Research and analysis

Exploring Smart Data opportunities in the transport sector: executive summary

Published 5 June 2026

Applies to England

Read the full ‘exploring Smart Data opportunities in the transport sector’ report in PDF format.

Purpose of the research

This research explores the potential for Smart Data schemes to support innovation, investment and growth within the UK transport sector. It sits within a broader policy context in which the UK government has identified data as a key economic asset in its flagship strategies, including the UK Industrial Strategy, the Smart Data Strategy 2035, and the Transport Data Action Plan (DAP). The Department for Business and Trade (DBT) and the Department for Transport (DfT) recognise transport as a large, digitally transforming sector where Smart Data could further improve services and accessibility, promote greener travel choices, and reduce business admin burden. Their cross-government programme for 2026 includes joint discovery research and a call for evidence to identify and test the feasibility of high-value Smart Data use cases in transport.

The report provides an initial evidence base to inform ongoing policy development by examining where improved data mobility could address current system challenges.

What we did

The research was conducted through 3 structured stakeholder workshops involving 112 representatives from across the transport ecosystem in February 2026. These workshops were designed to explore the system-level barriers that currently limit data sharing and to identify practical use cases for Smart Data. Participants identified a set of cross-cutting challenges affecting the transport system and 12 distinct use cases.

Findings

The workshops highlighted that data within the transport system is often fragmented across organisations, modes and sectors. This fragmentation is both technical (for example, inconsistent data formats, incompatible systems and lack of common standards) and institutional (for example, differing organisational incentives, unclear liability and restrictions on data sharing). It reflects differences in incentives, governance arrangements and risk appetite.

Participants identified a set of use cases showing how Smart Data could improve journey planning, ticketing and accessibility for passengers. They also highlighted opportunities to improve operational improvements in freight logistics, infrastructure management and alignment of transport activity with energy system capacity and infrastructure. For a full list of use cases, see the Findings section of this report.

Across these use cases, common themes emerged, including the need for interoperable data standards, clearer governance arrangements and more joined-up decision-making between organisations, enabled by sharing data.

The findings also highlighted a number of systemic barriers. These include concerns around:

• liability and data misuse
• the complexity of legacy systems
• procurement practices that can limit the adoption of new data-sharing approaches

Together, these factors constrain the ability of organisations to share and use data effectively.

The use cases are intended to illustrate practical scenarios and system-level opportunities. They do not represent specific policy proposals. Their inclusion does not imply that relevant data or services are absent or ineffective. Examples of existing integrated transport system initiatives for England can be found in DfT’s strategy for transport. Instead, the use cases highlight where fragmentation or limited interoperability may constrain system‑wide benefits. While findings offer insights, they should be treated with caution in drawing firm conclusions. Instead, the data should be treated as exploratory and used to inform future research.

What this means for policy

The findings suggest that Smart Data schemes in transport could play a targeted role in addressing some of the systemic barriers to data sharing identified in the workshops. In particular, issues such as interoperability, governance, incentives and trust are structural in nature and are unlikely to be resolved through voluntary action alone. These are areas where a Smart Data scheme – through common standards, clearer rules and coordinated data-sharing frameworks – could add direct value.

However, not all barriers identified in the workshops would be addressed by a Smart Data scheme. Constraints such as legacy systems, organisational capability and physical infrastructure limitations would likely persist, and in some cases may affect the pace or extent of implementation. This suggests that Smart Data should be understood as one component of a wider set of interventions rather than a silver bullet.

The use cases show that Smart Data opportunities are not limited to passenger-facing services. They extend to areas such as freight, infrastructure and coordination with other systems, including energy. This implies that policy development may need to consider a broad scope of data and actors, including both businesses and individual users.

Overall, Smart Data schemes could play a supporting role in improving coordination across parts of the transport system where data is currently fragmented. However, data sharing alone is unlikely to deliver system-wide outcomes without complementary changes in infrastructure, regulation, capability and market behaviour.

What happens next

This research is an exploratory project. Future DfT and DBT work will focus on:

1. targeted feasibility analysis of selected use cases, including data availability, governance models and Data (Use and Access) Act 2025 (DUAA) legal applicability
2. continued engagement with stakeholders to explore governance and commercial implications
3. assessment of how Smart Data schemes might align with existing transport data initiatives. Any future policy decisions will be taken in line with wider government priorities and complement existing initiatives on data sharing in the sector

These steps will support a more detailed evaluation of whether and how Smart Data could be applied in the transport sector.