In NABSA’s 2020 Shared Micromobility State of the Industry Report, we found that 69% of cities in North America require the General Bikeshare Feed Specification (GBFS) from operators – a 13% increase from 2019. Requiring GBFS is essential because the feed enables travelers to find shared bikes or e-scooters using a trip-planning app. The increasing requirement of GBFS is exciting and important because it helps travelers identify and incorporate shared micromobility into their travel choices.

For example, the Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) of Southern Nevada, Transit, Bcycle, and Bicycle Transit Systems partnered recently to integrate its bikeshare and transit systems. This partnership provides a single account and app experience, offering a new Mobility-as-a-Service (MaaS) experience through the Transit app. GBFS helped enable this integration. GBFS has also enabled the ability for users to find shared micromobility devices in the Google Maps app, like those of Capital Bikeshare, and scooters provided by Spin and Bird.

Increased adoption and use of GBFS by agencies and operators help travelers understand and think about the complete network of public transportation options available to them and make the best choice for their trip. And importantly, GBFS is a standard for a reason. Rather than reinventing the format for every exchange, GBFS enables the use of one standard format, allowing multiple parties to understand and agree on what the information represents. A range of software applications for trip planning, research, analysis, visualization, and regulation can then utilize the data, allowing regulators, researchers, and community members to gain insights and easily integrate shared micromobility into transportation networks. All of this has helped municipalities and communities meet their goals. Over 600 bikeshare and scooter systems worldwide have adopted the GBFS open data standard since its release in November 2015.

GBFS must be provided through a publicly accessible API, follow the standardized format, and use the most current version to best realize all of these positive benefits.

The specification receives regular enhancements and updates, allowing it to evolve as mobility options and technologies evolve. Under NABSA’s leadership, a team of bikeshare system owners and operators, application developers, and technology vendors developed GBFS Version 1.0 in 2015. NABSA selected MobilityData to become the technical steward for the GBFS community in 2019, which involved improving the specification and its governance to meet evolving industry needs, and NABSA and MobilityData continue to partner on the effort. Since 2015 when version 1.0 was released, GBFS has been updated several times. Version 2.0 and 2.1 were released in 2020, version 2.2, the current version, was released in April of this year, and version 3.0 is currently a release candidate.

As GBFS grows, NABSA and MobilityData have developed tools and resources to help ensure that GBFS is utilized for the greatest benefit. For example, NABSA released the Data Good Practices for Municipalities in January 2021, and in July 2021, MobilityData produced the GBFS and Shared Mobility Data Policy guide for cities. These guides explain what GBFS is, how to use it, and describe how GBFS can advance efforts to support sustainable transportation, and how further development of GBFS policies can benefit everyone. MobilityData is also currently building a validator to ensure the quality of GBFS data. Find more GBFS resources and information at nabsa.net/gbfs and gbfs.mobilitydata.org.

Interested in getting involved in the future development of GBFS? Participate in the GBFS Repository on GitHub and join the MobilityData slack workspace. If your organization would like to connect to the GBFS channel, contact the MobilityData shared mobility team.