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As far as I can tell, Google Maps does not release transit data or provide a transit API. Is there a one stop shop for transit Data:

  • Transit stops
  • Routes
  • Fare hierarchy and schedule
  • Ridership (optional)
  • Routing logic (transfer node, terminator, park n ride, etc)
  • Transit type (scheduled / call n ride)
  • Transit mode (Bus, shuttle bus, accordion bus, high speed subway, LRT, tram, commuter train, high speed train)
  • Transit organization make up (Transit is served by more than one org)
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4 Answers

up vote 7 down vote accepted

No API, but you can find references to individual transit agencies that have their data public: GTFS Data. You could write a script to download/combine data from the references.

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And here's the GTFS spec: code.google.com/transit/spec/transit_feed_specification.html It appears to include many (but not all) of the data you're looking for. – neuhausr Jul 25 '11 at 13:52
@dassouki - this is not a one stop shop for data but the data owners seem to be here... groups.google.com/group/transit-developers?hl=en And I just got a message about an upcoming webinar. – Brad Nesom Nov 3 '11 at 15:16
up vote 4 down vote

Some cities have open data agreements, like Toronto (www.toronto.ca/open), and you could obtain transit data from these for the cities you require and aggregate them (if you wanted one network of all transit) or use them in your analyses as you see fit. I'm reasonably certain that the Toronto dataset contains all of your parameters.

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up vote 3 down vote

You will not be able to find a one-stop-shop for transit data, as some agencies view there data/information as copyrighted and proprietary (see New York) and not for outside or unapproved use.

Some agencies openly share and embrace third party users to expand and extend to support the public (Portland is one, Denver another) but you will see a mixed bag.

Good Opportunities to be better; but in the end many agencies are afraid of having the tax-payer/fare-payer see how good/bad there service/coverage is and just don't want to have it out there

As a former consultant is the Tranit Arena, I have seen this first hand.

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what is your opinion on using GTFS data? does that fall under these restrictions you mention? – dassouki Jul 25 '11 at 18:40
Its really a great start, a lot of agencies are not participating yet, but it does give a good starting point and roadmap to work from. I would like to see someone like FGDC, FTA or ITE.org push for a good open-standard for route information and status. – D.E.Wright Jul 25 '11 at 18:51
TRB published in 2007 or 2008 XML and data exchange standards for Transportation. Also i think the miller book and M Goodchild have worked on this topic. – dassouki Jul 25 '11 at 19:12
But still seeing a scattered format is frustrating; it would be great to see regulation passed saying if your agency gets or has ever gotten fed-funding that you must provide core data is x-format. Not gonna happen but there needs to be a solid requirement for interoperability. – D.E.Wright Jul 26 '11 at 16:09
up vote 0 down vote

Have you looked at the BTS data sets?

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I don't think the BTS collects any specific data on transit; since transit is mostly run by commissions or city/municipal departments. Some of this data is proprietary and is hard to grab. That's why I think Google does not release a Transit API – dassouki Jul 25 '11 at 12:32

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