I was looking at this earlier, there's an API too that seems pretty simple to use: ----- (1) Developer key: http://datamine.mta.info/user/register http://data

I was looking at this earlier, there's an API too that seems pretty simple to use: ----- (1) Developer key: http://datamine.mta.info/user/register http://datamine.mta.info/user/register (2) The data is in Protocol Buffer format, so get that: http://code.google.com/p/protobuf/downloads/list http://code.google.com/p/protobuf/downloads/list (3) The proto definition of the GTFS-realtime feed: https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs-realtime/gtfs-realtime-proto https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs-realtime/gtfs-rea... (4) Some static data (which has IDs for each station, etc). http://www.mta.info/developers/data/nyct/subway/google_transit.zip http://www.mta.info/developers/data/nyct/subway/google_trans... (5) You can just curl the URL for all the current data (with your developer key): curl http://datamine.mta.info/mta_esi.php?key=<developerkey> -o /tmp/mtafeed (6) And you can decode it using protobuffers (protoc is from 2 & gtfs-realtime.proto is from 3) cat /tmp/mtafeed | /usr/bin/protoc -I /tmp /tmp/gtfs-realtime.proto --decode=transit_realtime.FeedMessage > /tmp/decodedmtafeed (7) Now you have a file full of messages like this: entity { id: "000170" trip_update { trip { trip_id: "078600_4..S44R" start_date: "20121228" route_id: "4" 1001 { 1: "04 1306 WDL/UTI" 2: 1 3: 3 } } [ some data removed ] stop_time_update { arrival { time: 1356720373 } departure { time: 1356720373 } stop_id: "635S" 1001 { 1: "2" } } [ some data removed ] Each "entity" looks like a "trip", i.e. a train. It says where the train is and when it will arrive at various stops. I found more documentation here: https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs-realtime/reference https://developers.google.com/transit/gtfs-realtime/referenc... and here: http://httqa.mta.info/developers/pdfs/GTFS-Realtime-NYC-Subway.pdf http://httqa.mta.info/developers/pdfs/GTFS-Realtime-NYC-Subw... But still need to parse it all. It seems to be basically like this: In the "entity" - trip_id: "078600_4..S44R" * 078600 is a train id or something * _4.. means it's a 4 train (this is also available on the route_id field) * S means it's heading south * 44R describes the stops this train will make. I'm not entirely sure how to parse this. In the stop_time_update: - stop_id: "635S" * you can find the stop codes in stops.txt from (4). This one is "635S,,14 St - Union Sq,,40.734673,-73.989951,,,0,635" - arrival / time: 1356720373 $ date -d @1356720373 Fri Dec 28 13:46:13 EST 2012 So, I guess there was a Downtown 4 train, scheduled to stop at union square at 1:46:13. (I downloaded this about about 1:30 Eastern, so that seems right).