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Inventory of Available Technical Services

Once transit providers have reviewed the California Minimum GTFS Guidelines and decided to improve their General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data, they can then request a data assessment from the Department of Rail and Mass Transit (DRMT). Caltrans is prepared to help transit providers meet the California Minimum GTFS Guidelines by December 2022 by providing the following service.

Available resources

On-call helpdesk

Have a specific or exploratory question about transit data or strategy development? DRMT's team of technical experts is available at no cost to advise and support California transit providers.

GTFS support services

California Integrated Travel Project (Cal-ITP) may provide support for creating, fixing, or augmenting GTFS Schedule data on the provider's behalf through 2021. This includes extensions such as Fares and Pathways.

GTFS-Realtime as a Service

For transit providers that do not currently have the hardware or software to create GTFS Realtime, Cal-ITP can provide recommendations for low-cost hardware and no-cost software, as well as offer implementation support.

Cooperative and leveraged procurements

For other hardware and software that providers need in order to produce and maintain GTFS Schedule or GTFS Realtime, Cal-ITP invites providers to acquire these services through pre-negotiated, competitively bid contracts at camobilitymarketplace.org, as they become available.

Vendor negotiations

If a provider already works with a vendor to produce GTFS Schedule or Realtime, DRMT can support the provider in these discussions with technical expertise to ensure that the provider's needs are being met.

In order to use these services, and for DRMT to provide them reliably, transit providers need to commit to and follow a Transit Data Improvement Strategy that will feasibly meet the California Minimum GTFS Guidelines by the end of 2022.

Improving California's transit data

The completeness and quality of California's transit data is a high priority for DRMT and for Cal-ITP. Cal-ITP's goals for 2021 include the following.

  • End-to-end journey planning coverage for people with wheelchairs across the state
  • Direct benefit to transit providers from implementing high-quality GTFS data
  • 100% of base fares represented in public GTFS feeds
  • 100% of real-time schedules represented in public GTFS feeds

Ongoing engagement opportunities

DRMT and Cal-ITP maintain multiple channels for providers to seek and receive information related to their transit data.

  • Transit Working Groups – Cal-ITP hosts gatherings of transit provider staff around specific topics to facilitate the open exchange of questions and experiences. These groups meet online once a quarter and are open to all California transit providers. Email gtfsrt@dot.ca.gov to learn more.
  • Ad-hoc information sharing and networking
  • Outbound communication and announcements
  • DRMT Grant Program Managers