Welcome to another edition of the GTFS Digest. Summer may be winding down, but the discussions on GTFS are not! The GTFS Community had an active summer with the introduction of a new governance process, fresh conversations, and new contributors joining in. Including, Etienne Pichot Damon as a new Global Community Lead at MobilityData to maintain, grow, and strengthen the GTFS Community.
Welcome to another edition of the GTFS Digest. This month, we saw the adoption of the new Governance framework after two years of community-driven feedback. If you’re curious about what’s changed, check out our documentation. Although there aren’t any proposals actively being voted on, that doesn’t mean Github isn’t active! There are quite a few conversations happening at the moment, so read on to find out more.
The June 2025 GTFS Digest is here! This month, the vote for the new GTFS Governance structure began with a deadline of July 6, 2025. Be sure to check out the discussion and get your votes in! The GTFS community also passed a proposal to add a “cars_allowed” field and created a proposal on the Best Practices for hosting GTFS data. Many new conversations started on Slack, with great responses from contributors!
The May 2025 GTFS Digest is here! This month, the community dove in on some key proposals from last month like the support for displaying cEMV in GTFS, distance-based fare support, and the Governance process changes. Interesting conversations are being had about internal stop times best practices and making agency URLs optional, so join in on the discussion!
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 March 2025 GTFS Digest highlights the community review of the GTFS Schedule Governance Proposal and the release of GTFS Validator v7.0, now supporting full Flex validation rules and Rider Categories for GTFS-Fares v2. Two votes are underway: updates to demand-responsive transit (DRT) and deprecating TripUpdate.schedule_relationship = ADDED. Active proposals include cEMV contactless payment support and car ferry allowances.
This month’s update highlights the adoption of rider_categories.txt in GTFS-Fares v2, a clarification on continuous pickup/dropoff rules for demand-responsive transit currently up for a vote, and new discussions shaping the specification. The community is debating whether a null fare_media_id should act as a wildcard for transfer rules, whether the StopTimeEvent timestamp should shift from int64 to uint64, and why GTFS field names use singular forms even for multi-value relationships.
The January GTFS Digest covers the ongoing vote on rider_categories.txt for GTFS-Fares v2, the adoption of agency_fare_url clarifications, and proposals like original_trip_id for trip referencing and boarding_permissions.txt for vehicle carriage rules. Discussions include GTFS Realtime versioning and best practices for unique IDs.
Let's celebrate the Digest's 1-year anniversary with 2 votes and an adoption to the specification. The community is currently voting on a proposal to clarify the use of agency_fare_url and a proposal that specifies the behavior of ADDED, and un-deprecate REPLACEMENT in TripUpdates. We also recommend that you take a look at the latest adoption that adds fare_leg_join_rules.txt to the specification.
November’s highlights include the Governance Changes Proposal, a new GTFS Realtime feature linking feed versions to schedules, and voting on fare leg join rules. Active proposals and discussions tackled Fares rider categories, flexible pathways, and demand-based frequencies,