Ride Guide FAQ

GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification) is a standard format for public transportation data, including routes, stops, and schedules.

Ride Guide uses your GTFS data to automatically generate up-to-date, easy-to-read timetables and maps - no extra files or formatting needed. Get more information about everything GTFS at gtfs.org

Ride Guide is a suite of transit tools that agencies can embed directly into their websites to improve the passenger experience. Instead of relying on static images, PDF downloads, or clunky manually updated code, Ride Guide delivers interactive timetables and transit maps powered by your agency’s GTFS (General Transit Feed Specification) data.

The technology is a lightweight HTML embed (iFrame) that automatically displays accurate, up-to-date schedules and maps for every route — including variations for public holidays, school terms, and planned service changes.

Designed to be mobile-friendly, accessible, and easy to integrate, Ride Guide requires nothing more than your standard GTFS feed.

Ride Guide shows timetables based on the exact date the user selects. So if someone’s travelling on a public holiday or during a school break, they’ll see the right schedule for that day; no guesswork needed.

As long as your GTFS feed includes calendar dates for holidays, school terms, or planned service changes, Ride Guide will automatically display the correct timetable. There’s nothing extra to configure.

This approach is a bit different from other GTFS to HTML tools, which often rely on non-standard files to handle these scenarios. You can read more about how Ride Guide avoids those extra files below.

Yes. Ride Guide uses the route_color and route_text_color fields from your GTFS data to style each timetable. This helps keep your timetables and maps visually consistent with the rest of your network branding.

No, Ride Guide doesn’t replace your website — it enhances it. Ride Guide is designed to be embedded directly into your existing site, adding user-friendly, up-to-date maps and timetables without the need for a full website rebuild.

Think of it like a home renovation: your website is the solid house, and Ride Guide is the modern kitchen upgrade. There’s no need to tear down what works — just improve the parts that matter most to your riders.

Timetable and mapping functionality is one of the hardest things to build well. With Ride Guide, you get an expert solution that saves time, reduces risk, and improves the experience for your passengers.

Absolutely! Ride Guide takes care of the complex and specialized job of building and updating transit maps and timetables.

That means your team can focus on building a great-looking site with essential content like fare information, news, and customer support — while Ride Guide handles the technical challenge of accurate, mobile-friendly transit tools.

Building this functionality from scratch is expensive and time-consuming. With Ride Guide, you can reduce development costs and still deliver a polished passenger experience.

Ride Guide is developed to comply with WCAG 2.2, which includes standards for screen reader accessibility. We are working towards formalized testing with screen reader users, so we can confidently confirm that it meets their expectations in practice.

Yes. Ride Guide timetables are designed to support compliance with FTA and ADA accessibility standards, including WCAG 2.2. We use semantic HTML and follow best practices for screen reader compatibility, contrast, and keyboard navigation.

We regularly check compliance using accessibilitychecker.org to ensure an inclusive experience for all users. When embedding the Ride Guide iFrame into your website, there are a few specific implementation steps to follow to maintain full accessibility - these are covered in our documentation, and we’ll guide you through them during setup.

No. Ride Guide creates rich HTML timetables and maps using only the core GTFS files - no extra work needed. Unlike other GTFS timetable tools, we don’t rely on additional, non-standard files that many agencies can’t create or maintain.

Our system uses built-in logic to handle common scheduling scenarios, replacing the need for extra files like timetables.txt, timetable_pages.txt or timetable_stop_order.txt.

Yes. Ride Guide supports GTFS timetables generated from multiple GTFS datasets.

Very simple! Ride Guide is installed using just a few lines of code. It uses lightweight, embeddable iFrames - easy for any web developer or CMS administrator to insert into your site.

There’s no need for API integrations or backend changes. It’s a front-end-only solution, designed to be quick to deploy and easy to maintain. Full integration documentation is provided to guide your team through the process.

Yes, we’re happy to help. In most cases, your webmaster will be able to handle the integration using our simple iFrame embed code. However, if you’d prefer us to take care of it, we’re happy to assist directly.

To do this, we’ll just need temporary access to your website’s CMS (such as WordPress or another content management system). Once we’re in, we can quickly complete the setup on your behalf.

No. Once Ride Guide is embedded on your website, updates happen automatically whenever a new GTFS file is published.

Your webmaster is only needed during the initial setup - we’ll provide the iFrame code and help ensure it’s correctly embedded. After that, no ongoing work is required to keep timetables and maps up to date.

Ride Guide checks for new GTFS files about every 20 minutes. Once a new file is successfully imported, the timetables and maps are updated immediately.

Stay tuned! We’ve got exciting updates in the works to support printable versions of timetables.

If this feature is important to you, feel free to get in touch (contact@ride.guide) — we’re happy to share what’s coming and hear your feedback.