Fix: some scheduled trips have no live predictions
Published: . Last reviewed: .
Code: scorecard_rt_trip_coverage
What this means
During the sampling window, some trips that were scheduled to be running had no matching prediction in the TripUpdates feed. The feed itself is reachable; it just doesn't cover every trip that should be in it.
Why it matters
Riders on those trips get schedule data dressed up as realtime: the app shows a time, but nobody actually confirmed the vehicle is where the schedule says it should be. Caltrans' realtime guidance expects every operating trip to show up in TripUpdates, not just the ones an AVL happened to report on.
How to fix it
- Check with your AVL vendor that every vehicle assignment flows into TripUpdates, including school-day-only trips, tripper runs, and any service added outside the normal daily pattern.
- Confirm vehicles are actually logged in for every scheduled run, not just the ones on a fixed route pattern. A common gap is trips run by a spare vehicle or a contracted operator that never gets assigned in the AVL system.
- Compare a sample day's TripUpdates against that day's scheduled trips to see which specific trips or blocks are consistently missing.
How long it usually takes
A vendor data-mapping question, usually resolved within a data-mapping support ticket rather than a code change on your end.
Authoritative rule
This scorecard finding concerns GTFS-Realtime, while the MobilityData GTFS Validator validates GTFS Schedule. The linked GTFS-Realtime reference defines the message this scorecard checks. Read the relevant GTFS-Realtime reference section. (opens on an external site)
After you republish
Once the changed feed is live at your published URL, the next scorecard run checks it again. When the same complete producer contract no longer reports this finding, it can be recorded as a dated finding clearance. That confirms the later feed state, not who changed the feed or why.