Python HTTP Request Returns 404 or Bytes

I'm trying to use a Python script to call the API detailed in the link below:

https://developer.wmata.com/docs/services/gtfs/operations/5cdc51ea7a6be320cab064fe?

When I use the code below, it always returns a 404 error:

import requests
import json


def _url(path):
    return "http://api.wmata.com" + path


def pull_data():
    return requests.get(_url("/gtfs/bus-gtfsrt-tripupdates.pb"), params=params)


def jprint(obj):
    # create a formatted string of the Python JSON object
    text = json.dumps(obj, sort_keys=True, indent=4)
    print(text)


# authenticate with your api key
params = {
    "apiKey": "mykey",
}

response = pull_data()
print(response)
jprint(response.json())

I have also tried using the python code provided in the link, but it returns meaningless response content as shown below. Any attempts to decode the content have been unsuccessful.

Request-Context: appId=cid-v1:2833aead-1a1f-4ffd-874e-ef3a5ceb1de8
Cache-Control: public, must-revalidate, max-age=5
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2021 22:05:31 GMT
ETag: 0x8D8CED90CC8419C
Content-Length: 625753
Content-MD5: fspEFl7LJ8QbZPgf677WqQ==
Content-Type: application/octet-stream
Expires: Thu, 11 Feb 2021 22:05:37 GMT
Last-Modified: Thu, 11 Feb 2021 22:04:49 GMT



1.0�Ԗ��

1818410080�


181841008020210211*52!�Ԗ�"19032("�Ԗ�"18173(#�Ԗ�"7779($�Ֆ�"18174(%�Ֆ�"7909(&�Ֆ�"7986('�Ֆ�"8039((�Ֆ�"8130()�֖�"8276(+�֖�"8313(,�ז�"8403(-�ז�"8452(.�ז�"8520(/�ؖ�"8604(1�ؖ�"8676(
7070 �Ӗ�(����������

1814174080�


181417408020210211*P129�Ԗ�"2373(:�Ԗ�"2387(;�Ԗ�"17296(=�Ֆ�"17212(>�֖�"2444(?�֖�"2493(@�֖�"2607(A�֖�"14633(B�֖�"2784(C�ז�"2832(D�ז�"2843(E�ז�"2848(F�ז�"2875(G�ؖ�"2945(H�ؖ�"2987(I�ؖ�"21946(K�ٖ�"14636(L�ٖ�"3122(M�ٖ�"3227(N�ٖ�"3308(O�ٖ�"3411(P�ٖ�"3500(Q�ٖ�"3539(R�ٖ�"14637(S�ږ�"3685(T�ږ�"15195(U�ږ�"15196(V�ۖ�"4243(W�ۖ�"4443(X�ۖ�"4517(Y�ۖ�"4631([�ܖ�"11962(
8002 �Ӗ�(/�

1825989080�


182598908020210211*7Y�Ӗ�"2158(�Ԗ�"2215(�Ԗ�"2259(�Ԗ�"2292(�Ԗ�"2299(�Ֆ�"18701(�Ֆ�"2310( �Ֆ�"2245(!�Ֆ�"2174("�Ֆ�"1987(#�֖�"1937(%�֖�"1864(
3191 �Ӗ�(��


1819988080�

Any guidance or direction would be greatly appreciated!

Solution

Change as pull_data function as follows:

def pull_data():
    return requests.get(_url("/gtfs/bus-gtfsrt-tripupdates.pb"), headers=headers)

Then rename params module global variable to headers .

headers = {"apiKey": "mykey"}

WMATA looks for a apiKey in the headers, not in the query params.

Update: I noticed they use api_key for some samples, and apiKey for another ones. For example see: https://developer.wmata.com/docs/services/gtfs/operations/5cdc51ea7a6be320cab064fe

Update 2: Notice the content type in the response headers :

print(response.headers['content-type'])
# application/octet-stream

it is not a JSON. You can get contents as follows:

print(response.content)

Worked example:

import requests

API_URL = 'https://api.wmata.com'


def _prepare_url(path):
    return f'{API_URL}/{path.lstrip("/")}'


def pull_data(**options):
    url = _prepare_url('/gtfs/bus-gtfsrt-tripupdates.pb')
    return requests.get(url, **options)


response = pull_data(headers={'api_key': 'secret'})
print(response.content)