Realtime services changes

You can make changes to a service in realtime.

Suspend a trip

GTFS Trip Updates

In TripUpdate, if you do not want the user to find an existing trip that was canceled, use trip.schedule_relationship=CANCELED. Otherwise use the GTFS Service Alerts option as described in Step 2. There is no way to cancel a trip with the GTFS Vehicle Position feed.

Related articles:

GTFS Service Alerts

Add Alert information that targets the affected trips with effect=NO_SERVICE or severity_level=SEVERE. These corresponding trips are included in the directions results but show up in the disrupted section of the Google Maps app.

Related articles:

Manual Alerts

Add a manual alert similar to the GTFS Service Alert.

Related articles:

Suspend trip at a stop

GTFS Trip Updates

You can use skip a stop at the trip level. To remove service at each stop, in TripUpdates, provide scheduleRelationship = SKIPPED. Since TripUpdate is only for a specific  trip, you must replicate this method  for all trips. If the stop is a start or stop point, it impacts the routing results and the corresponding trip won’t show up.

This option is best for short-term, current disruption, as it can target current individual trips, but not future trips.

Related articles:

GTFS Service Alerts

Alert information with effect=NO_SERVICE targets affected trips that use TripDescriptor. This method can be used to suspend a stop for a particular trip. The affected trips show up in the suspended services section in the Google Maps app.

This option is best for planned disruptions that will happen some time in the future.

Related articles:

Manual Alerts

Add a manual alert similar to the GTFS Service Alert.

Related articles:

Add a trip

GTFS Trip Updates & Vehicle Positions

The method to add a trip with either TripUpdates or Vehicle Positions is the same. In a new TripUpdates or VehiclePositions message, duplicate the trip with the same trip_id and trip.schedule_relationship=ADDED, instead of trip.schedule_relationship=SCHEDULED.

Don’t drop the entity from the realtime bundle for the entire duration of the trip.

Related article:

Update the platform

GTFS Trip Updates

In TripUpdates, you can assign the “Stop/platform,” which is a stop entity with location_type=0, for a trip to a new stop/platform. To do this, the new stop/platform must be part of the same station, or a stop entity with location_type=1, as the original stop/platform.

Example

The GTFS schedule can't provide a correct platform. The platform can be different each day and isn’t known until the train either starts in or approaches the station. In this case, to assign the platform as soon as it’s known, GTFS uses either the main station or the most likely platform under the parent station.

Related articles:

Need more help?

Try these next steps:

Is there something we can help you with?

Chat with a member of Transit team

Search
Clear search
Close search
Google apps
Main menu
13402494127283551944
true
Search Help Center
true
true
true
true
true
82656
false
false