What is an API?

An Application Programming Interface (API) allows developers to utilize data from a central source or agency and create applications that can analyze, visualize or compound data from the source.

APIs are not limited to uses in the mobility industry – they are applied and used in many different digital programs.

What is GTFS?

GTFS (or General Time and Frequency Specification) is a common format designed by Google that allows transit agencies to share their schedule and real-time arrival data with developers.

There is also now a standard bike specification for bikeshare agencies to share their data called GBFS, which mirrors similar tenants to GTFS.

Selected Transit APIs

Follow each link to access different transit agencies APIs.

• WMATA (DC) API
• Arlington Transit API
• VDOT Smarter Roads API
• Capital Bikeshare API
• Fairfax Connector API
• Montgomery County DOT API
• Virginia Railway Express API
• MTA (Maryland) API
• MTA (New York) API
• BART (San Francisco) API
• CTA (Chicago) API
• NextBus API
• TheBus (Honolulu) API
• TriMet (Portland) API
• MassDOT and MBTA (Massachusetts)
• King County Metro (Seattle) API
• TTC (Toronto) API
• Transport for London (London) API
• Translink (Vancouver) API
• Transitland is on their way to becoming a comprehensive service that can show the feeds of many different transit services throughout the country and world.
• A more comprehensive project sharing APIs and GTFS feeds can be found at TransitFeeds.

Transportation Techies apps and projects

Transportation Techies is a meet-up group in Washington, DC for anyone interested in making transportation better through open-sourced data projects. Here are examples of some of the great projects Techies work on.

DC Metro Hero uses data from WMATA’s GTFS feed to give people a visual placement of where trains are and various performance metrics.

Capital Bikeshare stats uses Capital Bikeshare’s API and provides details on trips taken throughout the system.

TransitScreen uses different data from various local transit agencies to produce real time interactive screens that can be used on streets, in office and residential buildings and elsewhere.

Moovit is an example of many transit apps available to users that can use to plan out trips using public transit in real time.

Transit Tech

Mobility Lab’s Transit Tech Initiative explores new technology developments allowing the public to better navigate transit. The initiative includes both in-house developments through our Fellowship Program and collaborative developments through programs like our Transit Hack Days and Transportation Camp DC.

All code created by the initiative is open source and can be found here.

Join us. Let’s share ideas. Together we can build better solutions.

Public Input = Public Transportation!