Who Uses GTFS?
More than 10,000 transit agencies share their data using GTFS, which powers apps like Google Maps, Apple Maps, and Transit for millions of riders.
Agencies of all shapes and sizes use GTFS to get their schedules in front of riders:
Big City Systems: From the New York MTA to London's TfL and Tokyo's metro, every major urban network uses GTFS.
Small Town Buses: Even small rural bus services with just a couple of routes use it to stay visible on the map.
Private Shuttles: Airport transfers, university buses, and corporate shuttles are also jumping on board.
Mapping & Navigation Apps
Google Maps: The largest consumer of GTFS data. Transit directions in Google Maps are powered by GTFS feeds from thousands of agencies.
Apple Maps: Uses GTFS for transit routing on iPhone and iPad.
Bing Maps & HERE: Also incorporate GTFS data for transit directions.
Dedicated Transit Apps
Transit: Popular app for real-time transit in North American cities.
Citymapper: Comprehensive trip planner for major world cities.
Moovit: Global transit app with coverage in thousands of cities.
Regional apps: Many cities have local transit apps that consume GTFS data from their agencies.
Researchers & Planners
Urban planners: Use GTFS to analyze transit coverage, identify gaps, and plan new services.
Transportation researchers: Study transit accessibility, equity, and efficiency using GTFS data.
Data scientists: Build models and visualizations from standardized transit data.
Software developers use GTFS to build all sorts of things, like custom arrival displays for station platforms or accessibility tools that help disabled riders find step-free paths.
It's the industry standard. If you want your routes to show up in the apps people actually use, you need GTFS.
It's free. There are no licensing fees or annoying proprietary restrictions.
It's simple. At its heart, it's just a bunch of text files in a ZIP – easy for anyone to create and use.
Network effects. The more agencies publish GTFS, the more valuable it becomes for developers to support it, which attracts more agencies.
Related Questions
• How do I get my bus on Google Maps?
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