Analyzing Transit Systems Using General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) by Generating Spatiotemporal Transit Networks
The General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) is an open standard format for recording transit information, utilized by thousands of transit agencies worldwide. In this study, a new tool named <i>GTFS2STN</i> for converting GTFS data into the spatiotemporal networks is introduced. To ana...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Information |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/16/1/24 |
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| Summary: | The General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) is an open standard format for recording transit information, utilized by thousands of transit agencies worldwide. In this study, a new tool named <i>GTFS2STN</i> for converting GTFS data into the spatiotemporal networks is introduced. To analyze the travel time variability, it is important to transform a transit network to a spatiotemporal network to enable a comprehensive analysis of transit system accessibility. <i>GTFS2STN</i> is a new tool that converts General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) data into spatiotemporal networks, addressing the lack of open-source solutions for transit analysis. The tool includes a web application that generates isochrone maps and calculates travel time variability between locations. Validation against Google Maps APIs shows that journey time (i.e., the summation of the transit time, walking time, and waiting time) differences in the Mean Absolute Percentage Error are typically within 12%. A before–after analysis shows that for the transit journey time in 2024 in Nashville, Tennessee, 8 out of 10 pivotal bus stops showed a significantly decreased journey time compared with the case of 2019. A further set of before–after analyses shows that although journey time between transit sites significantly dropped on May 2020 during COVID-19 emergencies, the journey time almost totally recovered to the before-COVID-19 level by November 2020. By supporting any valid GTFS schedule, <i>GTFS2STN</i> enables the analysis of historical and planned transit systems, making it valuable for long-term accessibility assessment and travel time variability studies. |
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| ISSN: | 2078-2489 |