UK transport

The uk_transport sensor will display the time in minutes until the next departure in a specified direction from of a configured train station or bus stop. The sensor uses transportAPI to query live departure data and requires a developer application ID and key which can be obtained here. The free tier allows 1000 requests daily, which is sufficient for a single sensor refreshing every 87 seconds.

Additional sensors can be added but at the expense of a reduced refresh rate. 2 sensors can be updated every 2*87 = 174 seconds, and so on.

Queries are entered as a list, with the two transport modes available being bus and train.

Train departure sensors require three character long origin and destination station codes which are searchable on the National Rail enquiries website (e.g. WAT is London Waterloo). The validity of a route can be checked by performing a GET request to /uk/train/station/{station_code}/live.json in the API reference webpage.

To add a single train departure sensor add the following to your configuration.yaml file:

# Example configuration.yaml entry for a single sensor
sensor:
  - platform: uk_transport
    app_id: abc123
    app_key: efg456
    queries:
      - mode: train
        origin: MAL
        destination: WAT

Configuration variables:

app_id (Required): Your application id
app_key (Required): Your application key
queries array (Required): At least one entry required.
mode (Required): One of bus or train.
origin (Required): Specify the three character long origin station code.
destination (Required): Specify the three character long destination station code.

A large amount of information about upcoming departures is available within the attributes of the sensor. The example above creates a sensor with ID sensor.next_train_to_wat with the attribute next_trains which is a list of the next 25 departing trains. The status of the next departing train is accessed using the template sensor below, as are the train origin, estimated and scheduled departure times, and the departure platform.

# Example configuration.yaml entry for a template sensor to access the attributes of the next departing train.
- platform: template
  sensors:
    next_train_status:
      friendly_name: 'Next train status'
      value_template: '{{states.sensor.next_train_to_wat.attributes.next_trains[0].status}}'
    next_trains_origin:
      friendly_name: 'Next train origin'
      value_template: '{{states.sensor.next_train_to_wat.attributes.next_trains[0].origin_name}}'
    next_trains_estimated:
      friendly_name: 'Next train estimated'
      value_template: '{{states.sensor.next_train_to_wat.attributes.next_trains[0].estimated}}'
    next_trains_scheduled:
      friendly_name: 'Next train scheduled'
      value_template: '{{states.sensor.next_train_to_wat.attributes.next_trains[0].scheduled}}'
    next_trains_platform:
      friendly_name: 'Next train platform'
      value_template: '{{states.sensor.next_train_to_wat.attributes.next_trains[0].platform}}'

Bus sensors require as their origin a bus stop ATCO code which can be found by browsing OpenStreetMap data as follows:

On OpenStreetMap.org zoom right in on a bus stop you’re interested in
Click the layers picker button on the right hand side
Tick the ‘map data’ layer, and wait for clickable objects to load
Click the bus stop node to reveal its tags on the left

The destination must be a valid location in the “direction” field returned by a GET query to /uk/bus/stop/{atcocode}/live.json as described in the API reference webpage. A bus sensor is added in the following configuration.yaml file entry:

# Example configuration.yaml entry for multiple sensors
sensor:
  - platform: uk_transport
    app_id: abc123
    app_key: efg456
    queries:
      - mode: bus
        origin: 340000368SHE
        destination: Wantage
      - mode: train
        origin: MAL
        destination: WAT

And the template sensor for viewing the next bus attributes.

# Example configuration.yaml entry for a template sensor to access the attributes of the next departing bus.
- platform: template
  sensors:
    next_bus_route:
      friendly_name: 'Next bus route'
      value_template: '{{states.sensor.next_bus_to_wantage.attributes.next_buses[0].route}}'
    next_bus_direction:
      friendly_name: 'Next bus direction'
      value_template: '{{states.sensor.next_bus_to_wantage.attributes.next_buses[0].direction}}'
    next_bus_scheduled:
      friendly_name: 'Next bus scheduled'
      value_template: '{{states.sensor.next_bus_to_wantage.attributes.next_buses[0].scheduled}}'
    next_bus_estimated:
      friendly_name: 'Next bus estimated'
      value_template: '{{states.sensor.next_bus_to_wantage.attributes.next_buses[0].estimated}}'