Implementation of the National Intercity Bus Atlas (2025) / Chapter Skim
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3 Research Approach: TRANSIT-data-tools as GTFS Creation and Assembly Platform
Pages 13-21

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From page 13...
... Tool Overview TRANSIT-data-tools is an open source GTFS development tool developed by Arcadis to allow for public transit operators to intuitively create GTFS from schedule, location, and other miscellaneous data that they already possessed. The following subsections discuss the various features of the tool and their application to the ICBA effort.
From page 14...
... Because of the difference in operational models between local transit and intercity services, especially where prices may fluctuate due to demand, or where commercial sensitivities exist, this may not be applicable to many carriers and can generally be ignored. Data Management While the TRANSIT-data-tools platform can be used to create single feeds through the data editor, it is also a powerful tool in organizing multiple feeds and multiple versions of feeds, as discussed previously.
From page 15...
... Figure 2.   Example of stop editing in TRANSIT-data-tools. Figure 3.   Example of timetable editing in TRANSIT-data-tools.
From page 16...
... These tags can be custom ized by users to represent anything needed for a specific project; for the purposes of the ICBA project, the research team created tags labeling carriers by priority level, whether a feed had been collected, whether a carrier needed to be contacted, and which feeds were obtained from aggregators, among other characteristics (see Figure 4)
From page 17...
... Figure 4.   Example of Data Manager in TRANSIT-data-tools.
From page 18...
... Figure 5.   Example of GTFS feed information page.
From page 19...
... Figure 6.   Example of GTFS validation.
From page 20...
... Technical Assistance Plan Overview As part of the larger process of gaining cooperation from the intercity bus industry and in addition to setting up the TRANSIT-data-tools platform for the organization of GTFS feeds col lected through engagement with carriers, research team members at Arcadis were also tasked with providing technical assistance and other guidance to prospective participants in the ICBA. This included creating user documentation for the TRANSIT-data-tools platform to better guide those developing GTFS, conducting GTFS development training sessions with carriers to teach them how to use the platform to create their own GTFS, and providing support to users of the platform.
From page 21...
... Although this may not be immediately relevant for ICBA users, providing documentation on how to set up the platform for further open source development, localization, and interaction with user-created tools may prove useful in expanding the functionality and reach of TRANSIT-data-tools. GTFS Trainings and Support While the user documentation created by Arcadis has been written so that carriers can develop their own GTFS feeds completely independently after being added as users to the data-tools platform, the research team aimed to work directly with carriers to train them how to use the platform.


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