<s>
GTFS	B-Application
,	O
which	O
stands	O
for	O
General	B-Application
Transit	I-Application
Feed	I-Application
Specification	I-Application
or	O
(	O
originally	O
)	O
Google	B-Application
Transit	I-Application
Feed	I-Application
Specification	I-Application
,	O
defines	O
a	O
common	O
format	O
for	O
public	O
transportation	O
schedules	O
and	O
associated	O
geographic	O
information	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GTFS	B-Application
contains	O
only	O
static	O
or	O
scheduled	O
information	O
about	O
public	O
transport	O
services	O
,	O
and	O
is	O
sometimes	O
known	O
as	O
GTFS	B-Application
Static	I-Application
to	O
distinguish	O
it	O
from	O
the	O
GTFS	B-Application
Realtime	O
extension	O
,	O
which	O
defines	O
how	O
information	O
on	O
the	O
realtime	O
status	O
of	O
services	O
can	O
be	O
shared	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
What	O
was	O
to	O
become	O
GTFS	B-Application
started	O
out	O
as	O
a	O
side	O
project	O
of	O
Google	B-Application
employee	O
Chris	O
Harrelson	O
in	O
2005	O
,	O
who	O
“	O
monkeyed	O
around	O
with	O
ways	O
to	O
incorporate	O
transit	O
data	O
into	O
Google	B-Application
Maps	I-Application
when	O
he	O
heard	O
from	O
Tim	O
and	O
Bibiana	O
McHugh	O
,	O
married	O
IT	O
managers	O
at	O
TriMet	O
,	O
the	O
transit	O
agency	O
for	O
Portland	O
,	O
Oregon	O
”	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Bibiana	O
and	O
Tim	O
McHugh	O
eventually	O
got	O
into	O
contact	O
with	O
Google	B-Application
and	O
provided	O
the	O
company	O
with	O
CSV	O
exports	O
of	O
TriMet	O
's	O
schedule	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
December	O
2005	O
,	O
Portland	O
became	O
the	O
first	O
city	O
to	O
be	O
featured	O
in	O
the	O
first	O
version	O
of	O
Google	B-Application
's	I-Application
“	O
Transit	O
Trip	B-Application
Planner	I-Application
”	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
September	O
2006	O
,	O
five	O
more	O
US	O
cities	O
were	O
added	O
to	O
the	B-Application
Google	I-Application
Transit	O
Trip	B-Application
Planner	I-Application
,	O
and	O
the	O
data	O
format	O
released	O
as	O
the	B-Application
Google	I-Application
Transit	O
Feed	O
Specification	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
United	O
States	O
,	O
there	O
had	O
not	O
been	O
any	O
standard	O
for	O
public	O
transit	O
timetables	O
prior	O
to	O
the	O
advent	O
of	O
GTFS	B-Application
,	O
not	O
even	O
a	O
de	O
facto	O
standard	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
According	O
to	O
long-time	O
BART	O
website	O
manager	O
Timothy	O
Moore	O
,	O
before	O
the	O
advent	O
of	O
GTFS	B-Application
,	O
BART	O
had	O
to	O
provide	O
different	O
data	O
consumers	O
with	O
different	O
formats	O
,	O
making	O
a	O
standardized	O
transit	O
format	O
very	O
desirable	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
publicly	O
and	O
freely	O
available	O
format	O
specification	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
availability	O
of	O
GTFS	B-Application
schedules	O
,	O
quickly	O
made	O
developers	O
base	O
their	O
transit-related	O
software	O
on	O
the	O
format	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
resulted	O
in	O
“	O
hundreds	O
of	O
useful	O
and	O
popular	O
transit	O
applications	O
”	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
catalogues	O
listing	O
available	O
GTFS	B-Application
feeds	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Due	O
to	O
the	O
common	O
data	O
format	O
those	O
applications	O
adhere	O
to	O
,	O
solutions	O
do	O
not	O
need	O
to	O
be	O
custom-tailored	O
to	O
one	O
transit	O
operator	O
,	O
but	O
can	O
easily	O
be	O
extended	O
to	O
any	O
region	O
where	O
a	O
GTFS	B-Application
feed	O
is	O
available	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Due	O
to	O
the	O
wide	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
format	O
,	O
the	O
“	O
Google	B-Application
”	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
original	O
name	O
was	O
seen	O
as	O
a	O
misnomer	O
“	O
that	O
makes	O
some	O
potential	O
users	O
shy	O
away	O
from	O
adopting	O
GTFS	B-Application
”	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
a	O
consequence	O
,	O
it	O
was	O
proposed	O
to	O
change	O
the	O
name	O
of	O
the	O
specification	O
to	O
General	B-Application
Transit	I-Application
Feed	I-Application
Specification	I-Application
in	O
2009	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GTFS	B-Application
