Summary
This publication presents the analysis of responses received to the “Scottish Bus Open Data Consultation”, which closed in Summer 2025. The consultation sought views on the scope, format, and implementation of proposed Regulations arising from the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, aimed at improving access to bus service information through open data. Respondents included bus operators, local transport authorities, passenger representative groups, technology providers, and individual passengers. Their contributions have provided valuable insight into the practical and technical considerations that will inform the development of this proposed secondary legislation. This analysis summarises the key themes, areas of consensus, and issues raised, ensuring that the legislative framework reflects stakeholder perspectives and presents recommendations to support the delivery of accurate, accessible, and consistent bus information across Scotland.
What is Bus Open Data?
Bus Open Data (or “BOD”) means information about buses and bus routes which is published, free of charge and electronically for the benefit of passengers and interested parties. Information such as the fare for a specific journey, real time information about where the bus currently is, the route, the timetable and onboard information (such as the availability of accessible spaces) are all examples of BOD. We believe that by making this kind of information ‘open’, people will be better informed to make decisions about using public transport, for example, by being able to compare fares between two different operators, or to know where the bus currently is on a route.
The Scottish Government Open Data Strategy, defines open data in this way:
“Open data is non-personal and non-commercially sensitive data. Open data is easily discoverable, accessible to anyone and able to be freely used, re-used and redistributed by anyone. Open Data is data made available, via the internet, in an electronic format which supports its ready re-use, and with open licensing which allows its re-use.”
Why did we consult on Bus Open Data?
Since 2001, Section 33 of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001 has required Local Traffic Authorities to seek to arrange for operators of local services to share some bus service information with the public. Many operators share additional data voluntarily to provide a better passenger experience. In 2019, the Scottish Government brought in new primary legislation for transport, the Transport (Scotland) Act 2019, which included new provisions to better define Bus Open Data, and to require it be shared for the new purpose of directly informing passengers (or potential passengers) about services. We believe that Bus Open Data is essential to make travel on public transport more accessible, and to increase patronage of public transport in Scotland. In order to bring Bus Open Data in, we must set Regulations, also known as ‘Secondary Legislation’, to prescribe the specific details of the scheme. This Consultation was intended to shape that detail, by taking into consideration the views of respondents, particularly those who must supply the data and those who would benefit from its use.
Your Views
We undertook a public consultation between 31 March 2025 and 21 June 2025, and invited views from individuals and organisations on our proposals. We particularly encouraged responses from passengers and their representatives, local authorities, bus operators, data experts, the Competition Markets Authority, other devolved administrations including the Department for Transport for England and their Bus Open Data service supplier. Some of the responses referred to the existing scheme which operates in England, as the only part of the UK which currently has a mandatory (legal) requirement for BOD. In order to accommodate some late running responses, we continued to accept responses for a further two-week period after the official closing date.
Our intention for the proposed Regulations is to only require bus operators to provide data where provision of that data is in the public interest, to avoid creating a burden on operators that has no practical benefit. While we acknowledge that there is an element of administrative burden in providing or hosting data for any organisation, we have similarly taken care not to frame the new requirement as exclusively a burden. The benefit of having information included in an open data set is that it is then more accessible to the public, including potential passengers and should be viewed as a means to increase potential patronage. The balance between the information that individuals would like to have, ideally in a central, accessible location, and the duty to provide that information must be carefully balanced, in line with the overall aim to make travel more accessible, affordable and available.
Our previous 2017 consultation, Local Bus Services in Scotland – Improving the Framework for Delivery, provided a high level overview of the appetite for bus open data in Scotland. It found that the majority of respondents agreed with proposals to require the operators of local services to release data on routes, timetables, punctuality and fares in a specified format.
This was part of the evidence which informed bus provisions within the 2019 Act, including the information Ministers could require by Regulation as Bus Open Data.