Call-prep brief · checked 2026-10-07

Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) Bus

Grade C · 76.9 / 100

Unchanged since 2026-10-06.

For this call: lead with the grade and the three fixes below, then confirm the feed is current and the NTD details line up. Each fix is framed as a next step, not a failure.

What changed since the last check

Correctness no change
Freshness no change
Rider experience no change

Top three things to fix

Set wheelchair_boarding to 1 (accessible) or 2 (not accessible) for every stop. A field survey can start with the busiest stops.
11892 of 11892 stops don't say whether a wheelchair user can board there. Riders who use wheelchairs can't plan a trip when accessibility is marked 'unknown'; apps show no information at all.
Fixing this covers all 11,892 stops in the feed.
Effort: A column in stops.txt; your scheduling software likely has it.
Set wheelchair_accessible on every trip. If every vehicle is accessible, this may be one default; otherwise use the value for each trip.
33614 of 33614 trips don't say whether the vehicle is wheelchair accessible. Even with accessible stops, riders need to know the bus itself can take them.
Fixing this covers all 33,614 trips in the feed.
Effort: A default or per-trip field in your export.
Review the flagged fields and fill in the ones your riders would use.
Some files leave out fields that GTFS asks for but does not require. Recommended fields like agency_phone or stop descriptions make the feed more useful to riders and trip planners.
This is a validator notice, and the validator decides what each instance covers, so no share of the network can be read from it here.
Effort: A field at a time; not urgent.

Riders and need behind these fixes

More than one feed record claims this National Transit Database reporter, so its rider-trips are held back rather than counted against any single feed.
California as a whole measures lower on transit need. That is a statewide reading, not one for this feed's service area. Source: US Census ACS 5-year 2022, statewide overlay, as of 2026-10-05.

These describe this feed only. They do not rank agencies, and they do not change the grade or the order of the fixes.

Finding handoff

Move one finding to a recheck

Select one finding. Copy the request, make the change in the feed-producing tool, then compare the next complete run.

Feed evidence: 11892 of 11892 stops don't say whether a wheelchair user can board there.
Next action: Set wheelchair_boarding to 1 (accessible) or 2 (not accessible) for every stop. A field survey can start with the busiest stops.
Recheck: Publish the changed feed at the same URL. On the next complete, comparable scorecard run, confirm that this finding is no longer reported.

Copy handoff text

Agency: Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) Bus
Finding: scorecard_wheelchair_boarding_unknown
Feed evidence: 11892 of 11892 stops don't say whether a wheelchair user can board there.
Why it matters: Riders who use wheelchairs can't plan a trip when accessibility is marked 'unknown'; apps show no information at all.
Requested change: Set wheelchair_boarding to 1 (accessible) or 2 (not accessible) for every stop. A field survey can start with the busiest stops.
Recheck: Publish the changed feed at the same URL. On the next complete, comparable scorecard run, confirm that this finding is no longer reported.
Evidence: https://gtfsscorecard.org/agency/los-angeles-county-metropolitan-transportation-authority-la-metro/?finding=scorecard_wheelchair_boarding_unknown#finding-handoff

NTD GTFS readiness: Ready

Published at a public URL, valid, current, and identified with agency_id: the four feed checks for RY2026 all hold here. Only your own D-10 and P-50 filings make that official; this is a heads-up, not a determination.

Published Ready: Published at a public URL.
Valid Ready: Passes validation with no errors.
Current Ready: Service data covers the next 66 days.
agency_id provided Ready: agency.txt provides agency_id. For RY2026, keep one stable value for each NTD reporter represented in the feed and crosswalk each value on the P-50 form.

agency_id equals NTD ID (optional): Different (allowed). Your feed's agency_id is LACMTA; your National Transit Database ID is 90154. A feed that serves several agencies (a shared regional feed) can legitimately carry more than one agency_id. The values do not need to equal the five-digit NTD ID, so this difference is allowed and carries no score. Confirm that P-50 crosswalks agency_id LACMTA to NTD ID 90154, and keep the feed value stable. Do not change it solely to make the two values equal.

The bar this score answers to

The published guideline in California is California Transit Data Guidelines. Caltrans' published quality guidelines and compliance checklist; this rubric is anchored to them.

Key facts

Feed URL: https://gitlab.com/LACMTA/gtfs_bus/raw/master/gtfs_bus.zip
Last checked: 2026-10-07
Service window: 66 days of service data remain. Last service date 2027-04-01.
Location: California

Part of the California portfolio: see where this agency sits among the other feeds in that group before the call.

A data-quality and completeness read to support an agency conversation. Not an official compliance determination. Rubric v1.4, validator 8.0.1.