[HN Gopher] Show HN: Public transportation departure board
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       Show HN: Public transportation departure board
        
       Author : sschueller
       Score  : 15 points
       Date   : 2025-05-30 13:28 UTC (9 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.stationdisplay.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.stationdisplay.com)
        
       | rekenaut wrote:
       | This is very cool! I love the idea of having a device dedicated
       | to local transit as opposed to having another thing pulling me to
       | my phone. I wish there was something similar for American cities.
        
         | sschueller wrote:
         | Thanks. We are spoiled here in Switzerland with all the public
         | transit data being open and available to anyone.
         | 
         | I may expand to more regions but at this time the device is
         | only CE certified and for the US I would need to get FCC.
        
         | gbhdrew wrote:
         | Maybe a Tidbyt? Looks like it works for a few US cities'
         | transit systems. https://tidbyt.com/
         | 
         | I haven't used this personally, though, so can't really vouch
         | for it yet
        
           | andrewjf wrote:
           | I don't like the Tidbyt v2. I hated it from the minute I
           | unboxed it, would not recommend. The pixels are very blurry
           | and the image is not crisp at all. The v1 was pretty good,
           | looks more like a dot oriented board (far less resolution).
           | more discussion: https://discuss.tidbyt.com/t/gen2-blurry-
           | screen/6654
           | 
           | I replaced the tidbyts with a Dakboard, specifically a
           | https://shop.dakboard.com/products/pixeltoptech
        
       | busymom0 wrote:
       | This looks nice. Can you explain what the purpose of the app is
       | though?
       | 
       | Also, "Indoor use only" is a very big limitation.
        
         | sschueller wrote:
         | The App is for configuration only. Setting up the wifi and
         | picking which station to display as well as other options. It
         | was the easiest for the end customer but for me a huge pain...
         | 
         | This version is intended for offices and indoor spaces. Outdoor
         | would require a lot of other things which I may work on in the
         | future.
        
       | v9v wrote:
       | If this is only for Switzerland, why the English website?
        
         | sschueller wrote:
         | Since Switzerland has 4 national languages and I don't speak
         | French or Italian very well I decided to use English as the
         | alternate language for now. Although not one of the four
         | national languages, many do read and speak it.
        
       | 1shooner wrote:
       | Reminds me of this project that just came up on DC's reddit:
       | 
       | https://github.com/TokyoExpress/metrobox/
        
       | throwaway81523 wrote:
       | Seems like it could be done as a phone app? Anyway, departure
       | times are only part of the problem. I often want to know the
       | arrival time of a train that has already departed, because I have
       | to pick up a passenger who is aboard an incoming train. Or in the
       | case of buses (nextbus.com in the US), I'm already on board bus
       | #123 and I want to know its current location as a position on the
       | bus route, so I can estimate how long til I reach my desired
       | stop. This is for cases when the bus is going through an
       | unfamiliar part of a city. The data is already on the servers, so
       | it's annoying that the apps don't use it.
        
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       (page generated 2025-05-30 23:01 UTC)