Update a data source

Adding a source means that more journey planning apps can discover the data and share it with travelers. Service planning tools and researchers also rely on data aggregators like the Mobility Database catalogs to evaluate services and plan future ones.

To ensure that travelers have access to the most up-to-date information, transit providers should update their source on the catalogs when there are major changes to their URL. Examples of changes include:

• The source URL changes

• The source is combined with several other sources (for example: several providers' sources are combined together)

• The source is split from a combined/aggregated source (for example: a provider whose GTFS was only available in an aggregate source now has their own independent source)

There are two ways to update a source:

1. If you're not comfortable with GitHub or only have a few source updates to add: use the form below to request a source change. The source change will be added as a pull request in GitHub viewable to the public within a week of being submitted. You can verify the change has been made to the catalogs by reviewing this CSV file.

In the future, this process will be automated so the PR is automatically created once submitted and merged when tests pass.

2. If you want to add sources changes directly: you can follow the CONTRIBUTING.MD file in GitHub to add sources.

If you have any questions or concerns about this process, you can email emma@mobilitydata.org for support in getting your data source change added.

Anyone can add or update a source, and it is currently merged manually into the catalogs by the MobilityData team. The name of the person requesting the source change is captured in the PR, either via their GitHub profile or based on the information shared in the form below.

In order to verify the validity of a GTFS schedule source, an automated test is also run to check if the direct download URL provided opens a functional ZIP file.