Data-oriented urban transport reform in middle-income and developing cities

The paper highlights the key success factors determining the efficiency of data management interventions, and the benefits that the successful implementation of such policies could deliver for local communities and their surrounding economies.

Key success factors include

(1) a healthy balance of investments in data technology and human knowledge;

(2) equal focus on data applications in both demand estimation, customer experience and the technological side of transport operations;

(3) adequate attention to earlier pitfalls in the implementation of data related policies with a specific focus on privacy;

(4) assurances of seamless flow of existing data within institutions and between them, including data sharing between various modes of urban transport; and

(5) the efficient recycling of the footprint automatically generated by digitalised systems.

The paper argues that data provides opportunities to ameliorate the disadvantages of missing investments in heavy transport infrastructure, and highlights examples where transport data can be a catalyst for positive change in future middle-income and developing cities.