Call-prep brief · checked 2026-10-07

Rhode Island Public Transit Authority

Grade B · 82.3 / 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
Realtime quality 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.
3520 of 3553 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 3,520 of 3,553 stops, about 99% of them.
Effort: A column in stops.txt; your scheduling software likely has it.
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.
Check the flagged trips in your scheduling software; remove them or restore their missing stops.
Some trips serve fewer than two stops. A trip with one stop can't be ridden; planners ignore it and it may signal an export problem.
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: Worth a vendor question if it appears often.

Riders and need behind these fixes

No ridership snapshot was on hand when this was built, so annual rider-trips are not known.
Rhode Island 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: 3520 of 3553 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: Rhode Island Public Transit Authority
Finding: scorecard_wheelchair_boarding_unknown
Feed evidence: 3520 of 3553 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/rhode-island-public-transit-authority/?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 100 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 RIPTA; your National Transit Database ID is 10001. 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 RIPTA to NTD ID 10001, and keep the feed value stable. Do not change it solely to make the two values equal.

Key facts

Feed URL: https://ripta.com/RIPTA-GTFS.zip
Last checked: 2026-10-07
Service window: 100 days of service data remain. Last service date 2027-01-15.
Location: Rhode Island

Part of the Rhode Island 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.