
SF Muni LED Sign at Home with Raspberry Pi - sutro
http://coldattic.info/shvedsky/pro/blogs/a-foo-walks-into-a-bar/posts/98
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jasondenizac
Somewhat related, the recently launched Bay Area Bike Share system has a not-
too-well-publicized API at
[http://bayareabikeshare.com/stations/json](http://bayareabikeshare.com/stations/json)

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awongh
Re. the implementation of weather prediction: the api that powers the dark sky
iphone app is free for >1000 requests a day:
[https://developer.forecast.io/](https://developer.forecast.io/) -in sf this
kind of data is doubly useful too (weather that changes quickly)

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hanley
You meant to say "free for < 1000 requests a day"

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joeblau
Next step is to go down to the Embarcadero station and replace your working
sign with the broken ones :).

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faddotio
That sign alone is pretty neat. I could put build health and statistics on it.
Hmm..

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Killah911
The project is very cool. But for the life of me, I don't understand the
"taking my phone out and checking is too inconvenient/time consuming"
mentality. I stopped wearing a wristwatch, b/c I could just look at my phone,
heck, I've shed as much stuff as possible since it can all go on the phone.
Then out comes the pebble, and other "smart" watches. Seriously, I just don't
get it. Isn't there a point beyond which such things just become frivolous?

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zck
I bet if you a/b tested this sign vs a smartphone app, people using the sign
would miss fewer buses.

If you want to know when the next train is with the app:

1\. Where's my phone? It's not in my pocket, so maybe I left it on the table
over there. Ugh, but I'm sitting down comfortably with a blanket and a book.

2\. Fine, I'll stand up and walk over to get my phone.

3\. Hrm, my phone isn't on the table. Maybe the kitchen?

4\. Walk to the kitchen.

5\. Good, here's my phone.

6\. Unlock phone.

7\. Unlock phone, this time with the right unlock key.

8\. Scroll to find app.

9\. Tap to launch it.

10\. Read data.

11\. Wait, is that up-to-date?

12\. Tap to reload data from server.

13\. Wait for data to reload from server.

14\. Read data.

With this sign:

1\. Turn head to the left.

2\. Read data.

It's all about making it incredibly simple to do the task. Whenever someone
posts a "Show HN" here, there's a dozen people complaining they can't try out
the site without signing up, so they bounce. Yes, giving a way to try out a
site with a guest account is frivolous -- just sign up, dammit! -- but it
_works better_. And so does this sign: the data is just there for you to read.

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manys
I use "Muni Alerts," which is always synced and has alarms that can be set for
particular lines approaching within arbitrary time frames. Works great.

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.neces](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.neces)

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Fuzzwah
I was keen to do something similar, but there's no tracker on the Phoenix
Light Rail.

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Sukotto
I am not from/in Phoenix so I don't know... but isn't this what you're looking
for?
[http://www.valleymetro.org/nextride](http://www.valleymetro.org/nextride)

    
    
      The NextRide electronic service provides quick access to
      next bus and train schedule information.  All you need is
      a phone or access to the Internet, your route number and
      your STOP# (located at every bus stop and light rail
      station).
      
      Valley Metro bus and train vehicles are equipped with GPS
      technology allowing you to access real-time scheduled
      arrival times.
      
      ...
     
      1-15 minutes before the scheduled arrival time, real-time
      departure times are supplied... 16-90 minutes in advance,
      scheduled times are supplied.

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Fuzzwah
Thank you!

Before making the comment I searched around but failed to turn up that info. I
knew that the bus stops all have those STOP#'s but had never spotted one for
the light rail.

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samstave
Cool! A sign guaranteed to be wrong 24/7!!

:)

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jrockway
Does it announce the line letter twice when the train is four cars long?

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chrisrogers
So he's using the muni gem[1], which uses the nextmuni/nextbus api. To my
knowledge, NextBus is unaware of the length of trains. The announcements in
subway stations here are sourced from the Automatic Train Control (ATC) system
present in the subway. If you're in a subway station, it's the screen
sometimes next to the nextmuni screen -- the one with the terrible mspaint
graphical style showing the length of the ATC system.

[1] [https://github.com/jeffremer/muni](https://github.com/jeffremer/muni)

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shurcooL
Neat!

