GTFS/API changes to parent stations, service IDs on 2019-09-19

[Developer at MBTA]

Hello MBTA developers,

We would like to inform you of several upcoming changes to data in the MBTA's GTFS feed and API. These changes, taking effect on Thursday, September 19, 2019, are as follows:

Removing on-street bus stops from parent stations

Many subway stations in our data currently include adjacent bus stops on the street as part of the parent station, while many do not. We are now standardizing our definition of a parent station to encompass only stops which are located within the station's building, parking lot, or dedicated busway. On-street bus stops currently containing a parent station value will no longer be part of that parent station. The relationship between these stops and the nearby station will still be preserved, however:

• In GTFS, these stops are being added as rows in transfers.txt representing recommended transfer points with transfer_type = 0. One can search for all transfer_type = 0 transfers to/from a given parent station to find these stops which were previously part of the parent station.
• In the API, one can add the include=recommended_transfers parameter to a /stops call to return a list of these transfers under /data/relationships/recommended_transfers. A live example can be found at https://api-v3.mbta.com/stops/102?include=recommended_transfers.

As an example, the parent station for Hynes Convention Center, place-hymnl, currently contains the child stop IDs 70152, 70153, 79, and 93 for train and bus service. Beginning September 19, only 70152 and 70153 will be part of the parent station place-hymnl. In addition, 6 rows will be added to transfers.txt, all with transfer_type = 1: place-hymnl to/from 79, place-hymnl to/from 93, and 79 to/from 93.

Future updates will standardize the bus stops which are noted as recommended transfers between different rail stations, so the list of recommended transfer points for a station are subject to change. We invite any feedback that developers may have about which other transfers and types of transfers may be useful to include.

Consolidation of service IDs

Many service IDs sharing the same sets of dates will now be consolidated to simplify the entries in calendars.txt and calendar_dates.txt. Some of these consolidated service IDs will include Weekend, Saturday, and Sunday. While not all modes will have their service IDs consolidated initially, it should be assumed that this may change in the future, including the potential for a single service_id to encompass multiple modes of transportation.

Parent station for Silver Line Way

The two stop IDs for Silver Line Way, 74614 and 74624, will become enclosed in a new parent station with the new ID place-conrd.

A sample GTFS feed incorporating the above changes can be found at the following: MBTA_GTFS_Sept19.zip. For your convenience, sample GTFS stops and transfers files can also be accessed at the following: stops.txt and transfers.txt.

As with any of our changes, we invite any questions, comments, or concerns about these upcoming changes to data in the MBTA's GTFS and API, or any other feedback or suggestions you may have.

Sincerely,

Developer@MBTA

[Developer at MBTA]

This GTFS was release earlier today.

Sincerely,

Developer@MBTA