PTV Timetable API - Version 3

{
  "service_type": "platform",
  "base_url": "https://timetableapi.ptv.vic.gov.au",
  "auth_method": "api_key",
  "auth_config": {
    "key_dev_id": "developer id (user ID)",
    "key_api_key": "API key used to sign requests",
    "signature": "HMAC-SHA1 of request path with API key, sent as a signature query param",
    "notes": "Both a devid and a signed request (signature) are required. The signature is computed over the full request URL path/query using the API key as HMAC secret."
  },
  "endpoints": [
    {
      "name": "Route Types",
      "path": "/v3/route_types",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "List all route types (train, tram, bus, vline, etc.)"
    },
    {
      "name": "Routes",
      "path": "/v3/routes",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "List routes, filterable by route type, route name, and (with geopath) location"
    },
    {
      "name": "Routes by ID",
      "path": "/v3/routes/{route_id}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Details for a specific route"
    },
    {
      "name": "Stops",
      "path": "/v3/stops",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "List stops, filterable by route type, route, and location"
    },
    {
      "name": "Stops by ID",
      "path": "/v3/stops/{stop_id}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Details for a specific stop, including location and facilities"
    },
    {
      "name": "Departures",
      "path": "/v3/departures/route_type/{route_type}/stop/{stop_id}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Upcoming scheduled departures from a stop"
    },
    {
      "name": "Departures for Route",
      "path": "/v3/departures/route_type/{route_type}/stop/{stop_id}/route/{route_id}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Upcoming departures for a specific route from a stop"
    },
    {
      "name": "Disruptions",
      "path": "/v3/disruptions",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Current and planned disruptions across the network"
    },
    {
      "name": "Disruptions for Route",
      "path": "/v3/disruptions/route/{route_id}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Disruptions affecting a specific route"
    },
    {
      "name": "Disruptions for Stop",
      "path": "/v3/disruptions/stop/{stop_id}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Disruptions affecting a specific stop"
    },
    {
      "name": "Disruptions for Route Type",
      "path": "/v3/disruptions/route_type/{route_type}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Disruptions by mode/route type"
    },
    {
      "name": "Patterns",
      "path": "/v3/pattern/run/{run_ref}/route_type/{route_type}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "The stopping pattern for a specific run"
    },
    {
      "name": "Runs",
      "path": "/v3/runs/route/{route_id}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "List runs for a route (with optional date/expand)"
    },
    {
      "name": "Runs for Route Type",
      "path": "/v3/runs/route_type/{route_type}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "List runs by route type"
    },
    {
      "name": "Run Details",
      "path": "/v3/runs/{run_ref}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Details for a specific run"
    },
    {
      "name": "Direction",
      "path": "/v3/directions/route/{route_id}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Directions (headsigns) for a route"
    },
    {
      "name": "Direction by ID",
      "path": "/v3/directions/{direction_id}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Details for a direction"
    },
    {
      "name": "Search",
      "path": "/v3/search/{search_term}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Search for stops and routes by name"
    },
    {
      "name": "Outlets",
      "path": "/v3/outlets",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "List of myki retail outlets"
    },
    {
      "name": "Outlets by Location",
      "path": "/v3/outlets/location/{latitude},{longitude}",
      "method": "GET",
      "description": "Find myki retail outlets near a location"
    }
  ],
  "pricing_model": {
    "type": "free",
    "details": {
      "cost": "Free to register and use",
      "registration": "Requires sign-up at https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/footer/data-and-reporting/datasets/ptv-timetable-api/ to obtain a developer ID and API key",
      "commercial_use": "Check PTV terms of use; generally available for apps and integrations",
      "data_freshness": "Scheduled timetable data (not real-time vehicle positions); includes planned disruptions"
    }
  },
  "rate_limits": {
    "documented": false,
    "notes": "PTV does not publish explicit numeric rate limits in public docs, but the API is intended for reasonable request volumes. Implement caching and avoid high-frequency polling. Fair-use limits may apply; excessive use may lead to throttling."
  },
  "capabilities": [
    "Access scheduled timetable data for all Victorian public transport modes (metro train, tram, bus, reg

1/3 tests passed

{
  "overall": 32,
  "dimensions": {
    "token_efficiency": 3.0,
    "first_try_success": 2.0,
    "response_parseability": 1.0,
    "error_clarity": 2.0,
    "doc_quality": 2.0,
    "auth_simplicity": 3.0,
    "latency": 6.0,
    "consistency": 3.0
  },
  "pricing_normalized": {
    "model": "unknown",
    "notes": "No pricing information discoverable; platform appears to be Transport Victoria (a public transit authority) rather than a developer/agent API product."
  },
  "issues": [
    "Website and robots.txt return 403 with Cloudflare 'Just a moment...' challenge — programmatic access is blocked, making the platform effectively unusable for agents",
    "No API docs, no capabilities detected, no pricing model — nothing for an agent to integrate against",
    "llms_txt check returned HTML for a consumer webpage (Transport Victoria), not a machine-readable llms.txt file — misleading signal",
    "Cloudflare bot protection gates nearly all endpoints, so even discovery/metadata fetches fail",
    "No evident auth or onboarding path for developers/agents"
  ],
  "recommendations": [
    "If this is genuinely a transit data source, expose a proper GTFS/GTFS-RT or REST API with documented endpoints instead of only a consumer website",
    "Serve a real /llms.txt at the root describing available data, endpoints, and terms",
    "Allow non-browser user agents through for read-only docs and machine endpoints (or provide an API-keyed bypass) rather than blanket Cloudflare challenges",
    "Publish clear API docs, rate limits, auth scheme, and a status page so agents can reason about reliability"
  ]
}