Bay Area GTFS Accessibility Report

An audit of 38 San Francisco Bay Area Transit Agencies using the California Transit Data Guidelines published by Caltrans.

Updated December 19, 2024

Agency	wheelchair_accessible in trips.txt	wheelchair_boarding in stops.txt	tts_stop_name in stops.txt	has levels.txt	has pathways.txt	route_color contrast ratio ok
AC TRANSIT	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Altamont Corridor Express	❌ 95.5%	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Angel Island Tiburon Ferry	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Bay Area Rapid Transit	✅	❌ 0%	❌	❌	❌	✅
Caltrain	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Capitol Corridor Joint Powers Authority	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
City of South San Francisco	✅	❌ 0%	❌	❌	❌	❌ 1 routes
County Connection	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
Dumbarton Express Consortium	❌ 0%	❌ 0%	❌	❌	❌	✅
Emery Go-Round	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
FAST	❌ 0%	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
Golden Gate Ferry	❌ 0%	❌ 0%	❌	❌	❌	✅
Golden Gate Transit	❌ 0%	❌ 0%	❌	❌	❌	✅
Livermore Amador Valley Transit Authority	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌ 5 routes
MVgo	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌ 5 routes
Marin Transit	❌ 0%	❌ 56.6%	❌	❌	❌	❌ 5 routes
Mission Bay TMA	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Mountain View Community Shuttle	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
Petaluma Transit	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌ 1 routes
Presidio Go	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Rio Vista Delta Breeze	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
SANTAROSA	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌ 6 routes
SamTrans	❌ 0%	❌ 0%	❌	❌	❌	✅
SamTrans, Commute.org Shuttles	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌ 1 routes
San Francisco Bay Ferry	✅	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
San Francisco International Airport	✅	❌ 0%	❌	❌	❌	✅
San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
San Francisco Recreation and Parks	❌ 0%	❌ 27.8%	❌	❌	❌	✅
SolTrans	❌ 0%	❌ 0%	❌	❌	❌	❌ 7 routes
Sonoma County Transit	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
Sonoma Marin Area Rail Transit	❌ 0%	✅	✅	❌	❌	✅
Stanford Marguerite Shuttle	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌ 1 routes
Treasure Island Ferry	❌ 0%	❌ 0%	❌	❌	❌	✅
Tri Delta Transit	❌ 0%	❌ 0%	❌	❌	❌	❌ 6 routes
Union City Transit	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌ 3 routes
VINE Transit	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅
VTA	✅	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌ 9 routes
Vacaville City Coach	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌ 1 routes
WestCat (Western Contra Costa)	❌ 0%	✅	❌	❌	❌	✅

About This Report

Each agency's GTFS is checked nightly for:

wheelchair_accessible field in trips.txt
wheelchair_boarding field in stops.txt
tts_stop_name field in stops.txt
levels.txt file
pathways.txt file
Contrast ratio between route_color and route_text_color in routes.txt

Accessibility Guidelines

The accessibility guidelines below are taken from the California Transit Data Guidelines published by Caltrans.

`wheelchair_accessible` field in `trips.txt`

Guideline: The wheelchair_boarding field has a valid, non-empty, and non-null value for every entry in the stops.txt file.

Transit riders with wheelchairs and other mobility aids encounter distinct challenges in accessing transit, including uncertainty as to whether they can board and alight at particular locations using their devices.

Transit providers should support the ability of these riders to plan and take trips on transit by publishing information about the locations where wheelchair users can and cannot access the system in trip-planning applications.

`wheelchair_boarding` field in `stops.txt`

Guideline: The wheelchair_accessible field has a valid, non-empty, and non-null value for every entry in the trips.txt file.

Transit riders with wheelchairs and other mobility aids encounter distinct challenges in accessing transit, including the uncertainty as to whether their devices can be used on specific scheduled trips.

Transit providers should support the ability of these riders to plan and take trips on transit by publishing information about the trips on which wheelchair users may or may not be able to travel in trip-planning applications.

`tts_stop_name` field in `stops.txt`

Guideline: The tts_stop_name field should include correct pronunciation for all stop names in stops.txt that are commonly mispronounced in trip-planning applications.

Audio annunciation of stop names is an important wayfinding tool for transit riders with visual impairments.

Transit providers should support the ability of these riders to conveniently and accurately plan and take trips on transit by ensuring that stop names will be pronounced correctly in trip-planning applications.

BlinkTag created a different open source tool to review GTFS stop name pronunciations and determine which stops need a tts_stop_name value. See GTFS Text-to-Speech Tester.

`levels.txt` and `pathways.txt` files

Guideline: Sufficient data is included within stops.txt, pathways.txt, and levels.txt to navigate to, from, and between any boarding zone to street level with varying physical abilities, including pathway_mode and stair_count where applicable. This includes but is not limited to any stops that use parent_station in stops.txt as well as all significant or named transit facilities where an infrequent visitor may be concerned about accessibility.

Transit riders with wheelchairs and other mobility aids encounter distinct challenges in accessing transit, including uncertainty about navigating between boarding zones and street level at stops.

Transit providers should support the ability of these riders to plan and take trips on transit by providing sufficient information for them to find accessible paths on and off transit using mobile applications.

Contrast ratio between `route_color` and `route_text_color` in `routes.txt`

Guideline: WCAG AA Large Text Contrast

Routes are often identified using the route_color field in routes.txt. Often, the route_short_name is used as text on top of the route_color using the route_text_color.

Bay Area GTFS Accessibility Report

About This Report

Accessibility Guidelines

wheelchair_accessible field in trips.txt

wheelchair_boarding field in stops.txt

tts_stop_name field in stops.txt

levels.txt and pathways.txt files

Contrast ratio between route_color and route_text_color in routes.txt

`wheelchair_accessible` field in `trips.txt`

`wheelchair_boarding` field in `stops.txt`

`tts_stop_name` field in `stops.txt`

`levels.txt` and `pathways.txt` files

Contrast ratio between `route_color` and `route_text_color` in `routes.txt`