Quick Start

The fastest path from a blank canvas to a working GTFS feed. Each step takes a minute or two; the whole guide should land you with an exportable feed in well under an hour.

1. Set up your agency

Click Agency in the sidebar. Enter your agency name, URL, and timezone. This identifies who operates the transit service.

2. Define service calendars

Click Calendars. Create service patterns (e.g., Weekdays, Weekends) by toggling which days of the week service runs. Set the date range, then open a pattern's Exceptions subpanel to add holiday exceptions — the Add US holidays picker drops in the federal holidays in one step.

3. Draw your routes

Click Routes, then Create Route. Give it a name, pick a color, and click Draw Route Shape. Click on the map to place points along the route, then double-click to finish.

• Snap to road (on by default) snaps your line to the road network.
• Use the direction picker to draw separate outbound/inbound shapes.
• Edit Shape (in the route's Shapes tab) to drag, add, or delete points on an existing shape; you can also rename each shape there.
• Simplify reduces vertex count if a shape has too many points.

4. Add stops

Select a route and click Add Stops to Route, or go to Stops. Choose a route from the dropdown, then click Place Stops on Map.

• Snap to Route (default) places stops on the route line.
• Freehand lets you place stops anywhere.
• Click each stop in the sidebar to edit its name and properties.

5. Build timetables

Click Timetables and select a route. The bottom panel shows a grid of trips (rows) and stops (columns). Enter departure times in each cell.

• Type times as 7:30 or 730 — they auto-format.
• + Add Trip creates a new row.
• Repeat Every… duplicates the last trip at a fixed headway.
• The interpolate button (arrow icon) fills intermediate stop times from the first and last.
• Use the Outbound/Inbound toggle to switch directions.

6. Set fares (recommended)

Click Fares to define ticket prices. Add a fare with a price and associate it with your routes. Trip planning apps need this data.

7. Validate and export

Click Export GTFS in the top bar. The app validates your feed and shows any errors or warnings. Fix errors (click them to navigate to the issue), then export as a ZIP file.

Flex (on-demand) service

Click Flex in the sidebar to define GTFS-Flex zones for demand-response or dial-a-ride service. Each zone automatically gets a paired route (editable from the Routes panel) so it appears in trip planners.

Creating a zone

Click + Create New Flex Zone, then pick one of three methods:

• Draw Zone on Map — click to place polygon vertices, double-click to close.
• Create Stop Group — a named group of existing stops (location_groups.txt).
• Auto-generate from fixed routes — buffer existing routes into flex zones.

Configuring a zone

Select a zone to open Service Details:

• Service pattern — pick from your calendars (or calendar_dates-only services).
• Pickup window — start/end times in HH:MM:SS (required to export).
• Booking rule — advance notice, phone/URL, messages (booking_rules.txt).
• Additional service windows — morning + evening shifts on one zone.
• Fare — link to a fare defined in the Fares panel.
• Travel-time estimation — mean/safe duration factors for trip planners.

Click a zone on the map to get a popup with quick links to Edit Route and Edit Service Details. Zone fill colour tracks the linked route's colour.

Export produces locations.geojson, booking_rules.txt, and (for stop-group zones) location_groups.txt + location_group_stops.txt. Zones missing a pickup window are flagged in the Export dialog and skipped.

Analysis tools

Costs — Set a cost per revenue hour and deadhead factor to estimate daily and annual operating costs per route and system-wide.

Coverage — Analyze population, households, and jobs within walking distance of your stops using Census data.

Keyboard shortcuts & tips

Undo & redo

Undo and redo any change to your feed data: moving or reshaping a stop or route, retiming trips, deleting entities, bulk fills, and snap-to-road. Use the undo and redo arrows in the top bar (next to Save) or the shortcuts above. The editor keeps your last 100 edits, and a brief toast names what you reverted. History resets when you load or switch feeds, and the shortcuts are ignored while you're typing in a text field (there ⌘/Ctrl+Z does the normal text undo instead).

Tips

• Click any route or stop on the map to see details and quick-edit.
• Direction arrows on routes show the direction of travel.
• Import an existing GTFS ZIP to edit a feed you already have.
• Your work auto-saves to the browser — refresh won't lose data.

Using GTFS·X on mobile and tablets

GTFS·X runs in any modern mobile browser. All editing and analysis panels are accessible at phone width: tap a panel icon in the left rail to open it full-screen, and use the bottom bar to reach Timetable, Visualization, and Validation. Viewing, reviewing, and filling in stop or route attributes all work well on a phone or tablet.

Map-based route drawing, stop placement, and vertex dragging are best done on a larger screen with a mouse or trackpad. Precise click-to-place and drag-to-reposition interactions are not yet touch-optimized, so those tasks are easier on a laptop or desktop. Full touch-optimized drawing is on the roadmap.