Interoperable Transit Data

This RMI report advocates for interoperable transit data (ITD) as the foundation for 'Mobility as a Service' (MaaS), a system designed to replace personally owned vehicles with on-demand, multimodal transport. It identifies barriers such as fragmented payment systems, inconsistent data licensing, and regulatory differences between public and private providers. The report proposes solutions including public-private partnerships, the development of new data standards, and pilot projects to demonstrate the economic and environmental benefits of reducing single-occupancy vehicle trips.

• Personal mobility in the U.S. is heavily reliant on personally owned vehicles, which account for over 80 percent of trips and 75 percent of commutes. This system is characterized by high costs and environmental impacts, with personally owned vehicles accounting for 15 percent of U.S. emissions and 10 percent of global emissions, while remaining unused for over 95 percent of their lives.
• Mobility as a Service (MaaS) is defined as an on-demand, multimodal system where users can schedule vehicles and plot routes based on their specific needs through a single interface. Transitioning to this model could potentially reduce annual emissions by 1 gigaton in the U.S. alone and unlock $1 trillion per year in business and consumer value.

APA

Carlin, K., Rader, B., & Rucks, G. (2015). Interoperable Transit Data. RMI. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_RMI-Mobility-InteroperableTransitData-FullReport.pdf

Chicago

Carlin, Kelly, Bodhi Rader, and Greg Rucks. Interoperable Transit Data. RMI, 2015. https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_RMI-Mobility-InteroperableTransitData-FullReport.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Carlin |first1=Kelly |last2=Rader |first2=Bodhi |last3=Rucks |first3=Greg |title=Interoperable Transit Data |publisher=RMI |date=October 2015 |url=https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_RMI-Mobility-InteroperableTransitData-FullReport.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{carlin2015interoperable, author = {Carlin, Kelly and Rader, Bodhi and Rucks, Greg}, title = {{Interoperable Transit Data}}, institution = {RMI}, year = {2015}, month = oct, url = {https://rmi.org/app/uploads/2017/05/RMI_Document_Repository_Public-Reprts_RMI-Mobility-InteroperableTransitData-FullReport.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }