Documentation

REST API - Routes

Last updated October 2, 2026

Routes

The REST API routes endpoint provides a fast and flexible way to browse routes and to visualize their representative geometries.

When visualizing many routes over a large region, consider using Transitland's vector tiles instead of the REST API.

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.

GEThttps://transit.land/api/v2/rest/routes

GEThttps://transit.land/api/v2/rest/routes.{format}Request routes in specified format
GEThttps://transit.land/api/v2/rest/routes/{route_key}Request a route by ID or Onestop ID
GEThttps://transit.land/api/v2/rest/routes/{route_key}.{format}Request a route by ID or Onestop ID in specified format

Request

route_keyoptional string: Route lookup key; can be an integer ID, a '<feed onestop_id>:<gtfs route_id>' key, or a Onestop ID
agency_keyoptional string: Agency lookup key; can be an integer ID, a '<feed onestop_id>:<gtfs agency_id>' key, or a Onestop ID
route_idoptional string: Search for records with this GTFS route_id
route_typeoptional integer: Search for routes with this GTFS route (vehicle) type
route_typesoptional string: Search for routes with these GTFS route (vehicle) types. Accepts comma separated values.
operator_onestop_idoptional string: Search for records by operator OnestopID
serves_stop_onestop_idoptional string: Search for routes serving a stop with this OnestopID
include_alertsoptional string: Include alerts from GTFS Realtime feeds
Allowed:true, false
include_geometryoptional string: Include route geometry
Allowed:true, false
include_stopsoptional string: Include route stops
Allowed:true, false
idoptional integer (int32): Search for a specific internal ID
afteroptional integer (int32): Pagination cursor value. This should be treated as an opaque value created by the server and returned as the link to the next result page, which may be empty. For historical reasons, this is based on the integer record ID values, but that should not be assumed to be the case in the future.
limitoptional integer (int32): Maximum number of records to return
formatoptional string: Response format
Allowed:json, geojson, geojsonl
searchoptional string: Full text search
onestop_idoptional string: Search for a specific Onestop ID
feed_version_sha1optional string: Search for records in this feed version
feed_onestop_idoptional string: Search for records in this feed
radiusoptional number: Search for routes geographically, based on stops at this location; radius is in meters, requires lon and lat
latoptional number: Latitude
lonoptional number: Longitude
bboxoptional string: Geographic search using a bounding box, with coordinates in (min_lon, min_lat, max_lon, max_lat) order as a comma separated string
license_commercial_use_allowedoptional string: Filter entities by feed license 'commercial_use_allowed' value. Please see Source Feed concept for details on license values. 'exclude_no' is equivalent to 'yes' and 'unknown'.
Allowed:yes, no, unknown, exclude_no
license_share_alike_optionaloptional string: Filter entities by feed license 'share_alike_optional' value. Please see Source Feed concept for details on license values. 'exclude_no' is equivalent to 'yes' and 'unknown'.
Allowed:yes, no, unknown, exclude_no
license_create_derived_productoptional string: Filter entities by feed license 'create_derived_product' value. Please see Source Feed concept for details on license values. 'exclude_no' is equivalent to 'yes' and 'unknown'.
Allowed:yes, no, unknown, exclude_no
license_redistribution_allowedoptional string: Filter entities by feed license 'redistribution_allowed' value. Please see Source Feed concept for details on license values. 'exclude_no' is equivalent to 'yes' and 'unknown'.
Allowed:yes, no, unknown, exclude_no
license_use_without_attributionoptional string: Filter entities by feed license 'use_without_attribution' value. Please see Source Feed concept for details on license values. 'exclude_no' is equivalent to 'yes' and 'unknown'.
Allowed:yes, no, unknown, exclude_no

Response

routesarray of Route

List or search for Routes

routes.idinteger

Internal integer ID

routes.route_colornullable string

GTFS routes.route_color; color that corresponds to a route, as a six-digit hexadecimal number (e.g. FF0000)

routes.route_descnullable string

GTFS routes.route_desc; description of a route that provides useful, quality information

routes.route_idstring

GTFS routes.route_id

routes.route_long_namenullable string

GTFS routes.route_long_name; full descriptive name of a route

routes.route_short_namenullable string

GTFS routes.route_short_name; short name of a route, such as a line number or abbreviation

routes.route_sort_ordernullable integer

GTFS routes.route_sort_order; orders routes for display; routes with a lower value should be displayed first

routes.route_text_colornullable string

GTFS routes.route_text_color; legible color to use for text drawn against the route_color background, as a six-digit hexadecimal number

routes.route_typeinteger

GTFS routes.route_type; numeric code indicating the type of transportation [0=tram/light rail, 1=subway/metro, 2=rail, 3=bus, 4=ferry, 5=cable tram, 6=aerial lift, 7=funicular, 11=trolleybus, 12=monorail]; extended types also supported

routes.route_type_basicinteger

The basic GTFS route type this route's route_type is a kind of: an extended type is replaced by the basic type it belongs to, so 702 (express bus service) becomes 3 (bus) and 401 (metro service) becomes 1 (subway/metro). A route_type that is already basic, or that is not a known extended type, is returned unchanged

routes.route_urlnullable string

GTFS routes.route_url; URL of a web page about the particular route

routes.continuous_pickupnullable integer

GTFS routes.continuous_pickup; indicates whether a rider can board along the route between stops [0=continuous stopping pickup, 1=no continuous stopping, 2=must phone agency, 3=must coordinate with driver]

routes.continuous_drop_offnullable integer

GTFS routes.continuous_drop_off; indicates whether a rider can alight along the route between stops [0=continuous stopping drop-off, 1=no continuous stopping, 2=must phone agency, 3=must coordinate with driver]

routes.cemv_supportnullable integer

GTFS routes.cemv_support; whether riders can use a contactless EMV (cEMV) card or mobile device as fare media for trips on this route [0=no information, 1=supported, 2=not supported]; takes precedence over agency.cemv_support

routes.onestop_idnullable string

Onestop ID for this route

routes.geometrynullable Geometry

Aggregated representative geometry for this route as a single LineString or MultiLineString; for direction-specific shapes see geometries

routes.alertsnullable array of Alert

GTFS-RT service alerts on this route, as a whole or at one of its stops, whose agency and mode, if given, are the route's; pass active: true to return only currently active alerts, include_modes: true to also return alerts on the route's mode, such as all of its agency's subway service, and include_trips: true to also return alerts on the route's trips

routes.alerts.entity_idstring

Id of the GTFS-RT FeedEntity that carried this alert, as published by its realtime feed. This is the realtime message's own entity id, not a GTFS static id like those in informed_entity. It should be unique within one realtime feed but not across feeds, so identify an alert by rt_feed_onestop_id and entity_id together, for example to merge the copies of an alert reached through a stop, its routes and their agency. Producers are not required to keep it the same between fetches

routes.alerts.rt_feed_onestop_idstring

Onestop ID of the feed whose GTFS-RT data this alert came from. A feed may carry both static and realtime URLs, so this can be the same feed as a feed_onestop_id elsewhere in the schema

routes.alerts.causenullable string

GTFS-RT Alert cause

routes.alerts.effectnullable string

GTFS-RT Alert effect

routes.alerts.severity_levelnullable string

Alert severity: UNKNOWN_SEVERITY, INFO, WARNING, or SEVERE

routes.alerts.urlnullable array of RTTranslation

URL for more information

routes.alerts.header_textarray of RTTranslation

GTFS-RT Alert header text

routes.alerts.description_textarray of RTTranslation

GTFS-RT Alert description text

routes.alerts.tts_header_textnullable array of RTTranslation

Header text optimized for text-to-speech (TTS) systems

routes.alerts.tts_description_textnullable array of RTTranslation

Description text optimized for text-to-speech (TTS) systems

routes.alerts.active_periodnullable array of RTTimeRange

Time ranges during which this alert is active. See https://gtfs.org/realtime/reference/#message-timerange

routes.alerts.informed_entitynullable array of RTEntitySelector

Entities this alert applies to, as published. See https://gtfs.org/realtime/reference/#message-entityselector

routes.agencyAgency

Agency associated with this route

routes.agency.idinteger

Internal integer ID

routes.agency.agency_idstring

GTFS agency.agency_id

routes.agency.agency_namestring

GTFS agency.agency_name

routes.agency.onestop_idstring

Onestop ID for this agency (or its associated operator)

routes.agency.alertsnullable array of Alert

GTFS-RT service alerts on this agency as a whole, not those narrowed to a route, stop or trip; pass active: true to return only currently active alerts, and include_modes: true to also return alerts on a mode the agency runs, such as all of its subway service

routes.agency.alerts.entity_idstring

routes.agency.alerts.rt_feed_onestop_idstring

Onestop ID of the feed whose GTFS-RT data this alert came from. A feed may carry both static and realtime URLs, so this can be the same feed as a feed_onestop_id elsewhere in the schema

routes.agency.alerts.causenullable string

GTFS-RT Alert cause

routes.agency.alerts.effectnullable string

GTFS-RT Alert effect

routes.agency.alerts.severity_levelnullable string

Alert severity: UNKNOWN_SEVERITY, INFO, WARNING, or SEVERE

routes.agency.alerts.urlnullable array of RTTranslation

URL for more information

routes.agency.alerts.header_textarray of RTTranslation

GTFS-RT Alert header text

routes.agency.alerts.description_textarray of RTTranslation

GTFS-RT Alert description text

routes.agency.alerts.tts_header_textnullable array of RTTranslation

Header text optimized for text-to-speech (TTS) systems

routes.agency.alerts.tts_description_textnullable array of RTTranslation

Description text optimized for text-to-speech (TTS) systems

routes.agency.alerts.active_periodnullable array of RTTimeRange

Time ranges during which this alert is active. See https://gtfs.org/realtime/reference/#message-timerange

routes.agency.alerts.informed_entitynullable array of RTEntitySelector

Entities this alert applies to, as published. See https://gtfs.org/realtime/reference/#message-entityselector

routes.feed_versionFeedVersion

Source feed version for this entity

routes.route_stopsarray of RouteStop

Stops on this route as RouteStop associations (with route and agency context)

routes.route_stops.stopStop

Associated stop

routes.route_stops.stop.idinteger

Internal integer ID

routes.route_stops.stop.stop_idstring

GTFS stops.stop_id

Example:400029

routes.route_stops.stop.stop_namenullable string

GTFS stops.stop_name

Example:MADISON AV/E 68 ST

routes.route_stops.stop.geometryPoint

Geographic location of this stop as a GeoJSON Point

routes.route_stops.stop.alertsnullable array of Alert

GTFS-RT service alerts on this stop, with or without a route. An agency, route or mode the alert also gives must be in this stop's feed version and agree with each other; alerts on a trip at the stop are on the trip instead. Pass active: true to return only currently active alerts

routes.route_stops.stop.alerts.entity_idstring

routes.route_stops.stop.alerts.rt_feed_onestop_idstring

Onestop ID of the feed whose GTFS-RT data this alert came from. A feed may carry both static and realtime URLs, so this can be the same feed as a feed_onestop_id elsewhere in the schema

routes.route_stops.stop.alerts.causenullable string

GTFS-RT Alert cause

routes.route_stops.stop.alerts.effectnullable string

GTFS-RT Alert effect

routes.route_stops.stop.alerts.severity_levelnullable string

Alert severity: UNKNOWN_SEVERITY, INFO, WARNING, or SEVERE

routes.route_stops.stop.alerts.urlnullable array of RTTranslation

URL for more information

routes.route_stops.stop.alerts.header_textarray of RTTranslation

GTFS-RT Alert header text

routes.route_stops.stop.alerts.description_textarray of RTTranslation

GTFS-RT Alert description text

routes.route_stops.stop.alerts.tts_header_textnullable array of RTTranslation

Header text optimized for text-to-speech (TTS) systems

routes.route_stops.stop.alerts.tts_description_textnullable array of RTTranslation

Description text optimized for text-to-speech (TTS) systems

routes.route_stops.stop.alerts.active_periodnullable array of RTTimeRange

Time ranges during which this alert is active. See https://gtfs.org/realtime/reference/#message-timerange

routes.route_stops.stop.alerts.informed_entitynullable array of RTEntitySelector

Entities this alert applies to, as published. See https://gtfs.org/realtime/reference/#message-entityselector

curl "https://transit.land/api/v2/rest/routes?feed_onestop_id=f-sf~bay~area~rg&route_id=CT:Limited" \
  -H "apikey: YOUR_API_KEY"

Example response

{
  "routes": [
    {
      "agency": {
        "agency_id": "CT",
        "agency_name": "Caltrain",
        "id": 3884709,
        "onestop_id": "o-9q9-caltrain"
      },
      "cemv_support": null,
      "continuous_drop_off": null,
      "continuous_pickup": null,
      "feed_version": {
        "feed": {
          "id": 4057,
          "onestop_id": "f-sf~bay~area~rg"
        },
        "fetched_at": "2026-10-16T14:51:17.405429Z",
        "id": 737193,
        "sha1": "6d844cca6eabeaa22759379c7e3a46a0901f036f"
      },
      "id": 162332899,
      "onestop_id": "r-9q9j-limited",
      "route_color": "99d7dc",
      "route_desc": null,
      "route_id": "CT:Limited",
      "route_long_name": null,
      "route_short_name": "Limited",
      "route_sort_order": null,
      "route_text_color": "000000",
      "route_type": 2,
      "route_type_basic": 2,
      "route_url": null
    }
  ]
}

Routes

Request overview

Request

Response