So I became a commuter today (we moved to Brooklyn on Saturday, yay!), and although it’s only been a short time, I’ve already had a few ideas for apps that might make commuting better.
One such idea will require some data about the NYC Subway System. I debated using pup to scrape the data I want from Wikipedia or something, but then started looking at the vast list of NYC developer resources.
The NYC MTA developer resources are a bit of a mess, so this post serves to help those that find themselves lost.
There are two kinds of data that these guys offer:
1. Realtime feeds
Here’s a list of realtime feeds that they offer (note it’s limited to only a few lines, which I’m sure they’ll expand upon with time): http://datamine.mta.info/list-of-feeds
To use the realtime feeds you’ll need an API key, which you can register for here: http://datamine.mta.info/user/register
2. Static feeds
To get the basic line information, you can go here http://web.mta.info/developers/developer-data-terms.html, read the terms, and click the Yes, I agree to these terms and conditions. link to get access to all the static data (WITHOUT REGISTERING).
A word to the wise, the data is in GTFS format.
Also all of the official colors are here: http://web.mta.info/developers/resources/line_colors.htm
Happy developing