API changes

[Kyle Ortiz]

I noticed earlier this year there were some substantial changes that were made to the API for both the transitviewall and GTFS-RT data feeds.

These are my findings:

Tracking Issues Near Last Stop:
It seems that when buses approach their last stop, the tracking often stops, and the buses are no longer shown on the real-time map. In some cases, this issue persists for several stops beyond the last one, which seems to be affecting the real-time map on septa.org. This inconsistency makes it difficult to track the buses once they’re near the end of their route.  

Reduced Number of Buses Tracking:
I’ve also noticed that fewer buses are being tracked across the system compared to previous data from the API. While the level of transparency is still great, it seems like there’s less data available for active buses. On a positive note, it’s worth mentioning that non-revenue buses (like maintenance vehicles or empty buses) are now being tracked along with the revenue buses, which provides a more complete picture of the system’s operations.  

In order to see which buses are actively tracking, I’ve had to pull up the Swiftly feeds (available here https://live.goswift.ly/septa/ ). The data provided there seems to be more complete and up-to-date than what’s available via the API. 

Swiftly showing 3586

Bus not tracking on the official SEPTA real time map at (5:53 PM 11/29/2024)

Any idea as to why these changes were made and whether or not a fix is being worked on?

Thank you!