About
GBFS
GBFS was created in 2014 by Mitch Vars with collaboration from public, private sector and non-profit shared mobility system owners and operators, application developers, and technology vendors. Michael Frumin, Jesse Chan-Norris and others made significant contributions of time and expertise toward the development of v1.0 on behalf of Motivate International LLC (now Lyft). The North American Bikeshare Association’s endorsement, support, and hosting was key to its success starting in 2015. Prior to the creation of GBFS, bike sharing systems each used different proprietary data formats, making it difficult for application developers to create tools for travellers.
In 2019, scooters, electric bikes, and dockless shared mobility services were operating on the streets, and GBFS improvement was stalled. Through a competitive process, in June 2019, NABSA chose MobilityData to clarify, improve, and govern GBFS. To this day, GBFS continues to be improved and modified based upon the needs of the larger shared mobility community. In 2020, MobilityData and NABSA became industry partners to continue the development, improvement and wide scale adoption of GBFS.
Read the press release here.
NABSA
The North American Bikeshare Association (NABSA) connects the biggest minds in bikeshare and shared micromobility to support, promote and enhance shared alternatives to traditional transportation across North America. NABSA is the industry’s membership organization with representation from system owners, operators, host cities, equipment manufacturers and technology providers. NABSA continues to play a significant role in GBFS by convening stakeholders, producing educational content, and promoting GBFS - including developing best practices for municipalities.
More information about NABSA can be found at nabsa.net
MobilityData
MobilityData began in 2015 as a project of the Rocky Mountain Institute and became an independent Canadian non-profit organization in 2019. MobilityData is a membership based international non-profit designed to manage and expand mobility data specifications through open and transparent governance. MobilityData leverages standard data specifications to improve the traveller experience and reduce travellers’ dependency on the single occupancy vehicle. To do this, MobilityData convenes industry stakeholders such as transportation agencies, software vendors, mobility applications, mobility operators, and governmental entities to standardize and expand data formats. MobilityData presently manages the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) and the General Bikeshare Feed Specification (GBFS).
On the first Wednesday of the month, MobilityData hosts a GBFS Advisory Meeting for MobilityData members. On the third Wednesday of the month, MobilityData hosts a Technical Presentation on one aspect of GBFS for MobilityData members.
More information about MobilityData can be found on our website: mobilitydata.org