Couldn’t come at a better time.

MBTA has become the 3rd largest transit organization to make its scheduling data free to developers in the industry-standard Google Transit Feed Specification (GTFS).

What does this mean?

Well, instead of paying lawyers to surf the internet all day to find transit developers to call and threaten with false copyright claims into signing an abusive licensing contract (MTA), MBTA is simply doing that which is simplest, most obvious, and in the best interest of its ridership – making timely and accurate scheduling information available to ALL developers for free!

More and more major US public transportation hubs are making this move to free release of data and standardization through Google’s outstanding GTFS program – cities such as:

San Francisco
Portland
Dallas
Sacramento
Austin (big zip file)
Washington, D.C.

and many, many, more!

Meanwhile, MTA continues to have its lawyers surf the internet, looking for transit developers to threaten with legal action into signing an expensive draconian licensing contract.

What does this mean to MTA customers?:

1. MTA Customers may never be offered FREE third-party transit applications.

I cannot afford to develop StationStops for free (especially in the face of litigation from MTA), but some people can. With MTA’s licensing agreement, you need to pay them $5000 up front – how are MTA passengers supposed to get access to free mobile applications that will inevitably be available to Boston’s MBTA’s passengers by generous developers who have no license overhead?

2. Fewer apps for MTA passengers.

Apps are going to be limited to those foolish enough to sign their licensing contract and pay MTA.

In light of Boston’s latest move, I would not be surprised to see MTA licensees simply drop MTA development for Boston development. Its 10x easier, with updated standardized internet feeds vs snail-mailed CD-ROMS, and its free.

3. Lower-quality apps for MTA passengers.

Under exclusive licensing, you are going to have a handful of licensed developers competing with each other, vs the whole world. Fewer developers, less competition = lower application quality.

4. What incentive is there for developers to write apps for MTA customers at all?

As an application developer, there is very little incentive anymore for me to develop applications for the MTA market. MTA has established an immutable and litigious relationship with transit developers (well, this one anyway), and no one is interested in signing with partners who behave that way.

Business partnerships are for parties with shared goals and a willingness to cooperate and listen to each other. MTA has no expressed one iota of that in my negotiations with them.

I can just as easily write outstanding mobile apps for San Francisco and Boston passengers.

I neither need to live in those cities nor ride their transit systems to do so – I just need the data, a cup of coffee, and an internet connection.

Writing MTA mobile apps without direct access to the raw scheduling data is hard. The MTA licensing contract and data delivery service is horribly unappealing. Writing apps for Boston and San Francisco is neither.

So, MTA passengers – get ready to be left with the crumbs of what developers are still willing to service you if MTA does not get on board with the rest of the US transit industry.