This document summarizes a presentation about maintaining and sharing General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data. It discusses options for maintaining GTFS data through scheduling software, in-house tools, or web-based applications. It also covers best practices for publishing GTFS data on a public server and with directories. Applications of GTFS data for trip planning, planning and analysis, and real-time information are briefly described.

1. GTFS Maintenance &
More
Maintaining, sharing, and leveraging
General Transit Feed Spec data
Sean Barbeau, Ph.D.
Center for Urban Transportation Research
University of South Florida
Aaron Antrim
Seth Churnside
Trillium Solutions, Inc.
January 27 & 29, 2016

2. Contents
1. Overview / project recap
2. Why online information?
3. Maintaining & disseminating GTFS
a. Maintenance options & recommendations
b. Dissemination
4. GTFS Applications
a. Trip planning
b. Planning/analysis
c. AVL
5. Questions / Contact information

3. Project overview

4. Overview
FDOT-funded project to create GTFS data for 7 Florida transit
agencies
Managed by CUTR
GTFS data prepared by Trillium
● Bay Town Trolley
● Sunshine Bus
● Citrus County Transit
● Hernando Bus
● SunTran (Ocala)
● Okaloosa Transit
● Escambia Transit
FDOT identified 7 agencies without GTFS data for this project

5. Overview
What is GTFS?
GTFS is the General Transit Feed Specification, which has become the
defacto standard for transit schedule, geospatial, and fare data.
1. More about GTFS at
https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs/reference?hl=en
2. GTFS data is used in Google Maps, and in many other 3rd party
applications.

6. Why invest in an online
trip planner?

7. Online trip planners offer many benefits:
• Online directions provide a familiar format for directions
• Most Americans on the web
• Shows transit as an alternative to driving for some searches
• Trip planner interfaces are many different languages
• Available on mobile devices
• Seamless interagency transit trip planning

8. Let’s take a trip…
step 2
(my
house)
step 1
(destination)
step 3
(transfer point)
step 7
(origination)
step 4
(destination timing
point)
step 5
(transfer timing point)
step 6
(transfer timing
point)
There are lots of opportunities to get lost. Traditional transit schedules intimidate.

9. Almost half of participants
were unable to correctly
identify bus times using
standard timetables and
maps.
Design Elements of Effective Transit Information Materials
(2004), National Center for Transit Research at the University of
South Florida
(http://www.nctr.usf.edu/pdf/527-12.pdf)
Result of Florida study

10. Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project,
(http://www.pewinternet.org/pdfs/PIP_Internet_and_Daily_Life.
pdf)
The third most common
internet activity for
Americans is to “search for
a map or driving
directions,” (87%) behind
only email and using
search engines.
Online directions
provide a familiar
user interface

11. Online trip planners offer seamless inter-agency transit trip planning

12. GTFS data maintenance
and publishing

13. GTFS data maintenance
● You now have a GTFS dataset!
● GTFS data is a set of text files that represent a
snapshot of your scheduled service:
○ stops.txt
○ routes.txt
○ trips.txt
○ calendar.txt
○ shapes.txt
○ …
● These text files are zipped into a file:
○ gtfs_data.zip
● ...and then placed on a public web server where apps
can access it
○ Self-hosted - http://my.agency.org/gtfs_data.zip
○ Third-party hosted - http://company.com/gtfs_data_1.zip
● When service changes (e.g., quarterly), someone will
need to update these files, and post the new zip file
○ Always keep the same file name!
Apps
gtfs_data.zip
on web server

14. GTFS data maintenance tools
1. Using scheduling software
Trapeze, HASTUS, Connexionz, Mentor Engineering
2. In-house tools - open-source or in-house applications
For examples see http://bit.ly/GTFS-Open-Tools
3. Web-based application - Self-service or full-service

15. GTFS data maintenance tools
1. Using scheduling software
Trapeze, HASTUS, Connexionz, Mentor Engineering
2. In-house tools - open-source or in-house applications
For examples see http://bit.ly/GTFS-Open-Tools
3. Web-based application - Self-service or full-service
We believe participating
agencies falls into this
category

