Wissing wants to facilitate the use of mobility data from e-scooters to trains

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Federal Transport Minister Volker Wissing (FDP) wants to minimize access barriers for the use of mobility data and thus boost so-called multimodal travel, i.e. the use of different means of transport within a certain period of time with the shortest possible transfer times. Mobility service providers, from public transport such as buses and trains to cabs and newer providers of private transportation such as Uber, Bolt or Tier, will have to publish relevant information in real time via a national access point free of charge. The data may then be "used for any commercial or non-commercial purpose".

This is provided for in a draft bill for a mobility data law from the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport (BMDV), which was published by the online portal Politico. "The availability of mobility data in sufficiently high quality is a prerequisite for modern mobility services and their user-friendly, efficient and resource-saving design," it says. "It is also the basis for the development of innovations and new business models in the mobility sector." This should include static and dynamic data such as public transport timetables, delay reports, the real-time availability of shared vehicles and reports on roadworks, the traffic situation or the availability of parking spaces as well as refueling and charging infrastructure.

The provision of much of this information is already required by numerous EU and federal laws. This also includes a National Access Point as a data hub, the function of which the BMDV is now further explaining and expanding. This "National Access Point" (NAP) is to act as a digital interface and make mobility data "immediately and completely" available to other service providers in a digital, machine-readable format. Technology providers such as Trafi, which provide comprehensive mobility apps in cooperation with transport companies, are likely to benefit most from this. These provide access to various transportation services with a user account and a payment solution.

Law also aims to reduce CO₂ emissions in transport

According to the BMDV, a consultation with stakeholders has revealed that the measures taken to date to ensure data quality and interoperability are inadequate and that the obligations already in force are not fully met. Mobility data has so far been "inconsistent and sometimes difficult to access" for potential data users, including authorities. With the draft, which next has to go through the federal cabinet, Wissing therefore wants to remove the hurdles for "multimodal travel and real-time traffic information services".

One of the goals of the initiative is to improve and ensure data availability and quality. To this end, Wissing wants to define uniform and clear rules across all modes of transport "with as little administrative effort as possible". This should be accompanied by "better, at least EU-wide interoperability" to enable cross-provider digital booking and payment of mobility services. Another purpose of the law is to contribute to the decarbonization of the transport sector.

According to Section 5, data owners must in future provide "dynamic and historical mobility data on the degree of utilization of vehicles of road and rail-based regular transport services, as well as associated metadata". This obligation is limited to the past regarding information "on the degree of utilization of vehicles in scheduled services" and in "bundled services". The BMDV justifies this restriction by stating that the utilization data of dynamically algorithm-controlled on-demand offers from Pooling and Public Transport cannot be used for timetable information. However, historical data could also be "of great importance for transport planning" for these modes of transport.

22 new posts for federal coordinator

At the same time, a federal coordinator for mobility data is to be introduced at the Federal Highway Research Institute (Bundesanstalt für Straßenwesen, BASt). Its tasks will include setting up technical specifications and communicating with and supporting data owners and users. The BASt will also be allowed to process the relevant metadata and transmit it to "public bodies for the performance of their tasks".

By 2027, a total of 22 posts are to be created for this purpose with annual personnel costs of just under 2.4 million euros. According to the plan, BASt will incur one-off material costs of over 1.7 million euros for the acquisition and introduction of a software-based automated system for cooperation between the parties involved. The BMDV estimates the annual material costs for the maintenance and upkeep of digital processes and the coordination to improve data quality at the federal states and local authorities at almost 1.5 million euros. Details of the cooperation are to be regulated in an administrative agreement between the federal government and the federal states.

Anonymization: not possible

The Federal Office for Logistics and Mobility (BALM) is to be responsible for data supervision. It should also be able to impose fines and penalties "as a last resort". Four posts with personnel costs of 360,137 euros are to be sufficient for this. Anyone who acts in breach of the regulations will only face a fine of up to 10,000 euros. The Taxi and Hire Car Association (TMV), for example, has campaigned for the possibility of sanctions. It sees the lack of such a procedure to date as the reason why cab companies have so far only made mobility data available "insufficiently" and that there has been an "outright failure" among rental car companies.

The Mobility Data Ordinance of 2021, according to which public transport information must be published in real time, is to be repealed with the new law on December 1, 2028. The BMDV has not taken up the appeal from consumer advocates to include ethical principles for the handling of mobility data as well as principles for anonymization and transparency.

(bme)