SEPTA Bus and Metro - GTFS Feed

Changelog

v202512140

Bus/Metro

• New stops and shapes for routes serving the new Wissahickon Transit Center.
• New "Fox Chase Shuttle Bus" route for upcoming work.
• T routes continue to serve 40th-Market/Filbert.

Regional Rail

• Additional New Year's Eve service now included.
• Fox Chase scheudles adjusted to reflect upcoming work.

About this documentation

This document describes SEPTA's "Metro" nomenclature and custom fields/files. This document also contains a changelog.

It is not:

• A comprehensive guide to SEPTA's GTFS feeds or GTFS itself
• A comprehensive guide to SEPTA's upcoming Metro nomenclature and wayfinding overhaul. More info on the changes can be found at septa.org/metro
• A guarantee that SEPTA will provide data in any particular format (though we will try our best)
• A license agreement

routes.txt

The route names of SEPTA's heavy rail (subway/elevated) and light rail (trolley) routes, and certain bus routes are changing. In GTFS, the new nomenclature is in the route_short_name field, while the old nomenclature remains in the route_long_name. The route_id field matches the route_short_name field, as is current practice (excpet in the case of shuttle buses). Physical signage will be replaced throughout the system over the coming months/years, expected to be completed in 2026. SEPTA's app and website display both new and old nomenclature side-by-side to support riders through this transition.

Current route_id	Current route_short_name	Current route_long_name	-	New route_id	New route_short_name	New route_long_name
10	10	Route 10	-	T1	T1	Route 10
11	11	Route 11	-	T4	T4	Route 11
13	13	Route 13	-	T3	T3	Route 13
15	15	Route 15	-	G1	G1	Route 15
34	34	Route 34	-	T2	T2	Route 34
36	36	Route 36	-	T5	T5	Route 36
101	101	Route 101	-	D1	D1	Route 101
102	102	Route 102	-	D2	D2	Route 102
BSL	BSL	Broad Street Line	-	B1	B1	Broad Street Line Local
BSL	BSL	Broad Street Line	-	B2	B2	Broad Street Line Express
BSL	BSL	Broad Street Line	-	B3	B3	Broad-Ridge Spur
MFL	MFL	Market-Frankford Lin	-	L1	L1	Market-Frankford Line
NHSL	NHSL	Norristown High Speed Line	-	M1	M1	Norristown High Speed Line Local
G	G	Overbk/LankMC to ColCom/FdDstCtr	-	63	63	G - Lanknau/Overbrk to ColCom/FdCtr
H	H	Broad-Erie to Cheltenham-Ogontz-H	-	71	71	H - Broad-Erie to Cheltenham-Ogontz
J	J	Chelten-Wisshkn to Richmond-Orthodx	-	41	41	J - Cheltn-Wsshkn to Richmnd-Orthdx
K	K	Ridge-Midvale to Arrott TC	-	K	K	Ridge-Midvale to Arrott TC
L	L	ChestnutHill/PlymouthMtgMall to OTC	-	51	51	L - PlymthMtg/ChestntHl to Olney TC
R	R	Henry-Mid or WissTC to FrankfordTC	-	82	82	R - Wissahckn TC/Henry-Midvl to FTC
XH	XH	Broad-Erie to Cheltenham-Ogontz-XH	-	81	81	XH - Broad-Erie to Cheltenham-Ogntz

Note that in addition to the Metro routes switching to Letter-Number pairs, bus routes that formerly used letter(s) have switched to numbers only. This is so that there are no duplicates with the new Metro letters, and so that moving forward, letters always refer to Metro routes and numbers always refer to bus routes. Specifically G, H, J, L, R, and XH are changing to numbers. Bus route K will remain "K" until it is discontinued.

Additionally, trolley replacement routes will be added over time as they are needed. These replacement routes are temporary 1:1 replacements of trolleys with buses due to roadwork or other obstacles to trolleys that buses can navigate around. Our trolley network is largely street-running in mixed traffic, so riders will not experience a major change in boarding locations, frequencies, or amenities. Once added, they will not be removed from future feeds, even if no trips are assigned to those routes. They will have a route_id consisting of the route_id of the route they are replacing, followed by a space and the letters "BUS" (for example, route_id "T5 BUS" indicates a bus-operated service replaceing part or all of the T5 route, which is ordinarily a trolley). The route_short_name will also be “T5 BUS” (for example), and the route_long_name will be the same as the service being replaced. Please note: the bus replacement service will carry the route_type of "0" (which indicates a trolley), not "3" (which would indicate a bus). This is an intentional mismatch with the actual type of the vehicle on the street, and is done so that these temporary replacement services will be categorized as "Metro" services in our own tool and third party tools.

