Innovation through collaboration: creating future-ready transport technology

In October 2025, Trapeze’s David Eason addressed the Collaboration session at the Bus Industry Confederation (BIC) annual conference in Perth. This blog shares highlights from David’s presentation which focused upon ways bus operators and technology vendors can work together to create future-ready transport technology solutions.

I love listening to Rory Sutherland. He’s the Vice Chairman of Ogilvy in London and one of the sharpest behavioural economists you’ll find.

One of his more notorious statements about the public sector relates to government procurement. He said: “Procurement isn’t really designed to help you succeed – it’s designed to stop anyone getting fired.”

Now this is Sutherland being characteristically provocative, and I want to emphasise that I don’t agree with him on this issue. However, his statement is a useful illustration of the competing perceptions of government tenders. On the one hand: rational, safe, defensible. But on the other: innovation killers. This is where the tension lies – process safety versus innovation speed.

Governments have to work this way. It’s public money and the high level of accountability is right. But the private bus operators in today’s BIC audience are not bound by the same constraints. You have the freedom to work with technology vendors early, share problems before they are locked into a Scope of Requirements, and collaborate on solutions that actually work for your business.

Name the problem early, and we’ll unlock better solutions together. That’s where the real opportunity lies.

Innovation in transport is often thought of in terms of new physical hardware and infrastructure, but digital integration is just as transformative. That’s where cross-industry collaboration from outside transport offer us powerful lessons.

Take the collaboration between Apple and SAP. SAP is the backbone of enterprise systems for tens of thousands of large organisations globally, but until recently, using SAP on mobile platforms was clunky and limited.

Apple and SAP joined forces to create a native iOS software development kit allowing developers to build mobile applications that fully tap into SAP’s data and workflow capabilities, with the seamless UX Apple is known for.

The result is powerful and compelling business apps that users love. What’s the principle here? Integration beats insulation.

The collaboration between Transport for New South Wales (TfNSW) and CSIRO’s digital innovation unit Data 61 is an example of opening the door early rather than waiting for a defined problem to appear.

TfNSW saw potential value in making its Opal tap on/tap off data freely available, and worked with Data61 to create and release an anonymised Opal dataset.

This project didn’t begin with a fixed outcome or an RFP in mind. They simply saw potential in collaboration – in this case, by releasing Opal data and inviting others to explore what might be possible.

Creating this opportunity to see how passengers use the network meant researchers and developers could find their own insights, then attempt to build new services to benefit customers and local businesses.

Some of those ideas stuck, others didn’t. The key is that early collaboration unlocked innovation at almost no cost.

That’s the lesson for us. When we define the problem too late, we only get answers to what’s already been asked. When we collaborate early, we don’t just solve the problem we see, we can uncover solutions we never imagined.

The electrification of public transport is probably the biggest operational shift our industry will face in a generation. What Volvo and ABB did isn’t just smart engineering, it is strategic collaboration.

They didn’t wait until their products were finished and then try to integrate later. They sat down at the start, shared the problem, and designed a solution that worked for everyone. That single act of openness created OppCharge, a global standard that any manufacturer can now use.

And that’s happening right here in Perth. Transperth’s Volvo electric buses, built by Volgren, are using the same open infrastructure that future OEMs can plug into.

What makes this significant locally is that Transperth and other future adopters can scale fleets from multiple OEMs, based on performance, price, and evolving needs. They’re not limited by proprietary infrastructure.

The lesson is this: when you collaborate early, you shape the standard instead of inheriting it. You keep flexibility, reduce risk, and stay in control of your future.

The rise of ITxPT takes the OppCharge example to the next level. ITxPT places global integration standards at the heart of modern transport procurement. It promotes open architecture, data accessibility, and true interoperability between on-board bus systems.

By supporting open standards, ITxPT eliminates vendor lock-in and allows operators to choose the best technology for every function while ensuring all components work seamlessly together.

Critical data such as GPS, CANbus, and passenger information can be shared across multiple systems without duplicating hardware. The result: lower costs, reduced complexity, and easier maintenance through plug-and-play integration.

Trapeze has been a Principal ITxPT member since 2016. Our Australian team actively contributes to the Technical Working Committees, helping shape the standards and open data practices that drive this global movement.

By participating early, we’re not just following the standard – we’re helping to define it. Because the future of collaboration in transport isn’t about responding to rigid specifications; it’s about co-designing the frameworks that make innovation possible.

So here’s the message I’ll leave the bus operators in this BIC audience with. Don’t come to the market with a ready-made solution because by then, you’ve already limited what’s possible.

Come to us with the problem. Let’s explore it together. That’s how you get solutions that are co-designed, tested in real operations, and built with future credibility in mind.

Get in touch

Want to continue the conversation that David started in Perth? The Trapeze team is available now to help you explore our TIMS, ITS, and Austrics solutions so contact us today.