16. GTFS maintenance vendors Open list at
http://bit.ly/GTFS-Vendors
Vendor Name Vendor website Contact Email Phone Self-service
tool?
Full
service?
Bliksem Labs B.V. http://ovapi.nl/ Stefan de Konink gtfs@bliksemlabs.com - No Yes
goEuropa Polska http://www.goeuropa.eu Wojciech Kulesza wojciech.kulesza@goeuropa.eu 48616248682 Yes Yes
Concept Apps http://transitdirector.com/ Tudor Iliescu tudor@conceptapps.ro 40741628868 Yes Yes
Iteris, Inc. https://www.iteris.com Tom Roberts tlr@iteris.com (949) 270-9400 Yes Yes
Integrated
Transport
Planning Ltd
http://www.itpworld.net Neil Taylor taylor@itpworld.net +44 115 9886905 Yes Yes
CFTI Consulting http://cfti.info Neil Trenk trenk@cfti.info (914) 620-2384 No Yes
Caliper
Corporation
http://www.caliper.com Howard Slavin sales@caliper.com 6175274700 Yes No
AddTransit https://addtransit.com Neil Selkirk neil@addtransit.com +1 650 843 9177 Yes Yes
MJC http://mjcaction.com Marcy Jaffe marcy@mjcaction.com (360) 643 1002 No Yes
MECATRAN http://www.mecatran.com Marcy Jaffe/Nicolas Taillade info@mecatran.com
(360) 643
1002/(33)411650635
Yes Yes
National RTAP
(no-cost tools &
support)
http://nationalrtap.org/supportcente
r/Builder-Apps/GTFS-Builder
Neil Rodriguez support@nationalrtap.org (888) 589-6821 Yes No
Trillium Solutions,
Inc.
http://trilliumtransit.com Thomas Craig info@trilliumtransit.com (503) 567-8422 ext 4 Yes Yes
Canal TP http://www.canaltp.fr Bertrand Billoud bertrand.billoud@canaltp.fr +33 (0)1 44 75 12 14 Yes Yes
TransLoc http://www.transloc.com Joel Bush info@transloc.com (888) 959-3120 Yes Yes

17. Working with GTFS data maintenance vendors (1)
● Retain ownership of your data!!
○ Make sure that you own any GTFS datasets that the vendor produces
● Self service tool, or full service?
○ If self-service, training on using tools should be provided
○ If full service, what data format does the vendor expect you to provide
changes in?
○ Monthly cost for hosting data (in addition to cost of tool)?
● Who is the primary contact for Google and others - agency or vendor?
● Ensure that data is reviewed (e.g., via Google) before service changes go into
effect
○ Allow at least 3 weeks lead time
○ Who is responsible for quality assurance (QA) - agency or vendor?
○ May require a merge of two adjacent schedule periods to provide
uninterrupted service - vendor should provide this merged dataset

18. Working with GTFS data maintenance vendors (2)
● Ask for guarantees of conformance with GTFS best
practices and fulfillment of requirements of 3rd party
applications
● Validate your data using industry tools:
○ Official GTFS validation tool -
https://github.com/google/transitfeed/wiki/FeedValid
ator
○ Online version -
http://gtfsfeedvalidator.transitscreen.com/
● Ask for at least 3 references for other agencies maintaining
and sharing data with Google through the vendor

19. GTFS data publishing
● Trillium Solutions is currently hosting your GTFS data
○ e.g., http://data.trilliumtransit.com/gtfs/suntran-fl-us/suntran-fl-us.zip
○ You can continue with them following the project, or work with another vendor
● We have registered the Trillium URLs with leading GTFS feed directories:
○ GTFS Data Exchange - http://www.gtfs-data-exchange.com/
○ Transitfeeds.com - http://transitfeeds.com/
● If you change vendors, simply contact the above sites and provide the
new links
○ You’ll also need to let Google, Bing, and any other apps know about the new URL
● Future directories you should check out:
○ Transitland - https://transit.land/feed-registry/
○ Florida Transit Data Exchange (FTDE) - Contact Diane Quigley at
diane.quigley@dot.state.fl.us
● Best practices:
○ Don’t require username/password to access GTFS zip file
○ Create a “Developer” web page, which includes:
■ Link to GTFS data
■ Contact info for developer feedback

20. GTFS
applications
Making the most of the data
Trip planning
Service planning and analysis, and
accessibility measuring
Timetable publishing
Next step: Real-time information

