General Transit Feed Specification

General Transit Feed Specification
Name	General Transit Feed Specification
Abbreviation	GTFS
Developer	Google Transit, Transit Cooperative Research Program, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York)
Initial release	2005
Stable release	2.2
License	Open specification

General Transit Feed Specification

The General Transit Feed Specification is a standardized format for public transit schedule and associated geographic information used by agencies and developers worldwide. It enables interoperability between transit providers such as Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York), Transport for London, SNCF, Deutsche Bahn and consumer applications like Google Maps, Apple Maps, Moovit and Transit (app). The specification has been adopted by municipal authorities including Chicago Transit Authority, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Toronto Transit Commission, Bay Area Rapid Transit, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and international operators such as MTA (Israel), JR East, RATP.

Overview

The specification defines a common CSV-based schema enabling agencies like Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York), WMATA, SEPTA and SNCF to publish schedules interoperable with platforms including Google Maps, Apple Maps, HERE Technologies and OpenTripPlanner. It supports static schedule data for operators such as Amtrak, VIA Rail, Deutsche Bahn and JR Central, and complements real-time protocols used by organizations like National Public Transport Access Nodes, Transport for London, SBB (Swiss Federal Railways) and Transport for NSW. The format is influenced by projects and funders including Google (company), U.S. Department of Transportation, European Commission, World Bank and standards bodies such as Open Geospatial Consortium.

File Formats and Structure

Feeds are packaged as ZIP archives containing plain-text CSV files named by domain concepts used by agencies like Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York), Chicago Transit Authority, Transport for London and Transport for NSW. Core files include agency, routes, trips, stop_times, stops and calendar that mirror entities managed by institutions such as Bay Area Rapid Transit, RATP, SNCF and Deutsche Bahn. The schema aligns with geospatial datasets produced by organizations like Esri, OpenStreetMap, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and is often combined with routing engines such as OpenTripPlanner, GraphHopper, Valhalla and OSRM.

Data Fields and Schemas

The specification enumerates fields that describe agencies, routes, trips, stops, calendars, frequencies and fare attributes used by operators including Amtrak, VIA Rail, JR East and MTA (Israel). Fields reference identifiers and foreign-key relationships similar to schemas from PostgreSQL, MySQL, SQLite and are validated against expectations by tools maintained by groups like Google (company), Transitland, MobilityData and NREL. Extensions for real-time and frequency-based services draw on protocols implemented by National Transit Database, European Railway Agency, TransLink (Vancouver) and regional agencies such as Caltrain.

Implementation and Use Cases

Transit agencies including Metropolitan Transportation Authority (New York), Chicago Transit Authority, Transport for London, Transport for NSW and private operators like FlixTrain publish feeds consumed by trip planners, journey planners and multimodal applications such as Google Maps, Apple Maps, HERE Technologies, Moovit and Citymapper. Urban planners at institutions like MIT, University College London, TU Delft and UC Berkeley use the data for accessibility analysis, performance monitoring, ridership forecasting and integration with datasets from US Census Bureau, Eurostat, INEGI and Statistics Canada. Research projects funded by National Science Foundation, European Research Council and Horizon 2020 leverage the format to combine schedule data with sensor networks deployed by agencies such as SBB (Swiss Federal Railways.

Tools and Validation

A broad ecosystem of tools validates and manipulates feeds: validators and visualizers from Google (company), the open-source validator by Transitland, feed editors like OpenTripPlanner's tools, and quality-assurance platforms maintained by MobilityData, NREL and community projects hosted on GitHub. Developers integrate feeds into routing stacks such as OpenTripPlanner, GraphHopper, OSRM and Valhalla, and use GIS tools from QGIS, ArcGIS and libraries like GDAL and GeoPandas to analyze spatial attributes. Community initiatives and datasets are coordinated through organizations including TransitCenter, UITP, MobilityData and regional consortia such as TransLink (Vancouver).

Governance and Version History

The specification originated in 2005 with contributions from Google (company), TriMet, MTA (New York), Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and other early adopters. Governance evolved through stewardship by groups such as MobilityData, Transitland, Open Knowledge Foundation and coordination with agencies like U.S. Department of Transportation and Transport for London. Version updates have included schema additions for fares, shapes, frequencies and transfers, with implementation guidance and best practices published by institutions including National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Urban Institute and Institute of Transportation Engineers.

Category:Public transport