Skip to main content

New API unlocks travel value for Bristol

A new application programme interface (API) developed by UrbanThings for Bristol City Council claims to provide easy and free access to a huge wealth of transport data in one place, making it possible for innovative technologies to be developed. The Bristol API supports the Council’s approach to opening up data sets, as it already does through the Bristol open data portal and is being further developed by the Bristol Is Open project. The wider aim is to work with the technology community to explore ways
January 5, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
A new application programme interface (API) developed by UrbanThings for Bristol City Council claims to provide easy and free access to a huge wealth of transport data in one place, making it possible for innovative technologies to be developed.

The Bristol API supports the Council’s approach to opening up data sets, as it already does through the Bristol open data portal and is being further developed by the Bristol Is Open project. The wider aim is to work with the technology community to explore ways to use and present the data framed around relevant and actual transport challenges in the city.

The new web-based service has been specifically designed to provide information such as live bus and train times, stop locations, route maps and other data, although it is not restricted to public transport.

Developers interested in building apps, websites, connected devices or even customer information displays will be able to use transport data for Bristol and the West of England region completely free for the next year.

It also gives instant updates on occupancy in local car parks as well as electric vehicle charging locations. It is currently possible to provide live statistics on bicycle dock availability in London and New York, meaning the API could be attractive to developers and further adding to the benefits of The Bristol API.

Related Content

  • Success of London's Olympic public transport systems
    December 4, 2012
    The Olympic flame has moved on, allowing review of the relative degrees of London’s 2012 transportation success, how it was done and with what lasting effects. Jon Masters reports. This magazine’s international position provides a good vantage point for assessing impressions left by London’s 2012 Olympic Games. On the whole, it has been only praise and congratulations heard since the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in August and the Paralympics in September. The events looked great and ran smoothly
  • Harmonisation of Europe's ITS deployment still unbalanced
    January 31, 2012
    Dean Herenda, Chairman of the EasyWay project, talks about the progress made and the progress still to be made in harmonising ITS deployment across the European Union. "The deployment and use of ITS in road transport across Europe was and still is unbalanced" Although Europe can be proud of being home to some of the world's most advanced ITS solutions, the relative disparities between Member States of the European Union (EU) in terms of the extent and technological sophistication of deployments actually sta
  • First-of-a-kind collaboration to analyse real-time traffic patterns and individual commuter travel history
    February 3, 2012
    IBM has announced a new collaboration with the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and California Center for Innovative Transportation (CCIT), a research institute at the University of California, Berkeley, to develop an intelligent transportation solution that will help commuters avoid congestion and enable transportation agencies to better understand, predict and manage traffic flow.
  • Shaking up the taxi market with smarter ride requests
    February 24, 2016
    Timothy Compston looks at the rise of Uber and ride request mobile apps. There is little doubt that the advent of Uber has come as major shock to established taxi operators and has caused regulators, cities and DOTs to rethink current regulations so they can keep pace with the changing dynamics of the marketplace.