RTTI Open API - Overview

The Real-Time Transit Information Open API is REST (Representational State Transfer); however this API is read only, i.e. http get calls.

  1. The API default is to return XML data, however, it can return JSON if the content-type: application/JSON or accept: application/JSON is set in the http request header.
  2. The API will require a unique API key to request for data.
  3. The API will have a restriction of 100/requests per minute per IP and a maximum of around 10000 request/day. This is to prevent malicious users from abusing our service. This might change and is open for discussion.
  4. The API will provide services for Stops, Buses, Stop Estimates, and Route details.
  5. Route url site will be http://api.translink.ca.

Query Types and Parameters

There are two main types of queries, ID queries and Filter queries.

ID Queries

ID queries return a single result. They specify the ID of the desired resource. E.g. http://api.translink.ca/RTTIAPI/V1/stops/55612?apiKey=[APIKey]

Filter Queries

Filter queries specify the results by passing in URL parameters. You can, for example, filter bus results according to a given stop number and route number. E.g. http://api.translink.ca/RTTIAPI/V1/stops?apiKey=[APIKey]&lat=49.187706&long=-122.850060

Mandatory Parameter

The API key (apikey) is a mandatory parameter that is required in every request. Failure to provide a valid or active API key will result in a 403 HTTP response.

XML or JSON Specification

You can choose to either have the result set delivered as XML or JSON. This is done by specifying the "content-type" or "accept" in the http header as "application/XML" or "application/JSON". If this is left out of the http request, the result set will return XML.