US transport planners association adopts policy paper on mobility data

The purpose of this paper is to set out why transportation authorities need data from new mobility service providers and what it is used for.

This paper has been adopted amid a backdrop of potential changes to California state legislation which would prohibit the sharing of individual trip data (as well as ban other municipal measures such as capping vehicle numbers and requiring services in underserved parts of a city). The legislation in question AB1112 is supported by the main shared mobility service companies.

Four key principles for mobility data sharing have been adopted:

1.  Public good: cities need mobility data to ensure positive safety, equity and mobility outcomes on public streets and roads used by commercial operators.

2. Protected: all mobility data should be treated as personally identifiable information (PIN) and therefore the strict rules around gathering and holding of such data should apply.

3. Purposeful: cities should clearly state why the data is need and what it’s used for.

4. Portable: cities should be able to open data in open formats, following data sharing agreements and where strict data privacy standards are met.

The paper describes for what purpose city authorities need detailed shared mobility service data, as opposed to aggregated data. Data helps cities in their transportation planning and operational tasks, in particular to strive for the delivery of safe and equitable outcomes. The paper goes to great length in explaining the policies and procedures that should be in place to protect personally identifiable data.

To download the paper, click here.