I wanted to see the T timings in Boston before leaving home but it was sorta hard to open my phone in a hurry. This project is a dedicated display that stays on my desk and shows me exactly when the next bus or train is coming.
The code runs on an ESP32-C6 and uses LVGL to render the UI. It connects to Wi-Fi and fetches:
- Real-time MBTA predictions using the MBTA V3 API.
- Current weather and forecasts from Open-Meteo.
It cycles between an MBTA prediction screen and a weather screen. If there are no upcoming buses or trains, it shows a banner letting you know.
I used the ESP32-C6-LCD-1.47 development board. I got it from AliExpress
The starter repository I got from Spotpear had a demo repo but I could not get it working at all, so I modified it to work with the latest ESP-IDF version.
If you have the same board and want to run this:
-
Install ESP-IDF: Make sure you have the ESP-IDF environment set up.
-
Clone the repo:
git clone https://github.com/neutralboy/mbta-display.git cd mbta-display -
Configure: Copy the example config:
cp main/config.h.example main/config.h
Edit
main/config.hwith your Wi-Fi credentials and the MBTA Stop IDs you want to track. -
Build and Flash: Set the target to ESP32-C6:
idf.py set-target esp32c6
Build, flash, and monitor:
idf.py build flash monitor
The project is configured via main/config.h. Here are the available options:
| Name | Data Type | Description | Default Value |
|---|---|---|---|
WIFI_SSID |
string |
Wi-Fi network name | "YOUR_SSID" |
WIFI_PASS |
string |
Wi-Fi network password | "YOUR_PASSWORD" |
MBTA_FETCH_PERIOD_MS |
integer |
MBTA data fetch interval in milliseconds | 30000 |
MBTA_BRIGHTNESS_PCT |
integer |
Display brightness percentage (0-100) | 30 |
MBTA_SHOW_START_HOUR |
integer |
Hour to start showing display (24h format) | 6 |
MBTA_SHOW_END_HOUR |
integer |
Hour to turn off display (24h format) | 15 |
WEATHER_LATITUDE |
float |
Latitude for weather data | 42.342110 |
WEATHER_LONGITUDE |
float |
Longitude for weather data | -71.145805 |
WEATHER_FETCH_PERIOD_MS |
integer |
Weather data fetch interval (default 10 mins) | 600000 |
DEFAULT_TIMEZONE |
string |
POSIX timezone string for local time | "EST5EDT,M3.2.0,M11.1.0" |
MBTA_STOP_1_ID |
string |
MBTA Stop ID for the first screen | "1295" |
MBTA_STOP_1_NAME |
string |
Human-readable name for stop 1 | "Bus 65 to Kenmore" |
MBTA_STOP_2_ID |
string |
MBTA Stop ID for the second screen | "70176" |
MBTA_STOP_2_NAME |
string |
Human-readable name for stop 2 | "T @ Beaconsfield" |