Predictors of Early Adoption of the General Transit Feed Specification

The use of the general transit feed specification (GTFS) data standard has spread rapidly since its introduction in 2007, although it is still not universal in the United States. To explain which transit agencies are likely to have been early adopters of GTFS, we estimate a logistic regression model predicting GTFS adoption based on service area and agency characteristics. We find that agencies with higher ridership and those providing lower shares of a region’s total vehicle revenue kilometers have tended to adopt GTFS earlier.