Software Development

Coord combines bikeshare and transit data in mapping tool

D.C. is one of two initial cities where the developer platform from Sidewalk Labs is launching the API can help use both kinds of transportation to plan a route.

A Capital Bikeshare station. (Photo by Flickr user Tony Webster, used under a Creative Commons license)

An urban mobility–focused developer platform has a new service combining bikeshare and transit data that could help plan a route

D.C. is one of two cities (the other being NYC) where Coord is releasing the first version of its Routing API this week. The “Bike N Ride” navigation combines data from bikeshare, transit and other services such as rideshare, according to a blog post by Coord’s Corinna Li. The algorithm is designed to offer the shortest way to a destination. Coord also released a demo app to show how it provides navigation.

Coord, which is a venture of Alphabet’s Sidewalk Labs that launched earlier this yearcreated the service after developing a bikeshare API earlier this year. Along with bikeshare stations, it’s designed to integrate data from dockless bikeshare services as well. Coord’s bikeshare API is designed to harmonize data from more than 65 systems, Li writes.

That data could be particularly interesting in D.C., as the District Department of Transportation is currently conducting a pilot to evaluate dockless bikeshare services. As a result, the District has five dockless bikeshare and three e-scooter services currently operating. The pilot was recently extended through the summer.

(Photo via Coord)

(Photo via Coord)

 

In putting transit and bikeshare together, the service offers a way to combine the two options to get around.

“Instead of looking at bike-share and transit as an “either-or” choice, it can surface the best ways to combine the two modes as legs of a trip. Instead of taking a meandering bus, it can be faster (and more pleasant) to take the subway station most of the way and then bike to the final destination,” Li writes.

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