Advantages

Transitime Advantages

• Fully open-source. The source code is available on GitHub. All components are open-source and do not have any licenses fees. There can be multiple collaborators beyond Transitime including transit agencies, universities, vendors, and enthusiasts.
• Extensive API. Can feed data in GTFS-realtime, JSON, XML, or RESTful SIRI. API implementation designed for it to be easy to extend. Includes information beyond just vehicle locations and arrival predictions. Also includes schedule, route, block, and trip information. Predictions can be provided by stop or for all nearest stops to a specified latitude, longitude. The API was designed based on experience developing smartphone and other applications.
• Can feed into other systems that use GTFS-realtime, such as OneBusAway
• Highly accurate. Arrival predictions are based on historic GPS-based travel and stop times. The historic travel time are separate for each trip such that differences between time of day are automatically determined. Accuracy of predictions can be automatically stored in database (though this takes significant database capacity) and charted to show accurate system truly is. Can also use charts to compare accuracy of Transitime predictions with an existing prediction system.
• Can use any GPS. Have already integrated in with multiple GPS data sources including GTFS-realtime, NextBus, Transloc, Zonar, AmigoCloud, and several proprietary systems. Transitime system can continue to be used even if switch to a different GPS system.
• Automatically assigns vehicles when necessary. Though it is desirable to receive block information as part of the GPS feed the system can automatically assign most vehicles by comparing GPS to the GTFS based route/trip/block configuration.
• Works with all types of transit vehicles including buses, streetcars, rail, and ferries.
• No vendor lock in. Typically agencies are locked into expensive proprietary systems. Being open-source, Transitime allows an agency to be in control. A production system can be supported by Transitime or other capable vendor. Or it can be supported in house by the agency if desired.
• Less expensive. No software license. No overhead of proprietary system. Can be run in the cloud, such as on Amazon AWS, at a modest cost. Using Transitime to support a system costs only a fraction of what proprietary vendors charge. Plus it can be supported in house if that is the most cost effective solution.
• Can be effectively used for any size system from a shuttle system with a single bus to a large transit agency with thousands of vehicles.
• Generates a more accurate GTFS stop_times.txt file using historic travel times based on GPS data. The resulting stop_times.txt file can be used by trip planners to provide significantly more accurate and therefore useful trip plans since they are base on actual travel times instead of the schedule.
• Provides management information including real-time schedule adherence. The schedule adherence is updated for every GPS report, not just a schedule timepoints.
• Written to be able handle concurrency which enables system to handle even very large agencies with a large number of vehicles and a very high reporting rate.
• Operating system independent. Designed to run in the cloud. Production system currently running on Amazon AWS. But even can be run on a PC or Mac, which is especially useful for testing and debugging. Uses standard GTFS for configuration. This data is already available for most agencies.
• Tools available for supplementing the GTFS data in a supportable way. Can optionally provide supplemental data for corrections for many of the GTFS components.
• Can use either MySQL or Postgres open-source databases.
• Very configurable. Most of the functionality of the system can be customized via a configuration file.