Timetable and price information
Verkehrshinweise
Informieren Sie sich hier über aktuelle Fahrplanänderungen für den Zugverkehr und für den Bus- und Straßenbahnverkehr, aufgrund von Baustellen und Umleitungen im VBN-Gebiet, die länger als 24 Stunden bestehen.
Zugverkehr
Bus- und Straßenbahnverkehr
Opendata and Openservice at VBN
VBN provides schedule and infrastructure data to interested application developers as both raw datasets (Open Data) and as an online service (Open Service).
While Open Data is primarily schedule data, Open Service differs in that a complete service (e.g. for route calculation) is offered.
Both may be used freely.
Providing target data in GTFS format (Open Data)
Connect Fahrplanauskunft GmbH provides public transport schedule data in GTFS format, so-called target data. This data is available for all of Bremen and Lower Saxony.
The target data includes:
- Name and website of participating public transport companies
- Information on the availability of connections (daily, only on business days, etc.)
- Information on the journey, e.g., operator, line, means of transport
- Geographic coordinates of stops and journeys
- Departure and arrival times of journeys
- Directory of stops
Target data is updated regularly and provided for download at night.
GTFS stands for „General Transit Feed Specification“. Further information about GTFS is provided at: https://gtfs.org/
Anyone interested in having target data processed digitally, may request this from Connect Fahrplanauskunft GmbH: https://www.connect-fahrplanauskunft.de/index.php?id=opendata
Example of an excerpt of "trips.txt"
[Translate to English:] "route_id","service_id","trip_id","trip_headsign","trip_short_name","direction_id","block_id","shape_id","wheelchair_accessible","bikes_allowed"
[…]
35738_0,209,112931443,"Hauptbahnhof","",0,3376,9879,1,
35738_0,209,112931444,"Hauptbahnhof","",0,3377,9879,1,
35738_0,209,112931445,"Hauptbahnhof","",0,3378,9879,1,
35738_0,209,112931446,"Bremen Humboldtstraße","",0,3379,9878,1,
35738_0,209,112931447,"Bremen Humboldtstraße","",0,3380,9878,1,
35738_0,209,112931448,"Bremen Humboldtstraße","",0,3381,9878,1,
35738_0,646,112931449,"Hastedt/Bennigsenstr.","",0,3382,9884,1,
35738_0,646,112931450,"Hastedt/Bennigsenstr.","",0,3383,9884,1,
[…]Providing real-time information in GTFS-Realtime (Open Data) format
In addition, for certain connections, VBN also offers forecast data (on-time departure and arrival or delay in minutes) in GTFS-Realtime format. Forecast data provided for journeys and the number of participating transport companies is regularly expanded.
The forecast data is offered in both JSON and ProtoBuf format.
JSON format: http://gtfsr.vbn.de/gtfsr_connect.json (license information)
ProtoBuf format: http://gtfsr.vbn.de/gtfsr_connect.bin (license information)
Example of an excerpt of GTFS real-time data in JSON format
{
"Header": {
"GtfsRealtimeVersion": "1.0",
"Incrementality": "FullDataset",
"Timestamp": 1722419049
},
"Entity": [
{
"Id": "357191488",
"IsDeleted": false,
"TripUpdate": {
"Trip": {
"TripId": "357191488",
"RouteId": "32878_3",
"StartTime": "12:34:00",
"StartDate": "20240731",
"ScheduleRelationship": "Scheduled"
},
"StopTimeUpdate": [
{
"StopId": "000009081398",
"Departure": {
"Delay": 0
},
"ScheduleRelationship": "Scheduled"
},
[…]Further information on these formats:
JSON: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/JavaScript_Object_Notation
Protocol Buffers: https://protobuf.dev/
This data is updated and made available every 60 seconds (the file name will not change).
GTFS real-time data reference the (static) GTFS data.
Providing calculated information (Open Service)
Unlike OpenData, OpenService can provide individual data for requests. Like OpenData, this data is also intended to be used in applications and cannot be read directly by humans. VBN offers various „RESTful Web Services“ via our FahrPlaner (Journey Planner), and application, OpenTripPlanner (OTP). „OTP Routing API“ can be used to calculate multimodal routes and isochrons (access map).
External OTP API documentation: http://dev.opentripplanner.org/apidoc/2.3.0/
Address of the VBN OTP API server: http://gtfsr.vbn.de/api/ (licence information)
An API key is required for authorisation and is available free of charge. Simply send an email to api(at)vbn.de with a brief description of your proposal. VBN will then provide an API key.
Example of a route planning request by the VBN OTP API server using cURL
curl -X GET \
'http://gtfsr.vbn.de/api/routers/connect/plan?arriveBy=false&date=07-31-2024&fromPlace=53.08287,8.81334&toPlace=53.05270,8.78617&time=13:00:00&mode=WALK,TRANSIT&maxWalkDistance=300' \
-H 'Authorization: Ihr-API-Key' \
-H 'Host: gtfsr.vbn.de'The request will search for a route between Bremen Central Station and Bremen Airport on 31 July 2024, departure at 1 p.m. with public transport and a maximum walking distance of 300 metres.
[...]
