Bus Open Data Service
Building infrastructure to collect data from 400 sources, standardise it into GTFS format, and match vehicle locations to timetables for public transit across England.
Capabilities
Technologies
The Challenge
The Department for Transport needed to transition from a proprietary system to an open-source solution for managing public transit data. The existing black-box system’s internal mechanics were unknown, requiring reverse engineering.
The organisation needed to gather data via API or download from approximately 400 different sources, standardise it into GTFS format, and achieve a target of matching 70% of vehicle location data to timetables.
Our Approach
We implemented a cloud-native architecture using GDS best practices with serverless technology. The team developed a proof of concept to demonstrate viability and engaged data producers by explaining open-source model benefits.
Technical Implementation
- AWS serverless services: Lambda, DynamoDB, Aurora, S3, SQS, ECS Fargate
- Infrastructure as Code with Terraform
- CI/CD pipelines for reliable deployments
- Monitoring and alerting dashboards for operational visibility
Results
- 72% vehicle location data successfully mapped to timetables, exceeding the 70% target
- API response time reduced from 10 seconds to 3 seconds
- Development ongoing with demonstrated improvements across the platform