TfNSW Trip Planner MCP Server

This project lets you ask Claude (Anthropic's AI assistant) about real-time NSW public transport — things like trip planning, live departures, and service alerts — by connecting it to the Transport for NSW Open Data APIs.

It works as an MCP server, which is a way to give Claude access to external tools and data sources.

What can it do?

Once set up, you can ask Claude things like:

• "When is the next train from Central to Parramatta?"
• "Are there any service alerts on the T1 line?"
• "What buses leave from Town Hall in the next 30 minutes?"
• "Plan a trip from Bondi Junction to Circular Quay"
• "What stops are near me?" (using coordinates)

Behind the scenes, Claude uses these tools:

| Tool | What it does | |------|-------------| | tfnsw_stop_finder | Searches for stops, stations, and places by name | | tfnsw_trip | Plans a journey between two locations | | tfnsw_departures | Shows the live departure board for a stop | | tfnsw_service_alerts | Shows current service disruptions and alerts | | tfnsw_coord_request | Finds stops near a geographic coordinate |

Prerequisites

• Node.js (version 18 or higher) — download here if you don't have it. To check, run node --version in your terminal.
• Claude Desktop or Claude Code — you'll connect the server to one of these.

Setup

Get a free TfNSW API key

You need an API key to access Transport for NSW data. It's free.

1. Go to opendata.transport.nsw.gov.au
2. Click Sign up (top-right) and create an account
3. Once logged in, click your username in the top-right header
4. Click the API tokens tab
5. Copy your API key — you'll use it below

Add to Claude

Choose one of the options below depending on which Claude app you use. Replace your_key with the API key you copied above.

Option A: Claude Code (terminal)

claude mcp add tfnsw-tripplanner -s user -e TFNSW_API_KEY=your_key -- npx tfnsw-tripplanner-mcp

Option B: Claude Desktop (app)

Open the Claude Desktop config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add the following (replace your_key with your actual API key):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tfnsw-tripplanner": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["tfnsw-tripplanner-mcp"],
      "env": {
        "TFNSW_API_KEY": "your_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop after saving the file.

That's it — no need to clone or build anything. npx will download and run the server automatically.