Prep for a call: printable one-page brief · For your board packet: printable one-pager · Compare with another agency · Watch this feed: get an email before it expires
Feed status · checked 2026-07-09
Whatcom Transportation Authority
Based on the feed this agency publishes
unchanged since 2026-07-08
Ahead of 98% of all tracked agencies and 99% of mid-size agencies. Operates in Washington.
A data-quality and completeness lens to help an agency improve its GTFS feed. Not an official compliance determination from any transit program. New to this? How to read your scorecard. Interactive view of this scorecard. Rubric v1.1, validator 8.0.1.
Checked for changes 10 hours ago; last changed 17 days ago.
Top things to fix
Review the flagged fields and fill in the ones your riders would use.
Some files are missing recommended (not required) fields. Recommended fields like agency_phone or stop descriptions make the feed more useful to riders and trip planners.
⏱ A field at a time; not urgent.worth about +4 points
Agencies here usually clear this within about 2 weeks (based on 8 observed fixes).
Review the rule documentation for 'missing_feed_contact_email_and_url' at https://gtfs-validator.mobilitydata.org/rules.html and check the flagged rows in your feed.
Missing feed contact email and url (flagged by the MobilityData validator). See the linked rule for what this affects.
⏱ Varies.worth about +4 points
Agencies here usually clear this within about 1 week (based on 6 observed fixes).
Add feed_contact_email to feed_info.txt.
feed_info.txt has no technical contact (feed_contact_email or feed_contact_url). App makers and state data programs have nobody to email when they spot a problem with your feed, so problems linger.
⏱ One field.worth about +8 points
Agencies here usually clear this within about 1 week (based on 10 observed fixes).
This feed is published from a code repository, so whoever maintains that repository regenerates the zip — often planning staff or a consultant. The fix happens in the source data, then a fresh export is committed.
Close the loop on each fix. Read the guide, make the change in your tool, and let the next run verify it — the scorecard shows the fix; the agency publishes it.
Review the flagged fields and fill in the ones your riders would use. · Read the fix guide
Make the change. This feed is published from a code repository, so whoever maintains that repository regenerates the zip — often planning staff or a consultant. The fix happens in the source data, then a fresh export is committed.
Prove it cleared. The next scorecard run re-checks this automatically and, once it is gone, mints a dated receipt. Self-check a feed before you publish.
Review the rule documentation for 'missing_feed_contact_email_and_url' at https://gtfs-validator.mobilitydata.org/rules.html and check the flagged rows in your feed. · Read the fix guide
Make the change. This feed is published from a code repository, so whoever maintains that repository regenerates the zip — often planning staff or a consultant. The fix happens in the source data, then a fresh export is committed.
Prove it cleared. The next scorecard run re-checks this automatically and, once it is gone, mints a dated receipt. Self-check a feed before you publish.
Add feed_contact_email to feed_info.txt. · Read the fix guide
Make the change. This feed is published from a code repository, so whoever maintains that repository regenerates the zip — often planning staff or a consultant. The fix happens in the source data, then a fresh export is committed.
Prove it cleared. The next scorecard run re-checks this automatically and, once it is gone, mints a dated receipt. Self-check a feed before you publish.
Send your vendor a fix request
This feed is published from a code repository. Forward this to whoever maintains that repository; the fix happens in the source data, then a fresh export is committed. Each fix names the validator notice and a guide link.
Score by category
The MobilityData validator flagged 2 kinds of issue across 3 instances (0 error, 3 warning, 0 informational).
Service data covers the next 72 days.
100% of stops state wheelchair accessibility (44% marked accessible, 56% marked not accessible). This measures what the feed publishes, not whether a stop is physically usable. Fare data is published.
100% of stops state accessibility (44% marked accessible). Reflects what the feed states, not verified physical usability.
Fares are applied to trips.
Not scored yet. Nothing here counts against the grade.
Over time
Overall score across the last 21 checks — unchanged since 2026-07-08.
Show the numbers
| Check | Score | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-19 | 94.2 | first check |
| 2026-06-20 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-06-21 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-06-22 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-06-23 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-06-24 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-06-25 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-06-26 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-06-27 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-06-28 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-06-29 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-06-30 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-07-01 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-07-02 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-07-03 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-07-04 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-07-05 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-07-06 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-07-07 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-07-08 | 94.2 | no change |
| 2026-07-09 | 94.2 | no change |
What changed since your last check
- Correctness no change
- Freshness no change
- Rider experience no change
What changed in this feed
Overall grade and score held steady since 2026-07-08.
Same feed file as 2026-07-08; the published zip did not change.
Subscribe to this feed’s changes (Atom) to hear about grade drops in a reader, with no sign-up.
Everything we checked
- Warning2 instances
Some files are missing recommended (not required) fields.
Recommended fields like agency_phone or stop descriptions make the feed more useful to riders and trip planners.
Fix: Review the flagged fields and fill in the ones your riders would use. (A field at a time; not urgent.)
Agencies here usually clear this within about 2 weeks (based on 8 observed fixes).
Validator rule: missing_recommended_field · Read the fix guide · See MobilityData GTFS Validator rules (opens the validator rules on an external site)
- Warning1 instance
Missing feed contact email and url (flagged by the MobilityData validator).