In contrast, Regional Rail shuttle buses may follow a different naming scheme and will be categorized as bus services. Regional Rail shuttle bus replacement routes may not have matching route_id and route_short_name values.

directions.txt

Provides for passenger-facing names to be documented for each direction_id value on a route-by-route basis. This specificiation adds onto the GTFS+ directions.txt extension and is based on the experimental directions.txt extension developed by the MBTA.

Field Name	GTFS spec	Status	Notes
route_id	Experimental	Included	Linked to routes.txt file.
direction_id	Experimental	Included	Binary value linked to trips.txt file. Combining route_id and direction_id forms the unique primary key for this file.
direction	Experimental	Included	Human-readable text corresponding to a direction name in a given list. Current valid values are: Northbound Southbound Eastbound Westbound Inbound Outbound Loop
direction_destination	Experimental	Included	SEPTA extension which provides the direction name used in other rider-facing materials and communications. Often, but not always, similar to the most common trips.trip_headsign for the route and direction. Destinations may include: A city/town/place name: Coatesville, Horsham, or Center City A point of interest or transit center: City Hall, Plymouth Meeting Mall, or Olney Tranist Center A street intersection, omitting suffixes like "St." and "Ave.": 2nd-Spruce or Richmond-Westmoreland A "via" designation: 7th-Spring Garden via 9th Street or Broad-Oregon via PNC and UPS A combination of any of the above, typically indicating multiple common end-of-line destinations depending on the time of day, day of week, or stopping patern: Henry-Midvale & Wissahickon Transit Center, 54th-City or 50th-Parkside or Springfield Mall & Penn State

route_stops.txt

Provides a list of stops associated with each route in each direction, ordered in a way that is ideal for presentation to riders. While stop_times.txt describes the sequence of stops for a particular trip, not all trips of a given route make the same stops. This file provides a list of all stops served by a particular route in a particular direction, without duplicate stops. This is helpful for "pick your stop" menus after a route and direction have been selected.

Example: a particular route_id and direction_id may have two stops A and B, ordered such that A precedes B. This means that there are no trips on this route in this direction that serve stop B before stop A. It does not guarantee that there any trips that serve both A and B, becuase some trips may serve one but not the other.

Field Name	GTFS spec	Status	Notes
route_id	Experimental	Included	Linked to routes.txt file.
direction_id	Experimental	Included	Binary value linked to trips.txt file.
stop_id	Experimental	Included	Linked to stops.txt file.
route_stop_order	Experimental	Included	Orders the stops on trips with this route_id and direction_id in a way that is ideal for presentation to riders. For a particular route_id and direction_id, stops with a smaller route_stop_sort_order should be displayed first.

Notes

• While not directly reflected in the GTFS, please note that the rail routes affected above are now being referred to by SEPTA as its “Metro” network – parallel to SEPTA’s Bus network and Regional Rail network. While these routes will retain their appropriate GTFS route_type, these six lines (13 GTFS routes including all service patterns) will be collectively referenced as “Metro” routes on signage and throughout SEPTA service communication moving forward.
• Please note the new colors for each of the Metro lines – all except the [B] have been updated to either a different shade ([L], [T], and [M]) or a completely new color ([D] and [G]). These colors are already included in the current GTFS-static feed, but should start to be used as of February.
• When rendering route names in plain text, it is preferable to use the route_long_name followed by the route_short_name in brackets: "Board the Norristown High Speed Line [M1] at Villanova." This is to assist riders who may be unfamiliar with the new nomenclature. This recommendation will change in the future.
• The order of the Subway-Surface Trolleys [T] routes has changed. The existing order (10, 11, 13, 34, 36) is for historical reasons. The new ordering (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5) reflects their relative geographic locations (North to South) rather than historical numbering. Note that Route 15 [G1] has a different letter because it forms a separate "trunk" in the core of the city from the Subway-Surface Trolley [T] routes.
• The former Broad Street Line (BSL) is being split into three distinct routes: Broad Street Local [B1], Broad Street Express [B2], and Broad-Ridge Spur [B3]. Trips (in trips.txt) have been assigned to the appropriate route.
• Individual routes should always be referred to with their alpha-numeric name (e.g. B2, T4, G1). However, the letter alone may be used in certain cases to refer to all of the routes on a line: for example, identifying 13th St as a station where all [T] and [L] services may be found. The single letters are not found in the GTFS.
• Certain stop_name fields are also being updated as part of the Metro transition. Some of these changes have already been made, while additional changes will be reflected in the February GTFS-static feed. These changes include: small consistency updates (e.g. Street --> St), new names to resolve duplicate station names (e.g. Broad-Girard and Front-Girard), and the consolidation of 15th St and City Hall stations into 15th St/City Hall Station. This round of updates does not include any changes to parent/child stop relationships.