An open door for travel apps

8 Jan 2015 02:55 PM

From live bus and Tube arrivals to the number of Cycle Hire bikes available at your nearest docking station, we hold a wealth of information about how transport services are running.

This 'open data' is free for developers to use to create handy smartphone apps, used by millions of customers. More than 360 travel apps are now powered by our data, an increase of 87% in the last year.

Why share data?

Our data is free for anyone to access, with some limited conditions. Sharing this data helps ensure as many people as possible have access to real-time travel information in a format that suits them and helps people move around the city more easily.

A study by Deloitte for the Department for Business, Innovations and Skills in May 2013, estimated the annual value of time saved to customers through TfL's open data at up to £58m.

Although information about our transport services is made freely available, customer details are not shared.

Using apps safely

• View the ratings in your app store. Only use the ones which have higher ratings
• Avoid expensive apps, try a free version or use tfl.gov.uk instead
• Never give an app details or passwords for your TfL accounts

To use our open data, go to tfl.gov.uk/developers

Have your say on transport transparency

Have your say on the information you would like us to make publicly available by taking part in our transparency consultation.

We would like to know:

• Are we publishing the information you want in a way that is useful to you?
• Is there any more information we should make publicly available?

For details and to comment, visit consultations.tfl.gov.uk/policy/transparency by 8 March 2015.