On 22/07/12 10:52, Brian May wrote:

Open access to public transport information.

Vancouver can do it, why can't we?

For some context on this: http://www.ptua.org.au/2011/08/23/timetable-data/ # “Adding Melbourne’s timetables to Google Transit will be very # welcome, but otherwise, the government is treating public # transport timetables as though they were a state secret,” # said Mr Bowen. “This information ultimately belongs to the # public and should be freely available to anyone who has an # interest in using such data.” Of course that rumoured addition never happened. Data did appear very briefly on this VIC government website from 2010 (for the "app my state" competition) but it didn't last: http://www.data.vic.gov.au/raw_data/metlink-iphone-application-dump/160 # The Metlink TransNET database was previously released on data.vic.gov.au # for the sole purpose of its use in relation to the "App My State" # Competition. Licence terms provided with that release stated that no # further data would be provided to keep that initial tranche up-to-date. # As the Victorian Government is currently evaluating the arrangements for # release of public sector information under the Creative Commons licence, # any requests for train, tram and bus route, stop and timetable data must # still be made directly to Metlink Victoria Pty Ltd, the custodians of # public transport data on behalf of the Director of Public Transport. Each # request will be assessed on its merits. As you can see it predates the Metlink -> PTV renaming which also killed off the license terms page it used to link to.. People do reverse engineer the timetables into apps and screenscraping websites (such as "Train Tracker") and/or use unpublished APIs ("Tram Hunter"), but there's no official API to find out how to get from A to B or to find out about delays. Mind you the train systems itself doesn't have any real monitoring system covering the whole system, I believe Metro Trains (and Connex before them) relied on drivers calling in when outside the central part of the system. There's a new radio system going/gone in to fix that though. cheers, Chris -- Chris Samuel : http://www.csamuel.org/ : Melbourne, VIC