Public Transport Information Coordination Group Issue Proforma Reference number PTIC-001 v0.4 Submitter/Owner Name: John Prince Organisation: South Yorks PTE / Yorkshire Traveline Email address:
[email protected] Title/Short National Operator Code Database description Issue description Within ATCO.cif, a code (max four chars) exists to identify operators, in addition to operator description (Operator Legal Name) and trading name (Operator Short Form (for publicity)). Historically, this code has been generated / allocated locally by Local Authorities (LAs) with no regard to a wider regional or national picture. The result is that the same code means different operators across all LAs and some operators have been allocated different codes in different LAs. One compounding factor is that some LAs have not understood the difference between Operator and Trading Name (to use the VOSA terms) and sometimes codes have been allocated to the one, and sometimes to the other. In order to be able to combine timetables that cross reference journeys, and to tie in with AVL data , it is desirable to have unique journey identifiers. It is proposed that .a national Operator data model be developed. This will include both a systematic way of identifying operators and also a richer model which captures the relationship between different operator parent and subsidiary companies. The TXC schema already includes a base operator model and can already be used to exchange data about one or more operators independently of other data. This model should be extended to include the new aspects covered by the new system. If an operator database is developed, a web service could be provided to allow the validation of operator references.