[GTFS Digest] April 2024 - Validating GTFS-Flex and lots of discussions¶
Exciting news! Spare Labs is beta testing a Free GTFS-Flex Builder, and MobilityData is progressing with the Flex rules proposal for the Canonical GTFS Schedule Validator. Topics of interest include UTF-8 encoding, refinement of GTFS Terminology, improving station modeling, enhancing voting processes, and clarifying constraints on pathways.stair_count.
The GTFS Digest is a resource generated monthly by MobilityData providing an overview of developments on GTFS.
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🏅 Contributor Shoutouts¶
Skinkie
Thank you Stefan for bringing up your issue on UTF-8 in GTFS garnering some good support from the community. Can't wait to see how it develops.
Michael Schnuerle
Your question on visualization of public GTFS feeds has garnered a lot of attention and has brought value to the community. Thank you!
Walter Jenkins
We would like to take the time to acknowledge Walter’s multiple replies to your Slack messages. He has been a great contributor over the past few months!
**Leo Frachet **
Shoutout to Leo for sharing the development of a free GTFS-Flex Builder by Spare Labs with the community.
📢 Announcements¶
**Implemented quality of life changes to MobilityData’s Slack **
- New onboarding process to guide newcomers
- Automatic notifications have been moved from #gtfs to an opt-in channel #gtfs-notifications
🗳️ Currently Voting¶
Clarify stops.zone_id conditional requirement for route-based fare_rules #432 \ This proposal modifies the conditional requirement for stops.zone_id to allow for the scenario in which the stop is only assigned to trip_ids whose route_id is present in a fare_rules.txt record with only fare_id and route_id defined (route-based fares).
- Voting ends on 2024-04-30 at 23:59:59 UTC.
đź“‚ Active Proposals¶
Add Best Practices source documentation in the google/transit repo #447
This PR adds the Best Practice documentation into this repo to consolidate the reference documentation in this repo, and give the Best Practices more visibility. The GTFS Realtime Best Practices have also been consolidated into one single document so it's easier to read.
[GTFS-Fares v2] Add fare_leg_join_rules.txt (first iteration) #439
In real fare structures, a common scenario is that the fare is only a function of the start and endpoint (or zones traveled through) and doesn’t care what series of legs or transfers are taken in-between. The rules for joining multiple legs into an “effective leg” can be defined in fare_leg_join_rules.txt.
This PR currently only allows joining legs within the same network. The working group may expand this file with additional functionalities in the future (such as joining legs from different networks, stop pairs, etc.).
Add Feed Version and GTFS url to the GTFS real time FeedHeader #434
This Realtime proposal adds two new fields to the feed header to provide information on the GTFS schedule file to be used with the GTFS real time data: feed_version would match the feed_version in the feed_info.txt file of the GTFS, while GTFS_url would point to the url of the GTFS file. A producer willing to implement this change is required to move forward.
Other open proposals¶
[GTFS-Fares v2] Add rule_priority to fare_leg_rules.txt #418
[GTFS-Fares v2] Fare product/media transfer behavior #423
🔥 Most Active Conversations¶
Make UTF-8 the mandatory GTFS encoding #444
Stefan raised a concern regarding producers using various encodings, and even mixing them, which leads to data processing issues for consumers. To address this, he proposed clearly mandating the use of UTF-8.
**Refinement of GTFS Terminology: Transitioning from "Schedule" to "Static" #442 **
MobilityData proposes to harmonize the language around GTFS Schedule as many use the terms “Schedule” and “Static” interchangeably.
- There is some consensus around the use of “Static” as the official terminology.
- Some would consider dropping both “Static” and “Schedule”.
Join the debate and let us know your thoughts.
Improving station modeling in GTFS #438
Recently, MobilityData has received feedback pointing out limitations and difficulties regarding station modeling. Examples include the lack of clear mechanism for whether a stop needs to go through an entrance, and confusion in search and visualization. In discussions, the community has also mentioned the possibility of adding a higher level of hierarchy. However, we've also found that community members have different interpretations of the current location_type=1(station). Please share your thoughts on station modeling in this issue!
[Governance] Phase 2: Enhancing Voting and Reviews #436
This GitHub Issue is part of the ongoing effort to enhance the GTFS Governance, particularly focusing on the Specification Amendment Process outlined in phase 2 of the phasing plan published in December 2023.
- An interactive discussion was held on 13 March, 2024. Participants shared their feedback and some high level consensus was achieved.
- A Working Group has been formed and a meeting will be held on Thursday May 2, 2024 @ 11am EDT
Clarifying constraints on pathways.stair_count #437
Michael Kearney has flagged a potential problem with the definition of pathways.stair_count and raises some questions around the meaning of empty and 0 values, then proposes four potential solutions for discussions, but points out some potential backwards compatibility problems. This issue requires further discussion from the community.
Slack conversations on #gtfs¶
Walter Jenkins shares valuable resources which allow Micheal to create a visual.
Join the discussion and provide some insights for Adhas.
Stefan Begerad asks: How to combine a GTFS validator with an incident management system?
Holger Bruch responds by sharing MFDZ’s github based GTFS-Issues Tracker for reporting issues of any GTFS / GTFS-Realtime feed worldwide.
As mentioned above, Holger responded to Stefan’s request. Holger mentions that this is an unofficial initiative to learn about current issues hoping to encourage discussion in the open.
Slack conversations on #gtfs-realtime¶
Join this discussion to see what insights Ritesh Warabe has to provide. Mentions of ETCS and GPS.
Sylvia Greer asks for support on how GTFS-RT is displayed on their trip planning app.
Erik Jensen helps out by mentioning that bigger North American agencies null out the Block ID before sending GTFS to their consumer.
Slack conversations on #gtfs-flex¶
Weston Shippy inquires about GTFS-Flex validation
As flex was recently adopted, Weston asked about support for it by trip planning applications. Tzu-Jen Chan mentioned that MobilityData plans to add support for Flex on Canonical GTFS Schedule Validator soon.
đź“… Upcoming Events¶
Governance Working Group Meeting | May 2, 2024 @ 11 am EDT
Topics : Next steps in the GTFS governance Revamp
🛠️ Tools update¶
Flex rules proposal for the Canonical GTFS Schedule Validator
Now that GTFS-Flex has been adopted into the specification (🎊), MobilityData has developed a list of requirements for the Flex validation rules that will be added to the Canonical Validator. Please share feedback on the proposal and let us know if you want to accelerate this work by contributing rules to the validator!
Spare Labs is beta testing a Free GTFS-Flex Builder
Leo Frachet from Spare Labs is inviting you to give feedback on the GTFS-Flex Builder. Follow the link above to get in touch with Leo and help build this valuable community tool.
đź’¬ Join the GTFS Community¶
GitHub: google/transit: Share your ideas with the community! Join the official GTFS GitHub repository.
GTFS-changes: Get updates as soon as they happen, join the GTFS-changes google groups to get information about new pull requests and votes.
GTFS-realtime: Talk everything Realtime and stay up to date. This group is discussing the GTFS Realtime, asking questions, and proposing changes.
GTFS.org: The official GTFS documentation website. Here you will find frequently updated resources for your GTFS needs.
MobilityData Slack: Have a question about GTFS or need to connect with the community? Join in on GTFS slack conversations. This is a great place to have questions answered quickly by the over 1,300 mobility enthusiasts navigating our channels.
**Thank you for reading the fifth edition of the GTFS Digest! We look forward to bringing you the latest GTFS updates in 2024 and beyond. **