31 August 2022
EPTO the European Public Transport Operators association and its members have the following position in respect of the provision of “open” data, ticket sales and re-selling, passenger rights and operator liabilities in connection with the work being undertaken on the Multimodal Digital Mobility Strategy by the Multimodal Passenger Mobility Forum:
1 For the avoidance of any doubt, operators of public transport services are keen to provide the public with comprehensive information about their routes, timetables, fares and operational performance (real time information).
2 For the reassurance and confidence of passengers and potential passengers, it is essential that all third party providers of this information, whether service providers, data aggregators, journey planners, third party sales agents or other re-sellers, ensure that it is accurate, up to date and consistent. Multiple sources of information must provide the passenger with the same information, irrespective of any value added. Otherwise public transport will not be an option for that person.
3 Information on routes, timetables and fares, and operational performance, must always be provided in a fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory manner. Third party providers of such information must not be permitted to discriminate in favour of their own information, except that an operator may always choose to provide information solely about its own services. Where information is provided on multiple service operators or modes, public users must be afforded the opportunity to filter and rank their travel choices based on criteria including (but not limited to) total travel cost, total travel time, accessibility restrictions, guaranteed connections, carbon emissions or other objective sustainability ranking.
4 Operators of public transport services are content with a mandatory requirement to supply comprehensive information about their routes, timetables, fares and operational performance to local transport authorities in accordance with these general principles, provided that the mechanisms, protocols and data formats for supply of such information shall comply with nationally recognised standards which apply from time to time, otherwise the operator shall be entitled to recompense by the local transport authority for reasonable costs incurred in such data supply. Any ability for the local transport authority to re-sell or otherwise aggregate the tickets and products of the public transport operator, beyond what may already be contained within local service provision contracts, shall be by agreement between the public transport operator and local transport authority and neither party shall be obliged to enter into such an agreement.
5 No third party provider of information should be permitted to modify, filter or otherwise distort information provided by a service provider to introduce any bias or favour in the way that data are presented to the public.
6 Where tickets or products are re-sold through third parties, any commission or sales fee charged by the third party which increases the cost of the ticket to the customer must be explicitly stated to the customer.
7 No service provider shall be compelled to make its tickets or products available for sale by a third party where the sale of that product incurs a commission or sales fee that adversely impacts the revenue accruing to the service provider. Service providers may choose which (if any) third parties they enter into agreements with to re-sell their fares or products.
8 No service provider shall be liable to a member of the public for the non operation, substandard operation or any delay associated with any element of a multi operator or multi modal journey it provides, in respect of the impact of this on any other element or elements of that multi operator or multi modal journey (such as the cost or other impact of a missed connection or overnight stay) unless specifically mandated in EU Passenger Rights regulations or where such liability has been agreed with the seller of the multi operator or multi modal journey and/or the operator of that other element or elements of the journey so affected.
9 Any seller of a ticket or product for a multi operator or multi modal journey shall make it clear to the public what liability the operator of each element of that journey has (or has not) in respect of the impact of the non operation, substandard operation or any delay associated with that element of the journey has on any other element or elements of that multi operator or multi modal journey (such as the cost or other impact of a missed connection or overnight stay). This requirement shall apply irrespective of whether the seller is an operator of any of the journey elements or is a third party seller of the ticket or product.
10 None of the foregoing is affected by the nature of the journey being undertaken whether it or any of its elements be short or long distance, national or international, urban, rural or peri-urban.
Failure to adhere to these principles will result in significant additional costs to the operator of the public transport services and these will need to be recovered by either an increase in ticket prices or an increase in contract prices for service operation, or both. Given that the complex journey needs that MDMS and MPMF are seeking to address form a small proportion of the total journeys made by travellers on road and rail based public transport operators’ services, this cost recovery will constitute an unreasonable and disproportionate burden which would not otherwise be placed on their passengers and/or contracting authorities, and which might result in adverse unintended consequences for public transport supply and/or usage.