See the linked rule for what this affects.
Fix: Review the rule documentation for 'missing_feed_contact_email_and_url' at https://gtfs-validator.mobilitydata.org/rules.html and check the flagged rows in your feed. (Varies.)
Agencies here usually clear this within about 1 week (based on 6 observed fixes).
Validator rule: missing_feed_contact_email_and_url · Read the fix guide · See MobilityData GTFS Validator rules (opens the validator rules on an external site)
- Info1 instance
feed_info.txt has no technical contact (feed_contact_email or feed_contact_url).
App makers and state data programs have nobody to email when they spot a problem with your feed, so problems linger.
Fix: Add feed_contact_email to feed_info.txt. (One field.)
Agencies here usually clear this within about 1 week (based on 10 observed fixes).
Validator rule: scorecard_no_feed_contact · Read the fix guide · See MobilityData GTFS Validator rules (opens the validator rules on an external site)
Beyond the grade
Opportunities that do not change your grade today: fare detail, on-demand service, and deeper accessibility data.
11 route badge(s) pair a color and text color below the WCAG 4.5:1 contrast bar (14, 15, 190, 232, 27, and more).
Consider: Adjust route_color or route_text_color so each pair clears 4.5:1. Often switching the text between black and white is enough.
837 stop name(s) use abbreviations or symbols a screen reader may mispronounce, with no spoken form set ("Bakerview Rd at Fred Meyer", "Cornwall Ave at E St", "Northwest Ave at Birchwood Center", and more).
Consider: Add tts_stop_name with the spoken form, e.g. 'Main Street and Second Avenue', for the affected stops.
NTD certification readiness Ready
Published at a public URL, valid, and current: the three things the NTD GTFS requirement asks of a feed all hold here. Only your own D-10 certification makes 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 72 days.
- agency_id matches your 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.
In plain words: if you report to the federal transit database, you have to publish a working, up-to-date feed and confirm it once a year. This box is a heads-up on whether yours looks ready; it is not the official sign-off.
A readiness signal mapping this feed to the FTA National Transit Database GTFS requirement (Report Year 2023 onward: a public, valid, current feed, certified annually on the D-10). Aligning agency_id with your NTD ID lets the feed line up with your NTD record; the July 2025 final rule links the two on the P-50 form rather than requiring that feed change, and requires shapes.txt in the published GTFS: Full Reporters from Report Year 2025, and Reduced, Rural, and Tribal Reporters from Report Year 2026. Not an official determination; your certification is the official check.
Conformance mark Awarded
This feed earns the conformance mark: valid, current, and stating wheelchair access on nearly every stop and trip.
- Valid Met
- Passes validation with no errors.
- Current Met
- Service data covers the next 72 days.
- Accessible Met
- States wheelchair access on 100% of stops and 100% of trips.
In plain words: earn this mark when your feed passes validation, has not expired, and says whether nearly every stop and trip is wheelchair accessible.
A pass credential for a feed that is valid, current, and states wheelchair access on nearly every stop and trip. Accessibility here measures what the feed publishes, not whether a stop is physically usable. How the conformance mark works.
Clears the Google and Apple Maps four-week coverage bar. This feed has 72 days of service ahead, clearing the four-week (28-day) window Maps asks for. No validator errors either, so riders keep seeing this agency in their trip planners; warnings lower the grade here but do not remove a feed from Maps.
How this agency maps to the standards
A data-quality lens, not a compliance determination. Each category shows this feed's score and the standards it relates to: the FTA National Transit Database GTFS requirement, the MobilityData grading scheme, and the Google Transit gate. Read the full standards crosswalk.
Your state runs a transit-data program that can help: WSDOT Transportation Data. WSDOT builds and publishes GTFS for Washington transit agencies. Your state publishes no quality rubric of its own, so the closest published bars a program can hold this feed to are the federal and industry ones below; the score maps to those.
- Correctness 92 / 100
- GTFS Schedule best practices, checked by the MobilityData validator. MobilityData grading: stop locations, route names and colors. Google Transit: a feed must pass validation to stay in Maps.
- Freshness 100 / 100
- The FTA National Transit Database expectation of a valid, current feed. Google Transit: an expired calendar drops the agency from Maps.
- Rider experience 92 / 100
- GTFS Best Practices for rider-facing fields. MobilityData grading: stop names and headsigns.
- Realtime quality Not yet published
- GTFS-Realtime best practices: a stable URL, high uptime, and frequent updates.
Show your grade
Put a live badge on your agency site or feed README. It updates daily and links back to this scorecard.
Prefer a shields.io style? Point a dynamic endpoint badge at the published badge.json.
Cite this record
This page updates on every check. The record below does not: it is the dated file this grade came from, published at https://gtfsscorecard.org/data/artifacts/whatcom-transportation-authority/2026-07-09.json and never overwritten, pinning the grade, category scores, rubric version, validator version, and the scored feed's sha256 as they stood on 2026-07-09. Use it in a board packet, an NTD narrative, or a research citation instead of linking the live page, whose content will differ on your next visit.
Citing the tool itself rather than one agency's record? Use the repo's CITATION.cff.