Here are some frequently asked questions to help you find the information you need.
Support
We have a number of channels to help you. If you need help with data or technical questions, please review the Developers pages. If you still have questions, you can post a question in the Forum. Be sure to read previous posts before posting a question, the answer may already be there.
If you have lost your password or username, or need to report an outage or issue, send an email to OpenDataHelp@transport.nsw.gov.au. We aim to respond to requests within 3 – 5 business days. Be sure to add as much information as you can to help us get back to you more quickly.
Data issues and outages are shown on the Status page. Check the Status page first to see if it has already been reported. If the issue or outage isn’t displayed on the Status page, email OpenDataHelp@transport.nsw.gov.au with details of the issue or outage. Please be aware that some issues and outages cannot be fixed quickly, and may take time to resolve. You should always report issues and outages as soon as possible, so we can investigate and let the relevant people know.
You can use your own API, but you will need to host your own API or use another host.
The Data Update Notification Service (DUNS) allows Open Data Users to subscribe to update notifications for their chosen datasets. Simply log in to the Open Data Hub, navigate to the dataset you are interested in, and click "FOLLOW". You will receive an email to your nominated email account notifying you if the selected dataset has changed in the last 24 hours.
GTFS stands for General Transit Feeds Specification. More information about GTFS can be found via https://gtfs.org/. It’s the key format of providing public transport data to developers and planners for timetable and realtime data.
GTFS data can be downloaded as a zip file and are CSV files which can be viewed in a text editor or Excel or spreadsheet application. Realtime data needs to be converted as it is in a protobuf format - our suggestion is to use GTFS Studio if you want to have a look at the data.
GTFS Studio is a feature added to the Open Data Hub as part of the Make Data Great Innovation Challenge. It provides access to browse Transport for NSW GTFS data and GTFS-realtime data.
You can access GTFS Studio from the top menu items on the Transport for NSW Open Data Hub. You will need to be logged into your Open Data Hub account to access and must be using a desktop resolution. You can review the user guide by visiting the Documentation page.
The GTFS-realtime ferry feed reports all current and future vehicle positions. This causes a "trail" of vehicles to appear while the ferry is moving. It's possible to filter out to only show the current trip's vehicle position. Use vehicle > id as the unique identifier. Since the ferry feed no longer reports vehicle positions once a trip has been completed, you can cross reference with the GTFS-static data to identify which trip begins the earliest (i.e. has the earlieststop_times.txt entry).
The Timetables Complete GTFS and TransXChange APIs return large files, and is unlikely to work in the API Explorer (or when Explore API is selected in the Data Catalogue). You can download the zip files by selecting Download in the dataset. Should you wish to retrieve the files on a regular basis, you can use your API key to retrieve it programmatically.
Open Data
Open data is the idea that public information should be accessible, used, modified and shared by anyone for any purpose without restrictions. Open data should be both technically and legally open: technically open in that it is available and accessible to the community, and legally open in so far as there are appropriate licensing frameworks in place to facilitate its release, use and reuse by the community.
The NSW Government's open data policy is designed to drive benefits to the community because Open Data:
- Promotes open, transparent and accountable government;
- Contributes to the digital economy in NSW, and promotes the development of new business and industries that can make use of government data;
- Leads to better public services;
- Advances community engagement with the government and with the work of government;
- Enables data sharing between government agencies in NSW and across jurisdictions;
- Facilitates greater understanding of agencies own data and the potential of that data; and
- Supports evidence-based policy making and policy research.
We derive and directly source our data from operational systems within TfNSW. While we cannot guarantee the complete accuracy of the data, it is the best source of data for our transport services.
Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) are a set of rules and instructions for how software can interact with a dataset. APIs allow flexibility in how information within a dataset is accessed, typically so that users can select only a specific, relevant subset of the information. APIs are usually connected to datasets that are updated in real-time.
Datasets contain individual resources, as well as metadata. Metadata contains information about the dataset. Resources are the files within the dataset. A dataset may have multiple resources such as APIs, links or images.
A dataset is a collection of related sets of information, which shows relationships between categories and variables. An example of a dataset is a table of all train stations in NSW, with a set of information about each station, such as platform numbers.
TfNSW sets out to provide as much data as possible, and some datasets need to be cleansed before being released. This may be due to safety, commercial concerns or protecting the privacy of our customers. These datasets need to be identified, prioritised and made available in the appropriate format.
Accesing & Using Data
You can request additional data by emailing OpenDataProgram@transport.nsw.gov.au. Note that we only provide Transport for NSW data.
Timeframes for data requests vary based on the data being requested. We do endeavour to get back to you when you make a request, so if you haven’t heard from us please let us know as your request may have gone on a detour.
For any dataset or API with a Creative Commons by Attribution 4.0 licence, you may reuse and redistribute the data. Please check the licence for the data you are using.
Sydney Trains GTFS and GTFS-R: Real time data is updated every 15 seconds, static data is updated once a day
Bus GTFS and GTFS-R: Real time data is updated every 15 seconds, static data is updated once a day
Ferries GTFS and GTFS-R: Real time data is updated every 15 seconds, static data is updated once a day
Light Rail GTFS and GTFS-R: Real time data is updated every 15 seconds, static data is updated once a day
Rural and Regional GTFS and GTFS-R: Real time data is updated every 15 seconds, static data is updated once a day
We recommend using API Key authentication as it is simple and has fewer issues than the OAuth 2 authentication. If you are using OAuth 2 authentication you may continue to do so.
The creator of the application can share the API credentials (API key or OAuth credentials) with other users manually. There is no system functionality enabled to share apps or API credentials. Please note you should never share your user credentials (username and password) with anyone.
Due to privacy protection policies and legal restrictions, we are unable to provide or release any CCTV footage.
The use of TfNSW data should not be seen as an endorsement, sponsorship and/or partnership and you should never brand your product in a way that states or implies this. Visit the Marketing section of our Resources page for full details of what you can and cannot use to brand your product.
Innovation Challenges
At Transport for NSW (TfNSW) we use innovation challenges as an efficient way to develop and deliver products and solutions that improve the customer experience across Sydney and NSW. The Open Data and Innovation team runs innovation challenges periodically to seek out those best ideas from industry players to bring better outcomes for customers.
Innovation challenges are run when TfNSW has a good understanding of the potential solution or product which will solve a problem, and where we want to work with the start-up community to develop a solution.
Transport for NSW (TfNSW) runs innovation challenges with a variety of focuses based on different business needs across the sector. Innovators, entrepreneurs, and the developer community are encouraged to participate in the challenges to address the problem statement(s) with their proposed ideas and solutions.