Convert Transportation Data

Summary

The goal of this project is to extract public tranportation information from pdf files and convert to the GTFS format (General Transit Feed Specification) to feed the map applications, which is used by transportation agencies, i.e., GMTMA (Greater Mercer Transportation Management Agency), to display route information on a map. We have manually created a GTFS file for Zline bus and a web app to automate this process. The github repository is here to hold our files. Our next step in development is user authentication as well as a database to save data for registered users.

What is GTFS?

The General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) defines a common format for public transportation schedules and associated geographic information. GTFS “feeds” allow public transit agencies to publish their transit data and developers to write applications that consume that data in an interoperable way. A typical GTFS file requires the following files in a CSV format:

• agency.txt: One or more transit agencies that provide the data in this feed.
• stops.txt: Individual locations where vehicles pick up or drop off passengers.
• routes.txt: Transit routes. A route is a group of trips that are displayed to riders as a single service.
• trips.txt: Trips for each route. A trip is a sequence of two or more stops that occurs at specific time.
• stop_times.txt: Times that a vehicle arrives at and departs from individual stops for each trip.
• calendar.txt: Dates for service IDs using a weekly schedule. Specify when service starts and ends, as well as days of the week where service is available.

And the following optional files:

• calendar_dates.txt: Exceptions for the service IDs defined in the calendar.txt file. If calendar_dates.txt includes ALL dates of service, this file may be specified instead of calendar.txt.
• fare_attributes.txt: Fare information for a transit organization’s routes.
• fare_rules.txt: Rules for applying fare information for a transit organization’s routes.
• shapes.txt: Rules for drawing lines on a map to represent a transit organization’s routes.
• frequencies.txt: Headway (time between trips) for routes with variable frequency of service.
• transfers.txt: Rules for making connections at transfer points between routes.
• feed_info.txt: Additional information about the feed itself, including publisher, version, and expiration information.

For a detailed specification, please visit here.

Original/Raw Data Examples

The original/raw data is in *.pdf format, which contains FreeB Commuter and Neighborhood Bus Services schedules and bus route maps.

• FreeB Commuter service:
• FreeB Neighborhood Bus Service:
• Zline Bus Service: The route is here:

Methods and Tools

Example GTFS Feed can be downloaded here. The tools and procedures of the operation are as follows:

• Google Sheets is used to create and edit GTFS Files in *.CSV format. Information from the raw *.pdf files are manually extracted and put into Google Sheets. References from here are also added to the associated files. The end products are saved and ziped to form a GTFS file.
  • calendar_dates.txt: Refer here Instructions and Result to find out how to calculate holiday exceptions.
• Javascript is used to create the web form application.

Current Issues

• 1. Need a (either a dedicated or an outside) server to host the web app and its database.

• 2. Create a database to save user information as well as user data for future references and statistics.

Notes

• In Calendar.txt, the field “end_date” is mocked, since no such information can be abtained.

References and Links

• Google Support: https://support.google.com/transitpartners/answer/1106422
• Google Support: https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs/