expired_calendar: service whose period has ended Warning

A service in calendar.txt has an end_date already in the past. What it means for the trips that use it and how to clean the GTFS feed up safely.

Updated on 21 October 2026

What this rule means

Each service in calendar.txt runs from start_date to end_date. When a service's end date is earlier than the validation date, the validator raises this notice: the service will never run again. Exceptions in calendar_dates.txt count too, an addition (exception_type = 1) on a future date keeps the service alive. Severity: warning.

Why it matters

A warning does not block a delivery in GTFS Express. Trips of an expired service show in no app, but they make the feed heavier and mislead anyone reusing the data: a line looks served when it no longer is. If every service has expired, the feed no longer describes any timetable at all.

Common causes

• The new season's feed was built by adding services without removing the previous season's.
• A service for past school holidays was left in the file.
• The end date was mistyped, 20250630 instead of 20260630.
• The file is simply old and was never republished.

How to fix it

If the service still runs, correct end_date in calendar.txt. If it has ended, delete it together with the trips in trips.txt that reference its service_id, their rows in stop_times.txt and its rows in calendar_dates.txt. Deleting the service alone would leave trips pointing to a missing service_id, which is an error.

In GTFS Express, the validation report lists the services involved. "Fix one by one" opens each calendar.txt row in the editor with the date flagged. Each change is a retouch in the draft, and "Re-validate" confirms the warning is gone without a new error.

Example

Service WINTER_25 stopped in March 2026:

service_id,monday,tuesday,wednesday,thursday,friday,saturday,sunday,start_date,end_date
WINTER_25,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,20250901,20260315
WEEK_26,1,1,1,1,1,0,0,20260316,20270705

Its trips no longer run. Remove WINTER_25 and its trips, keep WEEK_26.

See also the guide School holidays and public holidays in GTFS and the list of rules.