REST API - Routes

Routes

Routes are routes.txt entities imported from GTFS, and include the same basic structure and fields, plus some additional metadata and derived information. A route is a collection of trips, where each trip represents scheduled service to stops on a given day and time.

Route geometries

Each route includes a representative geometry based on the most common trip patterns for each direction. Generally, a trip shape is included if it represents at least 10% of all trips in that direction. The first shape in the geometry will be the most common shape in the predominant direction. Full shapes are available when accessing trips.

Route Onestop IDs

Onestop ID values are automatically generated for every route using a geohash of the stop locations visited by this route and the name of the route. Two very similar routes may generate the same Onestop ID value, in which more than one route entry will be returned when searching by Onestop ID.

Request overview

The routes API provides optional flags for including or disincluding certain response sections; this may be useful for optimizing the speed and size of requests. The API also provides png as a format option, which returns a PNG format image containing a simple static map of the route and stops.

Geographic queries require all three parameters of lat, lon, and radius to be specified. The maximum radius is 10km.

The route API returns "active" feed versions unless requesting a specific feed version.

Route API results are based on this GraphQL query.

Request parameters

Response format

Vehicle Types

Every route in Transitland has a vehicle type. The list of allowable vehicle types is drawn from the GTFS specification and Google's extended list of route types.

Unlike within GTFS feeds, Transitland allows route vehicle type to be queried by either a numerical code (e.g., 0) or text (tram). Both will return the same set of results. The route data model is always returned with the text form.