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[GTFS Digest] April 2025 - Vote on Trip Modifications Clarifications & Join the Free Fares Webinar

The April 2025 GTFS Digest is here! This month, the community is voting on clarifications around trip modifications in GTFS Realtime. Key proposals include distance-based fare support, cEMV payment fields, and new governance process updates. Join the discussion on complex fare structures, trip modeling, and in-seat transfers. Plus, register for the free GTFS Fares webinar happening on May 28!

The GTFS Digest is a resource generated monthly by MobilityData providing an overview of developments on GTFS.

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🏅 Contributor Shoutouts

Bodgan
Thank you for your impactful contributions on Slack this month! We always appreciate your insights!

Claire Baxter, Jonathan McHatton, Radha Krishna Peteti, Jonny Browning, John Helmuth
Thank you for your first contributions on Slack! A small first step is all it takes to make a difference.

Ville Pihlava
Congratulations on posting your first PR#457! The community is grateful for the steps towards adding “car allowed” information to GTFS.

🗳️ Currently Voting

More clarifications on trip modifications #542
This PR clarifies misconception on trip modifications, including:

  • Specify that the shape provided should be the full shape
  • Clarification on usage of ids inside a GTFS-rt
  • Clarification that linked entities should be done inside the same feed
  • The definition of shape_id that's inside TripProperties was not in sync between reference and the proto

🚀 Recently Adopted

Clarification on continuous pickup/dropoff value and field Type in booking_rules.txt #528
This PR introduces clarifications specifically for demand-responsive transportation (DRT) services, allowing a value of 1 for continuous_pickup/continuous_drop_off when start_pickup_drop_off_window/end_pickup_drop_off_window are indicated.

Deprecate TripUpdate.schedule_relationship = ADDED, add TripUpdate.schedule_relationship = NEW / REPLACEMENT to specify new / replaced trips which do not run on a schedule from the GTFS static. #504
The updated proposal focuses on deprecating TripUpdate.schedule_relationship = ADDED in GTFS Realtime and using TripUpdate.schedule_relationship = NEW and TripUpdate.schedule_relationship = REPLACEMENT to indicate a trip not found in GTFS Schedule, with the new value flagged as experimental.

📂 Active Proposals

[Governance] New GTFS Schedule Governance Proposal #544
MobilityData is proposing an update to the current GTFS governance process based on two years of community feedback. Key improvements include clearer documentation, structured proposal phases, and revised voting requirements.

  • The discussion period was extended by one additional month to allow more time for review before proceeding to a vote.

[GTFS-Fares v2] Add Distance-Based Fares #556
This PR adds a new functionality to allow the modelling of Distance-based fare systems, by introducing multiple new fields on fare_leg_rules.txt and stop_times.txt as well as a new fare_leg_distance_rules.txt file.

Add cars_allowed field to trips.txt #547
This PR proposes adding a cars_allowed field to trips.txt. There was a lot of discussion in issue #466 about how to add car information for ferries to GTFS. The discussion was centered around whether to use an approach with stop_times.txt or trips.txt.

Add communication_period and impact_period #546
This proposal introduces two new fields: communication_period specifying the time that alerts should be displayed and impact_period to specify the time when the services are affected by the disruption. Additionally, it establishes rules to ensure these new fields are mutually exclusive with active_period for consistency.

Add cemv_support field in agency.txt and routes.txt #545
This proposal introduces a new cemv_support field in agency.txt and routes.txt to indicate if riders can use cEMV (contactless Europay, Mastercard, and Visa) to access a transit service under a specific agency or route.

More clarifications on trip modifications #542
This proposal adds further clarification to trip modifications in GTFS Realtime regarding shapes, the use of IDs, and entity linking. It also aligns the definition of shape_id in TripProperties between the reference and the proto for consistency.

Enhancing GTFS Schedule and Realtime with original_trip_id #534
Davidr1234 suggests adopting original_trip_id from the Google Transit extension in both GTFS Schedule and GTFS Realtime. This would allow for seamless referencing of trips between GTFS and other standards, such as SIRI and NeTEx, which have a similar concept.

Other open proposals:

🔥 Most Active Conversations

Relax the requirement for in-seat transfer to allow attach / detaching vehicles in the middle of a trip #548
Michael questions the current requirement of in-seat transfers where carriages are attached / detached in the middle of a trip, which is common in the National Rail network. He proposes to relax the requirement of transfer_type = 4.

Fares belong to multiple networks #551
Michael proposes to relax the requirement in route_networks.txt to allow a route to be assigned in multiple networks.

Defining fares which require transferring at certain stations within a general transfer network #555
Michael seeks guidance on modeling complex fare rules in GTFS Fares v2 for London's PAYG rail network.

Frequencies.txt primary key: add end_time, headway_secs & exact_times? #514
This issue proposes the extension of the primary key of frequencies.txt to cover trips with overlapping time windows and different headway_secs (such as additional bus services during rush hour) or different exact_times.

Expand / Add definition around route_type #310
Elizabeth proposes the expansion of route_type in routes.txt by updateung bus and adding van and BRT.

Add cars_allowed field to trips.txt #466
Ville Pihlava proposes to add the car_allowed field to trips.txt to cover ferry and auto train use cases.

Pluralized field names? #536
Nina questions why fields with a "Many" cardinality in GTFS are given singular rather than pluralized names. A response explains that since each row in a CSV contains only a single foreign key reference, the column name applies to the individual row rather than representing a collection.

Missing functionality to define "conceptual grouping of stops/stations" in existing GTFS #438
MobilityData proposes a 3-phase plan to improve station modeling, and would love to see any feedback on the plan. If there are no major objections, we will proceed with the first phase soon.

Slack conversations on #gtfs

Claire asked if anyone knows anything about GTFS for Indian Railways.
Bogdan inquired about how the best boarding position for fastest exit is achieved.
Jonathan voiced an issue regarding the relocation of bus stops in Google Maps.
Radha Krishna asked if there is any transit app that immediately shows new GTFS data added to the Mobility Database.
Holger looked for a tool that visualizes in-seat transfers.
Jonny asked for someone who has experience with UK’s BODS data.

Slack conversations on #gtfs-flex

Nome notified that two earlier implementations of GTFS Flex should be removed from the Flex extension page.

📅 Upcoming Events

GTFS-Fares v2 – Monthly meetings | May 27, 2025 @ 11 am EST

Topic : GTFS-Fares v2 extension Working Group Meeting

Free GTFS Fares Webinar | May 28, 2025 @ 11 am EST

Topic : How GTFS Fares Helps Riders Choose Transit with Confidence—And How to Implement It

💬 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 this edition of the GTFS Digest! We look forward to bringing you the latest GTFS updates in 2025 and beyond.