is	O
typically	O
used	O
to	O
supply	O
data	O
on	O
public	O
transit	O
for	O
use	O
in	O
multi-modal	O
journey	B-Application
planner	I-Application
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
most	O
cases	O
,	O
GTFS	B-Application
is	O
combined	O
with	O
a	O
detailed	O
representation	O
of	O
the	O
street/pedestrian	O
network	O
to	O
allow	O
routing	O
to	O
take	O
place	O
from	O
point	O
to	O
point	O
rather	O
than	O
just	O
between	O
stops	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
OpenTripPlanner	O
is	O
open-source	B-Application
software	I-Application
that	O
can	O
do	O
journey	O
planning	O
with	O
a	O
combination	O
of	O
GTFS	B-Application
and	O
OpenStreetMap	O
data	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
general	O
purpose	O
applications	O
exist	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
ArcMap	B-Application
Network	O
Analyst	O
extension	O
which	O
can	O
incorporate	O
GTFS	B-Application
for	O
transit	O
routing	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GTFS	B-Application
was	O
originally	O
designed	O
for	O
use	O
in	O
Google	B-Application
Transit	I-Application
,	O
an	O
online	O
multi-modal	O
journey	O
planning	O
application	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GTFS	B-Application
is	O
often	O
used	O
in	O
research	O
on	O
transit	O
accessibility	O
where	O
it	O
is	O
typically	O
used	O
to	O
estimate	O
travel	O
times	O
by	O
transit	O
from	O
one	O
point	O
to	O
many	O
other	O
points	O
at	O
different	O
times	O
of	O
day	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GTFS	B-Application
has	O
been	O
used	O
to	O
measure	O
changes	O
in	O
accessibility	O
due	O
to	O
changes	O
in	O
transit	O
service	O
provision	O
,	O
either	O
actual	O
or	O
proposed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Analysis	O
of	O
changes	O
in	O
service	O
over	O
time	O
can	O
be	O
accomplished	O
by	O
simply	O
comparing	O
published	O
GTFS	B-Application
data	O
for	O
the	O
same	O
agency	O
from	O
different	O
time	O
periods	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
comparison	O
of	O
existing	O
service	O
with	O
proposed	O
infrastructure	O
or	O
service	O
changes	O
,	O
a	O
future	O
GTFS	B-Application
must	O
often	O
be	O
constructed	O
by	O
hand	O
based	O
on	O
proposed	O
service	O
characteristics	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Public	O
GTFS	B-Application
feeds	O
have	O
been	O
aggregated	O
in	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
feed	O
registries	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
-	O
maintains	O
a	O
directory	O
of	O
GTFS	B-Application
and	O
GTFS	B-Application
Realtime	O
feeds	O
and	O
an	O
interactive	O
website	O
for	O
browsing	O
feed	O
contents	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
-	O
(	O
2008	O
-	O
2016	O
)	O
allowed	O
public	O
transit	O
agencies	O
of	O
all	O
sizes	O
to	O
upload	O
copies	O
of	O
their	O
GTFS	B-Application
feeds	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
-	O
(	O
2014	O
-	O
present	O
)	O
maintains	O
a	O
directory	O
of	O
GTFS	B-Application
and	O
GTFS	B-Application
Realtime	O
feeds	O
in	O
55+	O
countries	O
and	O
provides	O
both	O
an	O
interactive	O
website	O
and	O
APIs	O
for	O
querying	O
feed	O
contents	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
GTFS	B-Application
feed	O
is	O
a	O
collection	O
of	O
at	O
least	O
six	O
,	O
and	O
up	O
to	O
13	O
CSV	O
files	O
(	O
with	O
extension	O
.txt	O
)	O
contained	O
within	O
a	O
.zip	B-General_Concept
file	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
contrast	O
to	O
European	O
transit	O
industry	O
exchange	O
standards	O
such	O
as	O
Transmodel	O
or	O
VDV-45X	O
,	O
GTFS	B-Application
only	O
includes	O
scheduled	O
operations	O
that	O
are	O
meant	O
to	O
be	O
distributed	O
to	O
riders	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
real-time	O
information	O
can	O
be	O
related	O
to	O
GTFS	B-Application
schedules	O
according	O
to	O
the	O
related	O
GTFS	B-Application
Realtime	O
specification	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Following	O
are	O
descriptions	O
of	O
the	O
tables	O
required	O
for	O
a	O
valid	O
GTFS	B-Application
data	O
feed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
So	O
for	O
the	O
'	O
agency	O
 '	O
table	O
below	O
,	O
a	O
CSV	O
file	O
called	O
'	O
agency.txt	O
'	O
would	O
be	O
included	O
in	O
a	O
valid	O
GTFS	B-Application
feed	O
.	O
</s>
