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Call-prep brief · checked 2026-07-11

Metro-North Railroad

Grade C · 71.5 / 100

Unchanged since 2026-07-10.

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
  • Realtime quality no change

Top three things to fix

  1. Check the vehicle positions endpoint with your AVL vendor; it should return a fresh GTFS-Realtime protobuf on every request.

    The vehicle positions realtime feed failed during sampling. When this feed is down, riders see scheduled times presented as if they were live.

    Effort: Usually a vendor support ticket.

  2. Check with your AVL vendor that every vehicle assignment flows into TripUpdates, including school-day and tripper runs.

    29 of 29 trips scheduled during the sampling window had no live predictions. Riders on those trips get schedule data dressed up as realtime. Caltrans expects every operating trip in TripUpdates.

    Effort: A vendor data-mapping question.

  3. Add fare_attributes.txt (or Fares v2 files) with your fare structure. If your service is fare-free, ask to have it marked fare-free instead.

    The feed contains no fare information. Riders see 'fare unknown' in trip planners and can't budget their trip; visitors are most affected.

    Effort: A small file for most flat-fare systems.

NTD GTFS readiness: Ready

This feed looks ready for your NTD certification: published at a public URL, valid, and current. The official check is still your D-10 certification.

Published Ready
Published at a public URL.
Valid Ready
Passes validation with no errors.
Current Ready
Service data covers the next 175 days.

agency_id and NTD ID: Not checked yet. Setting your GTFS agency_id to your five-digit NTD ID is an optional way to line a feed up with its National Transit Database record. FTA links the two on your P-50 form, so it is not a required feed change. We don't have your NTD ID on file, so this is not checked yet.

Key facts

Feed URL
http://web.mta.info/developers/data/mnr/google_transit.zip
Last checked
2026-07-11
Service window
164 days of service data remain. Last service date 2026-12-22.

A data-quality and completeness read to support an agency conversation. Not an official compliance determination. Rubric v1.1, validator 8.0.1.