Connecting Beyond Boundaries with GTFS Digitized Data HE ORIGINAL MISSION OF the Transportation Resource Information Point, or TRIP, was to help people explore and use transportation alternatives throughout Central Maryland. In Maryland, the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) was the designated recipient of Section 5316, the Job Access and Reverse Commute (JARC) program funds, and worked in conjunction with Central Maryland Regional Transit (CMRT) to begin the buildout of a transportation database, now known as TRIP. By using census data and information provided by transportation and human services providers, CMRT and the MTA assessed the transportation needs, issues and constraints of the general public, as well as of older adults, people with disabilities and people with lower incomes. In fi scal year 2010- 2011, CMRT received additional funds to hire and train the personnel to move TRIP forward. To this day, CMRT continues to build the TRIP program. Th e TRIP website (mdtrip. org) is composed of information that CMRT has collected from various service providers in the Baltimore metropolitan area, so viewers can quickly see a variety of transportation options on one easy-to-use website. Th e project also features the TRIP Regional Information Center: 1-877-331-TRIP (8747). Customers, human services agencies and partner organizations can dial this number for immediate information and assistance. In 2011, CMRT was awarded a Veterans Transportation and Community Living Initiative (VTCLI) grant to extend the TRIP program from Central Maryland to the entire state. Th e aim of the project was to use the General Transit Feed Specifi cation (GTFS) data format (used for trip planners such as Google Maps, Yahoo Maps, Bing Maps, Apple Maps, others, as well as third-party app developers) to make all of Maryland’s locally operated transit systems published, available and accessible to veterans, individuals with disabilities, senior citizens, low-income commuters, and the general public, including international tourists. Th rough the course of the 12-month project, the TRIP team hired a project manager to coordinate the project eff orts; trained and deployed three GIS data technicians who completed the bulk of the project scope in half the time, and completed 18 transit systems’ worth of GTFS feeds for systems 36 | Mass Transit | MassTransitmag.com | APRIL/MAY 2017 in the state of Maryland. Th is represented an over 90 percent increase over the number of published feeds available in Maryland prior to the CMRT grant. Developed by Google, using data generated from TriMet in Portland, Oregon, the General Transit Feed Specifi cation (GTFS) exists today as a commonly used, standardized, digitized format of transit data. GTFS feeds allow transportation agencies from around the world the ability to publicly display their transit data and schedules via Google Maps or other trip-planning services. GTFS feeds come in a zipped folder containing a series of text fi les that correspond to a transit organization’s specifi c data attributes, such as route stops, routes, trips and scheduled data. Th e TRIP team at CMRT decided to utilize the National By Jaime McKay Help is available for agencies of any size to generate transit feeds to get its information available for Google Transit and other trip planners or third-party app developers. General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) • Developed by Google • Standardized, digitized format of transit data • Ability to publicly display transit data & schedules via trip-planning services
MassTransit_AprilMay_2017
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