Transit operators face problems in today's Information Age. The challenges are the same whether operators are designing a trip itinerary for a customer using real-time information, making service changes based automated passenger counters and AVL-collected travel times, or modifying fare structures based on actual passenger travel distance and transfer data. Chances are, once operators overcome institutional and budget obstacles, they come up against data problems: Data kept by the Planning department is in one format, maintained in a different format by the Maintenance department, and in yet another format by the Dispatch and Transit Information Centers. Data incompatibility has been the stumbling block for many Advanced Transportation Public System projects. The Transit Communications Interface Protocols (TCIP) effort will define data interfaces that will allow data to flow among departments, and between and among applications and other external entities such as traffic management centers and emergency management centers.