Canadian Public Transit Network Database (CPTND)

Detailed information for 2025

The purpose of this product is to provide an accessible and harmonized Canada-wide open dataset of public transit infrastructure. The Data Exploration and Integration Lab (DEIL) compiled and validated General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) schedule data from open data sources across Canada. The dataset can be used for research, planning, policy and official statistics.

Data release - January 31, 2025

• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

The dataset is a compilation of public transit data in the GTFS standard from open data sources-typically municipalities or local transit agencies. The GTFS datasets contain information on the location of stops, routes, calendars/timetables and other information related to the public transit services available. The database also includes a validation summary table which gives users an estimation on the number of warning or errors potentially present in each feed.

The database is expected to be updated periodically as new open datasets from government sources become available and to keep public transit schedules up-to-date.

This centralized repository is made available under the Open Government License - Canada. The benefit of open data is that any user can access and make use of it freely. Individuals, formal and informal organizations, or enterprises can use the data and other information to research and innovate on any number of topics.

Reference period: The reference period for each dataset varies. For more information on the reference period of a specific GTFS feed, please consult the open data portal for that data provider directly or refer to the validation_summary.csv included in the package.

Data sources and methodology

Target population

Public transit infrastructure encompasses all elements related to the functioning of a network designed to support collective movement of people. It includes information related to the physical infrastructure such as the location of bus, metro, trains, ferry etc. stops and the route each service takes. It also includes information related to the timing and coordination of these services such as scheduled service times including any daily, weekly or seasonal variations in schedule. All such infrastructure are in scope and are included in the GTFS data format.

Instrument design

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Sampling

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: January 01, 2024 to January 31, 2025

Responding to this survey is voluntary.

Data are collected from other Statistics Canada surveys and/or other sources.

Individual open datasets were downloaded from their respective government open data portals.

Data was combined from multiple open data sources to generate one consolidated Canada-wide dataset. Key processing steps involved de-duplication, cleaning, and filtering datasets to keep only records in the coverage area of interest.

Error detection

The data underwent several rounds of validation namely making sure the latitude and longitude falls within a valid range, data was in the correct format and that all necessary .txt files were included.

Each GTFS feed was also validated using Mobility Data's open source GTFS Schedule Validator to assess how it compares to GTFS best practices. A summary file of these errors and warnings is included in the release package for user reference.
Otherwise, the data represents what is available from the original sources without modification.

Imputation

The data represents what is available from the original sources without modification.
The only change made was simplifying the shape layer geometry of each feed to a tolerance level of 250m in the GeoPackage. This did not visibly change the mapped shapes but did significantly reduce the file size to a much more user-friendly level.

Estimation

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Quality evaluation

The data underwent several rounds of validation namely making sure the latitude and longitude falls within a valid range, data was in the correct format and that all necessary .txt files were included.

Each GTFS feed was also validated using Mobility Data's open source GTFS Schedule Validator to assess how it compares to GTFS best practices. A summary file of these errors and warnings is included in the release package for user reference.
Otherwise,the data represents what is available from the original sources without modification.

Disclosure control

This methodology does not apply.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Data accuracy

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.