21. Trip planning

22. Recommendations:
1. Publish schedule updates at least two weeks in
advance
2. Include a trip planner form on your agency
homepage
3. Inform customers about the mobile app
4. Include information and feedback page
Google Maps
maps.google.com/transit [demonstration of Google Maps]

23. Trip Planner Forms
Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (http://www.gohart.org/)
Lynx Transit (http://www.golynx.com/)
Regional Transit System (http://go-rts.com/)

25. Bing Maps
www.bing.com/maps/transit

26. Moovit
moovitapp.com
trip planning & crowdsourced real-time
information

27. Other multi-modal trip planning options
OpenTripPlanner - Multi-modal: transit, bike, driving, and walking
www.opentripplanner.org
OneClick - Multi-modal: Fixed-route, demand-responsive, taxi,
and human service transportation options
www.camsys.com/1Click.htm
The software above is open-source. We recommend considering
and implementing the software in a regional deployment.
Screenshots on
subsequent pages.

30. Planning & Analysis

31. WalkScore
walkscore.com provides the Transit Score

32. Rentals within 10 min walk from
bus stops in Ocala, FL:
https://www.walkscore.com/
apartments/search/FL/Ocala

33. TBEST - Transit Planning Software
Transit Boarding Estimate and Simulation
Tool (TBEST) - Sponsored by FDOT
Short-term transit ridership forecasting,
market analysis, and network accessibility
analysis:
• Import GTFS - Use GTFS data to
define your network characteristics
• Export GTFS data - Can add ridership
estimates and stop amenities
information encoded within TBEST
Free to download and use:
● http://tbest.org/

34. Remix - Network planning tool imports GTFS
getremix.com

35. ESRI ArcGIS
GTFS is a description of stops, alignments, and schedules
Instructions to add GTFS to a Network Dataset:
http://www.transit.melindamorang.com/overview_AddGTFStoND.html

36. Timetable publishing

37. Open-source software to create HTML timetables that meet accessibility
requirements: https://github.com/brendannee/gtfs-to-html
GTFS-to-HTML

38. Real-time information

39. What is Real-time information?
● Vehicle Positions
● Real-time arrival estimates (trip updates)
● Service alerts
Route 5 is experiencing significant
delays due to flooded roads

40. ● Vehicle Positions
● Real-time arrival estimates (trip updates)
● Service alerts
Real-time information sources
Require
automatic
vehicle
location
(AVL)
hardware
on buses
Can be managed via
web-based customer
service tools
Route 5 is experiencing significant
delays due to flooded roads

41. Service Alerts
● Your customer service department can manage service alerts
● Requires a web-based tool to translate from human-readable format:
○ “Route 5 is experiencing significant delays due to flooded roads”
...to a machine-readable format like GTFS-realtime Service Alerts[1]:
header {
gtfs_realtime_version: "1.0"
timestamp: 1450386709
}
entity {
id: "1"
alert {
informed_entity {
agency_id: "Hillsborough Area Regional Transit"
}
header_text {
translation {
text: "Route 5 delays"
language: "en"
}
}
description_text {
translation {
text: "Route 5 is experiencing significant delays due to flooded roads"
language: "en"
}
...
[1] https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs-realtime/service-alerts?hl=en

42. Service Alerts Publishing Tools
Google Transit Partner Dash:
● Freely available
● Publishes alerts only to
Google Maps
More info at https://support.google.com/transitpartners/answer/6173315?hl=en

43. Service Alerts Publishing Tools
Trillium Transit Alerts:
● Available as product from Trillium
● Publishes alerts to any app supporting
GTFS-realtime Service Alerts
○ Google Maps
○ The Transit App
○ OpenTripPlanner
○ OneBusAway
● Target alerts to particular routes and
stops
● Also offers integration to publish
same alerts to:
○ Websites
○ Social media accounts
○ Email, SMS, and other Alerts
More info at http://trilliumtransit.com/gtfs/transit-alerts/

44. Service Alerts Publishing Tools
IBI TRANSIT-alerts:
● Available as product from IBI Group
● Publishes alerts to any app supporting
GTFS-realtime Service Alerts
○ Google Maps
○ The Transit App
○ OpenTripPlanner
○ OneBusAway
● Target alerts to particular routes and
stops
● Also offers integration to publish
same alerts to:
○ Websites
○ Social media accounts
○ Email, SMS, and other Alerts
More info at http://transitrealtime.com/docs/IBI_TRANSIT-alerts.pdf

