countries where information systems are less evolved.
Social media and mobile service providers could play an important role by sharing data about transit systems with planners and policy makers. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook can be mined for live information on accidents and transport related crime. That said-social media and mobile service providers need to engage in responsible data sharing practices that are mindful of privacy issues and masks personal and sensitive information. Perhaps a dialogue about global protocol for public data sharing could help standardize the quality of data shared and alleviate concerns about breach of individual privacy.

...AND STANDARDIZED REPORTING

One of the most formidable challenges with data today is that it exists in various forms that are difficult for computers to decode, standardize, organize, and analyze. Developing and advocating use of a global standard for transport data reporting could make application development easier. The General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS), adopted by hundreds of transportation agencies globally, has attempted to do exactly that. Cities can follow the reporting standards to send data to Google Maps and other application developers. Technology entrepreneurs can use this data to power internet and mobile applications that aid commuters. EACOMM is doing this in partnership with Google by aggregating information on public transport in Metro Manila.

PARTING SHOTS

There is no silver bullet solution to resolving mobility challenges for the urban poor. It is an issue that requires global collaboration and a portfolio of solutions that ranges from policy advocacy to extension work for transit service providers. However, organizations that have collected vast repositories of valuable data, as well as those that are developing tools to analyze this data to make it useful, offer the potential to augment the impact of mobility solutions at all levels. Open data and its applications could help address some of the systemic challenges such as lack of impact assessment and inefficient planning. Development agencies that work in urban mobility, transport policy and decision makers, urban planning agencies, and local implementation bodies can benefit tremendously from open data applications.

These organizations could advocate for increased sharing of data that is critical for decision-making in urban mobility, and collaborate with organizations such as Google and the University of Twente that are developing tools to analyze this data. The open data revolution has created windows of opportunities in several fields of global economic development. Governments across the world have taken great initiatives by sharing data publicly. Open data applications in inclusive urban mobility are just another reason for the revolution to continue.