{
"startTime": 1722423960000,
"endTime": 1722424920000,
"departureDelay": 0,
"arrivalDelay": 0,
"realTime": false,
"distance": 4452.09,
"generalizedCost": 1560,
"pathway": false,
"mode": "TRAM",
"transitLeg": true,
"agencyName": "Bremer Straßenbahn AG",
"agencyUrl": http://www.bsag.de/,
"agencyTimeZoneOffset": 7200000,
"routeColor": "ffcc00",
"routeType": 0,
"routeId": "1:35757_0",
"routeTextColor": "000000",
"interlineWithPreviousLeg": false,
"headsign": "Flughafen",
"agencyId": "1:326",
"tripId": "1:354998671",
"serviceDate": "2024-07-31",
"from": {
"name": "Bremen Hauptbahnhof",
"stopId": "1:000009013925",
"lon": 8.813177,
"lat": 53.081776,
"arrival": 1722423960000,
"departure": 1722423960000,
"zoneId": "100-1100",
"stopIndex": 13,
"stopSequence": 13,
"vertexType": "TRANSIT"
},
[...]HAFAS ReST Interface Services and TRIAS (OpenService)
In addition to OTP API, VBN may also offer HAFAS ReST Interface Services and TRIAS (VDV-431-2) to a limited number of users. As for OTP API, this will require an API-Key. The OTP API-Key cannot be used.
The following types of requests of HaCon are provided as ReST Interface:
- ReST Interface Connections (from stop ID to stop ID)
- ReST Interface Departure And Arrival Tables (from stop ID)
- ReST Interface Location Validation Request (patternmatching of stops)
- ReST Interface Stop Search
- ReST Interface Connections (coordinate to coordinate with a linear distance estimate)
- ReST Interface Connections Extended By Real-time Data (from stop ID to stop ID)
HAFAS ReST Interface Services have been extended to be used in accordance with TRIAS (VDV-431-2). HaCon offers TRIAS support for the following services:
- TRIAS LocationInformation (nearby stops with radius)
- TRIAS LocationInformation (patternmatching)
- TRIAS Trip (connection search)
- TRIAS StopEvents (departure tables)
Interface users
- Students or hobby developers within quotas
- Service providers who want to sell VBN tickets via this system
For all interface customers, the following applies:
- The starting point and destination must be in Lower Saxony or Bremen.
- Only VBN fares may be transferred via the interface.
- Every transaction must be performed exactly as requested by the customer. Mass requests not initiated by a customer request are not permitted and will be fully applied to the quota quantity structure of the student’s or hobby developer’s solution.
- Use of the interface by transport companies or transport associations or their subsidiaries requires separate agreements where usage exceeds the hobby user flat fee. Multiple accounts of a person/organisation are excluded and must be agreed separately.
Quota quantity structure for the student and hobby developer flat fee
- Up to 3,000 transactions per day, but a maximum of 12,000 transactions per month including hosting (with no Service Level Agreement (SLA)). Departure table transactions will only be counted as 1/5th of a transaction.
Example of use of HAFAS ReST API
HAFAS ReST API URL: https://fahrplaner.vbn.de/restproxy/2/
Example of request of "location.name" called "Bremen Hbf"
Request description/requirements: https://fahrplaner.vbn.de/restproxy/2/location.details?wadl
Request using cURL
[Translate to English:] curl -X POST \
https://fahrplaner.vbn.de/restproxy/location.name \
-H 'Content-Type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \
-H 'Host: fahrplaner.vbn.de' \
-d 'accessId=Ihr-API-Key&input=Bremen%20Hbf'Example of use of HAFAS TRIAS API
HAFAS TRIAS API URL: https://fahrplaner.vbn.de/triasproxy/
Example of request of „LocationInformationRequest“ called “Bremen Hbf”
Request using cURL
curl -X POST \
https://fahrplaner.vbn.de/triasproxy/ \
-H 'Content-Type: application/xml' \
-H 'Host: fahrplaner.vbn.de' \
-d '<Trias xmlns:siri="http://www.siri.org.uk/siri" xmlns="http://www.vdv.de/trias" xmlns:ns3="http://www.ifopt.org.uk/acsb" xmlns:ns4="http://www.ifopt.org.uk/ifopt" xmlns:ns5="http://datex2.eu/schema/1_0/1_0" version="1.2">
<ServiceRequest>
<siri:RequestTimestamp>2024-07-31T12:00:00+01:00</siri:RequestTimestamp>
<siri:RequestorRef>ihr-API-Key</siri:RequestorRef>
<Language>deu</Language>
<RequestPayload>
<LocationInformationRequest>
<InitialInput>
<LocationName>Bremen Hbf</LocationName>
</InitialInput>
</LocationInformationRequest>
</RequestPayload>
</ServiceRequest>
</Trias>'License information and liability disclaimer
VBN provides data and services and does not assume any guarantee for the contents. “Real-time information in GTFS-Realtime (OpenData) format” and “legitimate information from GTFS data (OpenService)” is provided by stating the license – provided under the same conditions, „CC BY-SA 4.0“. Further information about licenses is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode.de
The “providing of real-time information in GTFS-Realtime (OpenData) format” and “providing of calculated information from GTFS data (OpenService)” are funded by the German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure [Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitale Infrastruktur (BMVI)] under Funding Code 16DKV10025 as part of the 2017-2020 Immediate Action Programme for Clean Air.
