Board packet · transit data quality · checked 2026-10-07
Metra
Grade F · 37.7 / 100
Unchanged since 2026-10-06.
What this grade measures
The quality of the schedule data in the feed scored here for trip-planning apps: whether riders using Google Maps, Apple Maps, or Transit see current, correct, and complete information. It measures the data feed, not service quality or operations.
Progress this period
No newly cleared items this period. The score and trend above reflect where the feed stands today.
What needs attention next
Three improvements, in priority order, each sized so the board can see what it is approving:
Add feed_start_date and feed_end_date to feed_info.txt and include calendar end dates in your export.
Neither feed_info.txt nor the calendars state when service ends. Nobody can tell when this feed will go stale.
This one is about the feed as a whole, so there is no share of it to count.
Estimated effort: Likely a one-time export setting.
Set wheelchair_boarding to 1 (accessible) or 2 (not accessible) for every stop. A field survey can start with the busiest stops.
241 of 241 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 241 stops in the feed.
Estimated 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.
8504 of 8504 trips don't say whether the vehicle is wheelchair accessible. Even with accessible stops, riders need to know the transit vehicle itself can take them.
Fixing this covers all 8,504 trips in the feed.
Estimated effort: A default or per-trip field in your export.
Riders and need behind these fixes
- No ridership snapshot was on hand when this was built, so annual rider-trips are not known.
- Illinois 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
- Neither feed_info.txt nor the calendars state when service ends.
- Next action
- Add feed_start_date and feed_end_date to feed_info.txt and include calendar end dates in your export.
- 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
- Feed evidence
- 241 of 241 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
- Feed evidence
- 8504 of 8504 trips don't say whether the vehicle is wheelchair accessible.
- Next action
- Set wheelchair_accessible on every trip. If every vehicle is accessible, this may be one default; otherwise use the value for each trip.
- 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
Produced by the GTFS Scorecard, an open-source data quality tool. A data-quality read to support the board conversation, not an official compliance determination. Live scorecard: https://gtfsscorecard.org/agency/metra-2854/. Rubric v1.4, validator 8.0.1.