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The OneBusAway Application Suite Join the OneBusAway chat

A project of the non-profit Open Transit Software Foundation!

The OneBusAway application suite's primary function is to share real-time public transit information with riders across a variety of interfaces:

• Wayfinder - A high-performance web application built with with the SvelteKit JavaScript web app framework
• OneBusAway Web - A variety of web interfaces to transit data
  • A standard web interface to transit data, including maps and stop pages with real-time info
  • Sign-mode - Same information as the standard web interface, but in a large format for large displays (e.g., large televisions)
  • A mobile-optimized version of the web interface for smart phone mobile browsers
  • A text-only version of the web interface for more-basic mobile browsers
• OneBusAway REST API - A RESTful web-service that can be used to quickly write applications built on top of transit data. This API powers the following apps:
  • OneBusAway iOS (iPhone)
  • OneBusAway Android
  • OneBusAway Alexa (for Amazon Echo, etc.)
• OneBusAway GTFS-realtime export - A bulk export of all trip updates (predictions), vehicle positions, and service alerts for a transit system in the GTFS-realtime format.
• OneBusAway Watchdog - A module hosting webservices for monitoring realtime data

Watch the YouTube video for more information.

Getting Started

Here are the high-level steps you'll need to take to launch the OneBusAway mobile apps in your area:

1. Get your schedule transit data in the GTFS format
2. Have an AVL system that produces arrival estimates (Note: we're working removing this requirement - contact us if you're interested. Alternatively, you may be able to use other open-source projects, such as The Transit Clock, to go directly from raw vehicle locations to arrival times that are shared via GTFS-realtime and SIRI - this would replace Steps 2 and 3.)
3. Implement a GTFS-realtime or SIRI real-time data feed (We also support other formats)
4. Set up a OneBusAway server
5. Do some quality-control testing of arrival times
6. Request to be added as a OneBusAway region

See the multi-region page for more details.

Setting up a OneBusAway server

There are two options for setting up your own OneBusAway instance:

• Configuration and Deployment Guide for v2.x - Designed to provide a comprehensive deployment method for users who wish to set up a simple OneBusAway application with minimal configurations.
• onebusaway-docker (Under development) - A community-supported Docker configuration for OneBusAway v2.x is currently under development.

Development Instructions with Docker

docker compose up builder
docker compose exec builder bash # from another window or tab
./build.sh --help # acquaint yourself with the build.sh options
./build.sh --clean --check-updates --test

# now you have built all of the OBA artifacts:
ls build/org/onebusaway/onebusaway-application-modules

# Download GTFS data and build an OBA transit data bundle from it
docker compose up bundle_builder

# verify that the bundle built as expected
ls docker_app_server/bundle

# Start up the app server
docker compose up appserver

# enter the app server
docker compose exec appserver bash

# run the copy_resources.sh script (it's on your path)
# to copy the necessary WAR files into /usr/local/tomcat
copy_resources.sh

# wait a few seconds for everything to spin up...

Finally, verify that everything works as expected!

• Check out the Tomcat Web App Manager at http://localhost:8080/manager/html (user/pass: admin/admin) to verify that your OBA WARs deployed correctly
• Check out the config.json API endpoint to verify that everything built correctly: http://localhost:8080/onebusaway-api-webapp/api/where/config.json?key=test

Deploy OneBusAway

• Download pre-built JARs and WARs: https://developer.onebusaway.org/downloads
• Terraform/Open Tofu/Infrastructure as Code: https://github.com/onebusaway/onebusaway-deployment
• Docker
  • Pre-built images: https://hub.docker.com/r/opentransitsoftwarefoundation/
  • Instructions: https://github.com/onebusAway/onebusaway-docker

Deployments

OneBusAway is used in a number of places:

• http://pugetsound.onebusaway.org - the original Seattle-area deployment that started it all
• http://tampa.onebusaway.org - a deployment in Tampa, Florida
• http://bustime.mta.info - real-time info for NYC MTA buses

Check out the full list on the OneBusAway Deployments page. Check out the main project page at http://onebusaway.org.

Download

• Latest Stable Release

Build and Deploy OBA Artifacts to Maven Central

1. Set up your environment, including GPG
   • Maven Central documentation
   • Some helpful information elided by Sonatype
2. Run the command mvn deploy -DskipTests
3. Upload the Zip file at ./target/central-publishing/central-bundle.zip to Maven Central's publishing page.
   • The Zip file is about 600MB in size. Be sure to have a fast, reliable connection.

Open questions and issues:

• I haven't figured out why I cannot get the mvn deploy command to upload to Maven Central automatically.
• We need to automate deployment to Maven Central via GitHub Actions eventually, too.

Developer Information

• Installation Guide - How to set up your own OneBusAway instance using the code and Eclipse.
• Real-time Data Compatibility - Have a real-time transit data source (e.g., GTFS-realtime, SIRI)? Check out this page to see how you can make it work with OneBusAway.
• Troubleshooting tips - Having problems? Check out this guide.
• Mobile App Design Considerations - Want to create a mobile app for OneBusAway? Check out this page first.
• Multi-Region - OneBusAway is launching in new cities! Check out this page to learn how to launch the OneBusAway apps in your city.
• Contribution Guide - Information for developers on how to contribute code to OneBusAway, including general code conventions, how to submit patches, etc.
• Project Governance - Guide to OneBusAway project governance
• Maven Repository Info - Where the release and snapshot artifacts of OneBusAway libraries are found.
• Mailing lists:
  • Developer discussion list
  • User discussion list

Contact Info

There are lots of ways to get in touch with us.