Access real-time BART train departures using python and the Real Bart API. I always have a terminal window open, so I wrote this little command-line tool just so I don't have to open up a browser window to check the BART schedule.

Your very own BART API key is required and can be requested from api.bart.gov. Once obtained, name an environment variable named BART_API_KEY in your appropriate login script:

$ echo export BART_API_KEY=YOUR_KEY >> ~/.bash_profile

To use bart as I do in the terminal, alias bart.py by adding alias bart="~/bart/./bart.py" to your appropriate shell profile, or append by the following command:

$ echo alias bart="~/bart/./bart.py" >> ~/.bash_profile

To display the ETAs for north-bound trains at the 16th Street Mission station.

$ bart 16th n

Bart Service Status
	No delays reported.

16th St. Mission at 10:57:34 AM 
 Dublin/Pleasanton train in  6 minutes,
 Dublin/Pleasanton train in 20 minutes,
 Dublin/Pleasanton train in 35 minutes,
           Fremont train in 12 minutes,
           Fremont train in 27 minutes,
           Fremont train in 42 minutes,
Pittsburg/BayPoint train in  9 minutes,
Pittsburg/BayPoint train in 23 minutes,
Pittsburg/BayPoint train in 38 minutes,
          Richmond train in 15 minutes,
          Richmond train in 30 minutes,
          Richmond train in 46 minutes,

To automatically display the ETAs every minute, include the tracking flag.

$ bart civc s -t

Perfrom a numeric sort on the ETA field.

$ bart 16th n | tail +2 | sort -n -k4,4

Only show Richmond trains.

$ bart 19th n | grep Richmond

Say it.

$ bart plza s | say