Full 2017 TRB paper at http://bit.ly/TRB2017-GTFS. The General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) describes fixed-route public transportation service to facilitate integration of transit information into various applications. The purpose of this report is to provide an overview of the opportunities to use GTFS for many different types of information services for the general public as well as internal agency operations. Many opportunities exist to create new services based on GTFS data — either to provide transit information through a greater range of delivery formats (e.g., new mobile transit applications), or to provide new ways of understanding and using transit information (e.g., for planning and analysis purposes). For transit agencies that are not openly sharing their data, this report will inform decisions on prioritizing and justifying investments in open data initiatives surrounding GTFS. For transit agencies that already provide open access to their GTFS data, this report will assist the agency in maximizing their investment in GTFS data by showcasing examples of many new types of applications that utilize the same GTFS data they are already producing. For Departments of Transportation, Metropolitan Planning Organizations, and other intermodal agencies, this report will assist them in understanding the current state-of-the-art in public transportation information and will help them integrate this data into intelligent transportation systems (ITS) and multimodal traveler information systems.

1. Opening the Door to Multimodal Applications
GTFS Powers Many Applications
Takeaways
Why Open Transit Data?
• Passengers have trouble using paper transit maps and
timetables[8]. Trip planners make transit more
approachable.
• Real-time info leads to shorter perceived and actual wait
times[1], lower learning curve for new riders[2], increased
ridership[3][7], and increased feeling of safety at night[5][6]
• Need a common data format to power apps and open
new opportunities for planning & analysis
Creation, Maintenance, and Application of GTFS Data
GTFS – A Successful Spec
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank San Benito County Local Transportation Authority in Hollister, California, Eastern Sierra Transit Authority, in Bishop, California,
as well as the Florida Department of Transportation, for funding in part the collection and organization of this information. It should be noted that this
paper is intended as an informational resource. Mention of an application or vendor service does not imply endorsement of that application or vendor.
• GTFS is used for a lot of applications
• GTFS is foundation of a multimodal data stack
• Work still to be done
• Best practices for GTFS
• Interactions with related data formats
• Collect community knowledge - http://bit.ly/transitwiki-gtfs
Part of a Multimodal Data Stack
GTFS producers across the world (TransitFeeds.com)
Trip planning and real-time info
Open data communities
World-wide GTFS feed registries:
• GTFS Data Exchange (shutting down)
• Transitland (http://transit.land)
• TransitFeeds.com
USDOT National Transit Map (bit.ly/USDOT-NTM)
Aaron Antrim
aaron@trilliumtransit.com
barbeau@cutr.usf.edu
Paper #17-03702
Scan for full paper
What’s Next
Related data formats
• GTFS-realtime – Arrival predictions & vehicle locations
• GTFS-flex – Flexible route transit service
• GBFS – Bikeshare availability/locations
• GTFS best practices and governance
• How to incentivize adoption of other formats
Trillium Solutions CUTR @ University of South Florida
Planning & analysis
Remix TBEST OpenTripPlanner Analyst
Disseminating GTFS Data
Accessibility
Sean J. Barbeau, Ph.D.
[1] Kari Edison Watkins, Brian Ferris, Alan Borning, G. Scott Rutherford, and David Layton (2011), "Where Is My Bus? Impact of mobile real-time information on the perceived and actual wait time of transit riders," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Vol. 45 pp. 839-848.
[2] C. Cluett, S. Bregman, and J. Richman (2003). "Customer Preferences for Transit ATIS," Federal Transit Administration. Available at http://ntl.bts.gov/lib/jpodocs/repts_te/13935/13935.pdf#sthash.jwn5Oltr.dpuf
[3] Lei Tang and Piyushimita Thakuriah (2012), "Ridership effects of real-time bus information system: A case study in the City of Chicago," Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Vol. 22 pp. 146-161.
[4] Aaron Steinfeld and John Zimmerman, "Interviews with transit riders in San Francisco and Seattle," ed, 2010.
[5] Brian Ferris, Kari Watkins, and Alan Borning (2010), "OneBusAway: results from providing real-time arrival information for public transit," in Proceedings of the 28th International CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, pp. 1807-1816.
[6] A. Gooze, K. Watkins, and A. Borning (2013), "Benefits of Real-Time Information and the Impacts of Data Accuracy on the Rider Experience," in Transportation Research Board 92nd Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C., January 13, 2013.
[7] Brakewood, Macfarlane and Watkins (2015). The Impact of Real-Time Information on Bus Ridership in New York City. Transportation Research Part C: Emerging Technologies, Volume 53, pp. 59-7
[8] Cain, A. (2004, November). Design Elements of Effective Transit Information Materials. Available at http://www.nctr.usf.edu/pdf/527-12.pdf
Microsoft Bing Maps
FTA STOPS
Timetable generation
GTFS-to-HTML
• General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS)
• Started in 2008 with TriMet
and Google
• Now over 1000 agencies offer
data in GTFS format
OneBusAway Moovit Google Maps Apple Maps
Transit App OpenTripPlanner
Humanware BrailleNote