[OSM-talk] FYI - Creating GTFS data from OSM data

[Mike N]

This project falls in the "Why would anybody want to do that? [1]" 
category.
   - The OSM bus route paths and stops have all been surveyed in my area.
   - There is no GTFS feed, and the transit provider isn't planning one 
soon (no budget).
  - I wanted to apply the data to OpenTripPlanner for bicycle and 
transit routing.

   There are some free GTFS editors, some paid products, but none that 
start with maximum use of OSM data as a base to create an initial GTFS feed.

   I had toyed briefly with teaching the local transit provider how to 
maintain routes and stops in OSM, but a few passes at editing route 
relations quickly cured me of that idea - public transport route 
relation edits are way too complicated for most people.

   So I wrote a tool to read the OSM data, allow entry of the schedules, 
then it would create a GTFS dataset.   Future GTFS edits would be made 
by the transit provider with industry standard tools.

   The tool is written in C# / .NET - Winforms.  It is in alpha stage 
(Worked great for me), but it's a little rough around the edges, and 
probably would require running in the debugger to adapt for another 
public transit system or to determine if a problem is caused by the OSM 
data or a program bug.

   Let me know off list if you're interested in looking at the program. 
  After 1 or 2 people test it, I'll just check it into SVN.

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1: 
http://www.ypass.net/blog/2009/06/an-app-to-manage-busrail-routes-in-gtfs-format-that-no-one-wanted/