Metro's GTFS Data (2)
Good Day Developers. I am a planner that supports the scheduling data feeds to downstream users in the Service Planning Analysis Dept. I think Doug has covered the heart of the concerns/comments raised by michichan. I would like to add that we wanted to maintain the integrity of the data as it was received from the scheduling system source, which is highly validated and used by many downstream data systems. As a result we retained the native route designations one sees in the GTFS route and trip tables. I do suggest using the route named on the headsign in stop-times table for public facing applications as that will reflect what the customer will expect to see. The reason we added the “change route to” verbiage was to identify when a route designation changes in the middle of a trip. This would also be the point in the trip when an operator will change the headsign as well. Customers do need to know this, as it could confuse them when they wish to make a return trip. You might like to know why a bus trip would change headsign mid-trip. In most cases it occurs on a line that travels through downtown Los Angeles. Instead of having the bus layover at a terminal and start a new trip on a different line, it just changes headsign and continues on. This presents a savings in operating costs while providing customers with the same route number they have been accustomed to seeing. Thanks for your thoughtful comments.
Comments on this entry:
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June 18, 2009
I went through the data and viewed it on the Schedule Viewer application and found it to be the neatest data feed I have ever seen from any agency. On the other side of the spectrum, Washington Metro released their data back in March and has updated it weekly, mainly to correspond with weekend trackwork. However, it isn't up to the same calibre as with LA Metro. Although WMATA uses Trapeze as opposed to HASTUS, the data is still not to the same quality as the public let alone developers would have liked it to be after months of pleading for them to release schedule data in the Google Transit format. I also wonder if Metro has a way of translating the data from the other agencies that send their schedule data for the trip planner into the GTFS format for regionality.
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June 18, 2009
3 Quick Q's:
Any idea when we can begin to use Google Maps Transit Trip Planner? Just a rough idea would be terrific...
Any new advances planed for mobile devices with the currently Metro Trip Planner?
Is NexTrip going to be getting more attention?
Thanks a million!
