General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS)

Business Profile

Core Value Proposition

General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) provides a community-driven open standard for rider-facing transit information, enabling accurate schedules, real-time updates, and interoperable data across thousands of agencies and apps.

Target Customer

Transit agencies and developers building rider-facing transit apps (app developers, technology partners, and public transit operators).

Key Differentiator

Open, community-driven standard with global adoption, offering two formats in one standard (GTFS Schedule and GTFS Realtime) and a broad ecosystem (GitHub, Slack, GTFS Digest) for collaboration and real-time updates.

Implementation Timeline

Not specified in content.

Pain Points

1Need for accurate, timely rider information and real-time updates to reduce wait times and improve trip planning.
2Data fragmentation across multiple transit agencies requiring consistent, interoperable data for multi-agency trips.
3Difficulty exposing transit data to a wide range of applications and developers due to lack of a standardized format.

Key Features

1GTFS Schedule: static data covering routes, stops, and schedules; supports fares and flexible routing features.
2GTFS Realtime: live updates including vehicle locations, arrival times, and service alerts.
3Fares, flexible services, and additional features beyond schedules.
4Language bindings and technical tooling: .NET, Java, JavaScript/Node.js, Python, Golang, Ruby, PHP bindings; Protobuf-based feed formats.
5Ecosystem and collaboration: GitHub repository (google/transit), Slack community, GTFS Digest, and Resources section.

Target Customer Industries

Client Results

1Improved rider experience through accurate schedules and real-time updates.
2Global reach with consistent data across multi-agency trips and regions.
3Broader audience reach through app developers leveraging the standardized data format.

Competitive Advantages

1Open, community-driven standard that is freely usable and widely adopted (over 10,000 agencies in 100+ countries).
2Two complementary formats (GTFS Schedule and GTFS Realtime) for static and live data.
3Interoperability and ease of use due to a simple data structure and broad industry adoption.
4Strong ecosystem support (open-source, Slack community, GitHub repository, GTFS Digest).

Key Benefits

1Improved rider experience with accurate schedules and real-time updates.

2Global reach and data consistency for multi-agency trips.

3Easy sharing of standardized data with a large pool of app developers.

Additional Product Information

Product Description

A community-driven open standard for rider-facing transit information, consisting of GTFS Schedule (static data) and GTFS Realtime (live updates) to enable accurate schedules, real-time updates, and interoperability across transit agencies and apps.

Target Market

Transit agencies, public transit operators, and developers building rider-facing transit apps.

Unique Value Proposition

An open, widely adopted standard that unifies static and real-time transit data, enabling consistent rider information across multiple agencies and applications with a robust ecosystem for collaboration.

Technical Requirements

GTFS data feeds include two formats: GTFS Schedule (static data) and GTFS Realtime (live updates). Realtime feeds use Protobuf bindings. Language bindings available for .NET, Java, JavaScript/Node.js, Python, Golang, Ruby, and PHP. GitHub repository (google/transit) hosts the standard; Slack and GTFS Digest are available for collaboration.

Pricing Model

Not specified in content.

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