ÁronJun 14
Volker Krause

Here's an overview of the public transport data that goes into #Transitous via #GTFS, #GBFS and #OSM, and how you can help to extend this in your region: https://volkerkrause.eu/2025/06/14/transitous-adding-data.html

Any improvement there benefits applications like #GNOME Maps, #KDE Itinerary or #Träwelling.

Adding public transport data to Transitous

I had mentioned a number of new Transitous features in a previous post. As those largely depend on the corresponding data being available, here’s an overview...

Jun 14 at 6:43amWeb
Show threadMatthew ExonJun 15
@VolkerKrause I only just learned that "realtime" data is polled by design. So it's up to one minute out of date. This is really sad, right? Who decided that this data should be pulled and not pushed? Was that Google?
Show threadVolker KrauseJun 15

@mat There's a few feeds with 30 or 15s update intervals as well, but basically yes. Not sure how much of a problem that really is though, 60s differences are well within the range of noise in most cases.

The IMHO more interesting question is the latency in the operator-side system until that data is even published, I'd not be surprised to find cases where that's already significantly higher.

There are also push-based protocols for this, e.g. from VDV, but none of those are accessible to us.

Show threadMatthew ExonJun 15
@VolkerKrause The Transperth app has a realtime view with your own GPS location, so you can sit on a bus and watch the bus's reported position trailing hundreds of meters behind its true position. It's kinda embarrassing really. The actual problem is, you ask the app to route you home, and there are two buses from different stops. So you dash to the first stop, and then use the app to watch the phantom bus drive straight past you. You were always too late to catch that first bus. But by the time you figure that out, it's also too late to walk to the other bus stop. A minute is quite a long time really. I've experienced this exact scenario several times, and spent a lot of time sitting at bus stops thinking about how I'd solve the problem.
Show threadMatthew ExonJun 15
@VolkerKrause I'm sure that if I lifted up the rock of what's happening inside Transperth's IT systems I'd find plenty to be horrified by. But at least some of the components are surely push-based, and the others are in principle fixable. Baking in the wrong protocol, however, removes the incentive to improve things. I hope one day something other than GTFS-RT can gain some mind share, so that at least some forward-thinking agencies can achieve true real-time.
Show threadmaeoolJun 15
@VolkerKrause and soon cartes.app ;)
Show threadBimbaJun 17

@VolkerKrause

There's more to life than KDE and GNOME. If anybody stumbles upon this comment, there is a selection of apps using Transitous at https://transitous.org

Transitous

Get to places by public transport

Transitous