nigel-daniels / mmm-vta-live

MagicMirror 2 module to show the live arrival times at a stop on the VTA light rail system.

MMM-VTA-Live

This a module for the MagicMirror. This module shows the arrival times for your local stop for any of the services in the Bay Area, CA monitored by 511.org (see below). This used an older API that only monitored the VTA, hence the name.

Data provided by 511.org

Installation

1. Navigate into your MagicMirror's modules folder and execute git clone https://github.com/nigel-daniels/MMM-VTA-Live. A new folder MMM-VTA-Live will appear, navigate into it.
2. Execute npm install to install the node dependencies.

Config

Prior to creating the config you will need to locate the stop_code of the station you want to monitor. This can be found by running a the Stops request once you have your own API key. Although this was written for use with the VTA This can be used for any service monitored by the 511.org APIs including the BART services. You can get an API Key from the 511.org site here.

To collect the data you need for the options you can use the 511.org site here or:

Operator Lookup

http://api.511.org/transit/gtfsoperators?api_key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

This returns the list of transit agencies covered, make a note of the Id for your local transit agency. For example, Bay Area Rapid Transit returns:

...
{
    "Id": "SC",
    "Name": "VTA",
    "LastGenerated": "2/18/2021 1:07:38 PM"
},
...

The value SC can then be used to find the local stop you want live data about.

Stop Code Looup

http://api.511.org/transit/stops?api_key=xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx&operator_id=SC

This returns the list of stops an agency operates. For example:

...
{
    "id": "64772",
    "Extensions": {
        "LocationType": "0",
        "PlatformCode": null,
        "ParentStation": "PS_STJM"
    },
    "Name": "Saint James Station",
    "Location": {
        "Longitude": "-121.890805",
        "Latitude": "37.338358"
    },
    "Url": null,
    "StopType": "onstreetBus"
},
{
    "id": "PS_STJM",
    "Extensions": {
        "LocationType": "1",
        "PlatformCode": null,
        "ParentStation": null
    },
    "Name": "Saint James Station",
    "Location": {
        "Longitude": "-121.891543",
        "Latitude": "37.338314"
    },
    "Url": null,
    "StopType": "onstreetBus"
},
{
    "id": "64749",
    "Extensions": {
        "LocationType": "0",
        "PlatformCode": null,
        "ParentStation": "PS_STJM"
    },
    "Name": "Saint James Station",
    "Location": {
        "Longitude": "-121.892183",
        "Latitude": "37.338402"
    },
    "Url": null,
    "StopType": "onstreetBus"
},
...

In this case we get multiple potential entries, we get the parent station and two stops (one for each direction the trains can be going) in this case the north bound trains that we want to monitor use the id: 64749. Its this numeric code we use in the options below.

Config

The entry in config.js can include the following options:

Option	Description
api_key	Required This is the API key assigned to you by 511.org (see above). Type: string
agency	Required for non-VTA stops. This is the agency operating the service you are monitoring, this is the agency id for example, VTA is SC, BART is BA. Type: string Default value: SC
stop_code	Required This the id of the station you want to monitor (see above). Type: string
'stop_name'	This is the name of the stop you are monitoring. Type: string Default value: ???
interval	How often the status is updated. Be sure to follow the API usage guidelines when setting this. Type: integer Default value: 60000 // 1 minute

Here is an example of an entry in config.js

{
    module:    'MMM-VTA-Live',
    position:  'top_left',
    header:    'VTA Rail Arrivals',
    config:	 {
                api_key:   'xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx',
				agency:		'SC',
				stop_code:   '64749',  
				stop_name: 'St James (North)',
				interval:  60000
                }
},

Dependencies

• urllib (installed via npm install)
• moment (installed via npm install)

Notes

Feel free to submit pull requests or post issues and I'll do my best to respond.

Thanks To...

• Michael Teeuw for the MagicMirror2 framework that made this module possible.
• 511.org for the guides and information they publish on their API.
• Santa Clara Valley Transit Authority for publishing this useful data.

mmm-vta-live's Issues

Impossible to run the module

Hello @nigel-daniels ,

I settled everything good. No issue during installation.
I put the api, station ID, etc..
And this is what I have on my Magic Mirror :

It do not show anything anymore.
FYI, this is the only module that I've got with clock. And by removing yours, everything works fine.
I've also installed many others transportation modules in the past, so i know how it works on API and station ID.
So sad..

Any issue ?
Kind regards,

• Max