Transport Timetables 45% open

What data is expected?

Timetables of major government operated (or commissioned) national-level public transport services (specifically bus and train). The focus here is on national level services (not those which operate only at a municipal or city level and which are not controlled or regulated by the national government). A 'yes' in any question will refer to both types of transport. However, if there is no national level service operated or regulated by the government for a given type of transport (for instance busses), then this type is ignored in this data category.

What data is available

•   Does the data exist? Yes
•   Is data in digital form? Yes
•   Publicly available? Yes
•   Is the data available for free? Yes
•   Is the data available online? Yes (Here)
•   Is the data machine readable? No (HTML)
•   Available in bulk? No
•   Openly licensed? No (No URL given)
•   Is the data provided on a timely and up to date basis? Yes

Details

Australia is somewhat limited in the presence of national transport as most public transport operates at the city or state level (An overview of the situation at the city level can be found via http://www.citygoround.org/agencies/au/?public=all which indicates that availability and open licencing varies substantially across states/transit authorities) - and much national transport is privately provided - for example buses via Greyhound Australia (see http://www.greyhound.com.au/). Looking at rail where there is an interstate system, similar to the UK, Australia has a nationally supported rail system in which the actual service is provided by private operators (but track is publicly owned and maintained). Similar to the UK, there are therefore good public interest grounds for the government to require provision of timetable data. Focusing on rail then there is no consolidated database of timetable information - instead you are directed off to each rail companies website where you must do your own lookup using a classic HTML interface. As such it is clear the data exists and is online but is not machine-readable, not in bulk and based on the notice on various websites not open (for example, Transport West Australia's train website has a classic fully restrictive copyright notice at http://www.transwa.wa.gov.au/Default.aspx?tabid=113)