Stop the Parasites: Protect Open Transit Data #586
Description
Describe the problem
We’re seeing a growing problem in the open transit data ecosystem. Several ticketing vendors are taking GTFS feeds produced by public operators, republishing them, often unchanged, but injecting their own referral links so they can sell tickets (the ticketing extension).
Let’s call this what it is: parasitic behaviour. These companies contribute nothing back, yet profit from the hard work of open data producers. Worse still, their “winner takes all” approach undermines genuine innovation in journey planning, slows down computation through unnecessary indirection, and ultimately harms passengers.
It’s time for a clear signal in the data itself.
Use cases
Proposed solution
We propose two additions to feed_info.txt:
- A field explicitly stating that external ticket vendors may not alter or repackage this feed.
- A field declaring that this feed may not be aggregated or resold to third parties as a commercial service.
Yes, we could simply license our data under CC-BY-NC-ND. But that’s not the point, we actively support commercial developers who build their own journey planners. What we reject are the freeloaders who hijack open data for zero effort and maximum profit.
Open data should empower communities, not parasites.
Additional information
No response