MBTA Visualizer

A real-time terminal UI for tracking MBTA buses and subway trains, showing live vehicle positions, occupancy, and arrival predictions. Uses blessed for that authentic ncurses mouthfeel.

Install

npm install -g mbta-vis

Then run:

mbta-vis [route] [direction]

Usage

mbta-vis [route] [direction]

# Examples
mbta-vis 87 0        # Route 87, outbound
mbta-vis 57 1        # Route 57, inbound
mbta-vis Green-D 0   # Green Line D, outbound

Defaults to route 87, direction 0 (outbound).

Requirements

• Node.js 18+
• Internet connection

API Key

No API key is required — the MBTA API is public and works unauthenticated. If you're running multiple tabs or refreshing frequently, you may hit the anonymous rate limit (20 req/min). To get a higher limit, grab a free key from api.mbta.com and set it in your shell:

export MBTA_API_KEY=your_key_here

Add that line to your ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc to make it permanent.

Interface

The display is split into two panes:

Left — Stop list: All stops in route order with live vehicle markers and arrival ETAs. Vehicles are color-coded; the stop they occupy (or departed from) is highlighted in the same color.

Right — Vehicle cards: One card per active vehicle, sorted to match the stop list order. Each card shows:

• Status icon (■ stopped, ▶ moving, ▷ arriving), current/departed stop, revenue indicator, occupancy
• Status label (stopped / moving / arriving) and speed in mph (when available)
• Destination and ETA on the next line (when in transit or arriving)
• Per-car occupancy bars for subway vehicles

Keyboard Shortcuts

| Key | Action | |-----|--------| | r | Open route selector | | d | Toggle inbound / outbound | | n | New tab | | ← → / Tab / 1–9 | Switch tabs | | ↑ ↓ / j k | Scroll stop list | | PgUp / PgDn | Scroll by 10 stops | | ? | Help overlay | | q / Ctrl-C | Quit |

Local Development

git clone <repository-url>
cd mbta-vis
npm install
node src/main.js [route] [direction]

If running from source, you can also use a .env file for the API key:

cp .env.example .env
# edit .env and set MBTA_API_KEY=your_key_here

License

MIT