The purpose of the Transmodel Standard

Public transport services rely increasingly on information systems to ensure reliable, efficient operation and widely accessible, accurate passenger information. These systems are used for a range of specific purposes: setting schedules and timetables, managing vehicle fleets, issuing tickets and receipts, providing real time information on service running, and so on.

“Transmodel” is the short name for the European Standard “Public Transport Reference Data Model” (EN 12896). It improves a number of features of public transport information and service management; in particular, the standard facilitates interoperability between the information processing systems of the transport operators and agencies by using matching definitions, structures and meanings for their data for the component systems. This applies both when connecting different applications within an organisation, and also to connecting applications between interworking organisations (for instance, a public authority and a transport operator).

The Transmodel standard provides a framework for defining and agreeing data models, and covers the whole area of public transport operations. By making use of this European Standard, and of data models derived from it, it is possible for operators, authorities and software suppliers to work together much more easily towards integrated systems. Moreover, the breadth of the standard helps to ensure that future systems’ developments can be accommodated with the minimum of difficulty.