GTFS-based integration

General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) is an existing format for public transportation schedules and associated geographic information. The GTFS-based integration uses GTFS and the Google Transit Ticketing extensions to accomplish step 1 of the Travel Transport integration - providing a feed of static data.

The Partner Server API will use identifiers such as the ticketing_trip_id that are provided by GTFS, so a valid GTFS feed needs to exist before the API can be used. Please follow the steps below to provide a valid GTFS feed.

Creating the GTFS static feed

To enable users to search and find routes and schedules for intercity travel using the GTFS-based integration, a GTFS feed is required from partners. The GTFS feed data will contain static information about schedules, routes and ticketing information which is then used by Google to connect to the partner API.

1. Creating a Transit account

If not already completed, please go to Get started with Google Transit and use the form to request an account. Once review is completed, an account will be created and the GTFS dashboard will be made available. See Access the Transit partner dashboard for details on how to access and configure the dashboard.

2. Creating your GTFS feed with extensions

Create the GTFS feed including the required sections of the Google Transit Ticketing extensions (more details in the GTFS extensions section). To ensure the best user experience, please read and follow the GTFS quality requirements and best practices.

Note: For a first demo of the end-to-end functionality, it is fine to start with a test GTFS feed which only includes a subset of the available inventory. The remaining routes can be added later, before launching the feed.

3. Naming your feed

The recommended feed naming convention is: agency-region-country_code, e.g. gbus-ca-us, or agency-country_code if region is not required, e.g. gbus-br. For test feeds the recommended feed naming convention is: test-agency-country_code e.g. test-gbus-ca-us or test-gbus-br.

4. Uploading and updating your feed

Follow the Publish your GTFS feed data guide to upload and update your GTFS data. Each time the data is uploaded, the data will be put through automated validation (taking up to 30 min) and a validation report will be generated. Please fix any errors before moving on to the next step.

5. Request preview environment

Once GTFS data passes through validation successfully, follow the instructions on Test your feed data using private preview to have the preview environment enabled. Once enabled, the uploaded feed data will be visible in Google Maps of allowed users. At this point, the GTFS data can now also be used for testing with the API server.

Success: For testing in preview and end-to-end demos, the steps below can be skipped.

6. Requesting launch QA review

Once any problematic warnings and data quality issues are addressed in the preview environment, a final Google QA review is required before public launch. Issues found via the QA review process will be visible in the dashboard, once all outstanding issues are addressed, GTFS will be ready for launch.

7. Launching the Feed

See Launch your feed for instructions on how to make the feed available to the public.

Note: If the GTFS feed passes all the QA reviews, partners can choose to launch it even before work on the Travel Transport APIs has been completed. The schedules will then be available to all Google Maps users.