invalid_color: malformed route colour in routes.txt Error
route_color or route_text_color is not a six-character hexadecimal code. The formats invalid_color rejects and how to correct them in routes.txt.
What this rule means
The GTFS colour fields, route_color and route_text_color in routes.txt, take exactly six hexadecimal characters (0 to 9, A to F, upper or lower case) with no hash sign. E2001A and e2001a are valid; #E2001A, F00, red and E2001 are not.
Severity: error.
Why it matters
Rider apps and maps use these colours so that people recognise a line. A malformed value is usually ignored and the line is drawn in a default colour that matches neither the network map nor the vehicles. For route_text_color, the text can end up unreadable on the line's background.
Common causes
- The hash sign copied from a brand guide or a stylesheet (
#00A0E2). - The three-character short form (
F60) or a colour name. - A spreadsheet reading the value as a number:
000000becomes0,009900becomes9900. - A trailing space or an invisible character.
How to fix it
In routes.txt, replace each reported value with the six-character code of the intended colour: drop the hash, expand a short form (F60 gives FF6600), convert a name into a code. If the colour is not known, leave the field empty: it is optional, and empty means white for route_color and black for route_text_color. Then check the contrast between the two colours, which the warning route_color_contrast covers.
In GTFS Express, the validation report lists each offending row with its value. "Fix one by one" opens the row in the editor with the field flagged; the correction becomes a retouche in the draft, and "Re-validate" runs the check again.
Example
route_id,route_short_name,route_type,route_color,route_text_color
L1,1,3,#E2001A,FFFFFF
L2,2,3,F60,000000
L3,3,3,0,FFFFFFFixed:
route_id,route_short_name,route_type,route_color,route_text_color
L1,1,3,E2001A,FFFFFF
L2,2,3,FF6600,000000
L3,3,3,000000,FFFFFFSee also the list of validation rules.