45. Service Alerts Publishing Tools
Do-It-Yourself (DIY) open-source tools:
● OneBusAway
○ Part of the main OneBusAway server application -
https://github.com/OneBusAway/onebusaway-application-
modules/wiki/Creating-Service-Alerts
○ A stand-alone web application -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roIsmq9R7Wc,
https://github.com/OneBusAway/onebusaway-service-alerts
● GTFS-rt-admin
○ A stand-alone web application -
https://github.com/conveyal/gtfs-rt-admin

46. How to share vehicle positions and arrival
estimates?
1.Include RFP language requesting GTFS-realtime[1] or SIRI[2] Application
Programming Interface (API) when procuring an AVL system
○ Make sure you retain ownership of your data
○ Require that your real-time IDs match your schedule GTFS data
○ Require that your GTFS and GTFS-realtime data are updated in sync
○ Request the timepoint field in stop_times.txt - it’s increasingly important for real-time
2.Prior to accepting product, test API with at least one app
○ e.g., Google Maps
Already have an AVL system, but not a realtime API?
● A good read - “Legacy AVL system? It’s okay, join the club,”
https://kurtraschke.com/2015/01/legacy-avl-export
● Open-source converters:
○ GTFS-realtime - https://github.com/luqmaan/awesome-transit#gtfs-realtime
○ SIRI - https://github.com/luqmaan/awesome-transit#siri
[1] https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs-realtime/
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Service_Interface_for_Real_Time_Information

47. On the horizon - open AVL systems
● Choose your AVL vendor to provide vehicle positions
● TransiTime.org - Create arrival estimates from vehicle
positions
● OneBusAway.org - Distribute info to mobile apps
○ iPhone
○ Android
○ Windows Phone
○ Amazon Fire Phone
○ Google Glass
○ SMS, Phone, and more...
Gives agencies options and ownership of system

48. Need help with open-source transit tools?
Vendors/consultants offering services:
Name Website Contact person Contact email Contact phone Experience w/
OneBusAway?
Experience w/
OpenTripPlanner?
Experience w/
TransiTime?
Center for Urban
Transportation
Research @
University of South
Florida
http://www.cutr.usf.edu/ Sean Barbeau barbeau@cutr.usf.edu (813) 974-7208 Yes Yes No
Transitime http://www.transitime.org Michael Smith michael@transitime.org (415) 260-4700 Yes Yes Yes
Trillium Solutions http://trilliumtransit.com Aaron Antrim aaron@trilliumtransit.com (503) 567-8422 Yes Yes No
Evan Siroky http://www.evansiroky.com Evan Siroky evan.siroky@gmail.com (206) 799-6545 Yes Yes No
Cambridge
Systematics
http://www.camsys.com/ Sarah Anderson sanderson@camsys.com (617) 234-0540 Yes Yes Yes
IBI Group
http://transitrealtime.com/d
ocs/IBI_TRANSIT-
realtime.pdf
Ritesh Warade ritesh.warade@ibigroup.com (617) 699-9544 No Yes Yes
Canal TP http://www.canaltp.fr Bertrand Billoud bertrand.billoud@canaltp.fr +33 (0)1 44 75 12 14 No Yes No
goEuropa Polska http://www.goeuropa.eu
Wojciech
Kulesza
wojciech.kulesza@goeuropa.e
u
48616248682 Yes Yes Yes
Kisio Digital http://www.canaltp.fr// Stephan Simart stephan.simart@canaltp.fr 33144751800 No No No
Open list with project experience at http://bit.ly/Open-Source-Consultants

49. Questions / Contact
Center for Urban Transportation Research
University of South Florida
Sean J. Barbeau, Ph.D.
Principal Mobile Software Architect for R&D
barbeau@cutr.usf.edu
(813) 974-7208
Trillium Solutions, Inc.
Portland, Oregon
support@trilliumtransit.com
Aaron Antrim
Principal
aaron@trilliumtransit.com
(503) 567-8422 ext 3
Seth Churnside
seth@trilliumtransit.com
(503) 567-8422 ext 6
Florida Dept of Transportation
Diane Quigley
State Transit Planning Administrator
diane.quigley@dot.state.fl.us
850-414-4520