AW YIS: Track Public Transport Like An Uber With This Nifty New Website

Public transport can be a real pain in the ass, particularly when your commute is plagued by delays. 

A real-time timetable can only do so much. How many times has a 2 minute arrival actually meant 10 minutes? Fuck that noise. 
If only you could track your metallic steed in real-time on a map. Heck, you can watch your pizza delivery happen as you salivate, surely it’s not that hard. 
Friends, it isn’t. Sydney‘s best kept internet secret is doing it right now. It’s called AnyTrip – a website that shows the movement of all public transport as it happens, on a map. 
Creator, Kenneth Tsang, says the site uses real-time vehicle position data provided by Transport for NSW
“Generally speaking, the real-time data gets updated by Transport once every 15 to 30 seconds,” he told PEDESTRIAN.TV. “The real-time feed then gets combined with other information we have (such as the scheduled timetable data) and sent to the browser to be displayed on the map.”

Tsang launched the alpha version of the site earlier this month, with Transport for NSW endorsing it as one of their “real-time apps”. While it only covers NSW at this stage, he says there are more cities coming soon. 

“The map also shows real-time data for NSW TrainLink regional coaches and trains (including the daily Melbourne/Brisbane – Sydney trains),” he said. “Brisbane is next on the horizon.” 

He says his inspiration for the project spawned from his own transport geekery, admitting a weird fascination for large datasets. When the required data became available to him, he jumped at the opportunity. 

“Even though real-time data has been around for Sydney commuters for quite some time now, it was only made available to selected app developers until last year. 


Now, we’ve all seen the flight radar websites that track planes in real-time on a map. So when Transport released the data publicly last year – I thought – wouldn’t it be awesome if we can do the same with the public transport data?”

Shit yes, Ken. 

The site works on mobile browsers where it’ll likely be used most, but he does have a long-term goal set to develop the concept into an app. 
“The site works fine on a mobile browser currently, but it’s something I’m keen on doing (perhaps towards the end of the year).”

Ken also runs a tech blog and a few other projects that you can checkout right here.
Photo: AnyTrip.

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