A few pointers to get you started...

We won't tell you how to make your app, Web site or widget, but thought a little guidance might be helpful...

Keep everyone in mind

At PSTA, we work hard to try and make sure our services (both transit and informational) can reach the broadest range of people—with the broadest range of abilities. This can include people with low-vision, no vision, limited mobility and even cognitive differences.

Try to make the most of the range of accessible options on whatever platform you’re using (and note that we publish accessibility information as part of our alerts feeds, which contain essential information for people who require an accessible path in and out of stations). This can include providing alternate text to things presented visually, considering font sizes for people with low vision and, when it comes to Web-based content, following established standards so your sites and services work on the greatest number of platforms possible.

Check out Federal Section 508 to get started.

Cache it if you can

Our servers are powerful computers, but bandwidth isn't free. As a result, RidePSTA.net has daily transaction limits (if it’s not possible to cache enough information, we’ll consider raising the transaction limit on a case-by-case basis). In the event that a user of an API is causing deteriorated performance on our primary Web and RidePSTA.net services or to others, we may need to limit access.

Be a good netizen and help us avoid needing to take any action: Try to minimize the number of requests you need to make from our servers by caching data that doesn’t change often. For example, our list of bus stops and ID numbers is not likely to change every day—you can probably just grab the stop list once per day,
for example.

Also, RidePSTA.net information (including both arrivals and vehicle location) is only updated about once
every minute—there’s no need to make requests for the same information every few seconds since the response won’t change.

Stay up to date

Our service information does change quickly sometimes, and we’d hate to see outdated information given to anyone. If we find outdated information being distributed, we may ask you to update your information or take down outdated information (see Terms of Use).

Here are some things that change regularly, which you need to be aware of:

Alerts about planned events are posted throughout the week as we become aware of planned street closures and as our construction schedule is finalized.
RidePSTA.net information is updated about once per minute. Hitting the RidePSTA.net server for the same information more than once per minute will only cause increased traffic.
The GTFS data package may be updated weekly (or even more). Note the package is located on
our Web server in a server path that indicates its effective date. (Even though service schedules generally only change a few times per year, the GTFS data is updated to account for long-term reroutes, for example.)
Alerts about unplanned events (detours, delays, service, construction, etc.) are added to our Rider Alert page as they occur and may be added at any time.

Official Support

If you think you’ve found a bug, have suggestions, or questions about how the API works, please contact us by e-mail or visit our Contact Us Page. We'll try to help you where we can.

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