This is query about the requirements for routes file in a GTFS feed. If I understand correctly, a route is a set of trips that is spread out across a a time horizon. For example, if there is a bus travelling between stations A and B five times a day, these trips would be alloted one route ID.
Now suppose, there are two other stations, lets say C and D, distinct from A and B and not lying between A and B. Suppose these stations also have 5 trips running between them everyday.
If a GTFS feeds assigns these two sets of trips the same route ID, would this be a violation of the GTFS requirements?
One example of such a feed can be found here:https://gtfs.de/de/feeds/de_rv/
One example is the route with route id 22. This id is used for trips between stations that lie in two non-adjacent state (Nordrhein Westfalen and Baden Wüttenberg). The stations have no overlap.
Would this be violation of the GTFS specification?
Just a few days ago I had the same problem. Turns out that the creators of the feed put together routes with the same real world names (route_long_name). In your case (route_id 22) it would be the s6 wich is propably also used in different cities. I dont realy understand the logic behind this but acording to them it is still a valid feed.