I built a transit display that does all the thinking for you — routes, weather, coffee timing, everything so you can have your quintessential Melbourne morning thought process done for you!
I got tired of the morning mental math. Checking when the train leaves. Figuring out if I should catch the tram to the station or just walk. Wondering if I have time to grab a coffee. Forgetting my umbrella.
So I built Commute Compute — a smart ecosystem that calculates everything that handles all of it.
The display sits on your desk (or wall, or kitchen bench) and shows you one thing: when to leave. That's it. No apps. No route planning. No decisions.
It pulls live data from tram tracker, train networks, and bus services — all unified into one view. It knows your walking pace, your usual stops, and your destination. It calculates the optimal route across modes automatically.
See a coffee cup on the screen? You have time to grab one. See an umbrella? Rain is coming. The display makes the decision so you don't have to and automatically recalculates your journey if there are disruptions or delays!
What I built (after over 200 hours of dev and many many late nights):
• Real-time integration across trams, trains, and buses
• Multi-leg journey planning with live departure data
• Weather-aware (umbrella indicator when rain is forecast)
• Coffee Decision engine (calculates if you have time before your connection using real-time data to assess how busy the cafe is
• E-ink display that refreshes every 20 seconds
Fully open source. The entire system — backend, renderer, journey calculator — is free to use, fork, and modify.
Currently runs on TRMNL e-ink hardware (800×480). Adapting it to other displays is straightforward. – I built custom firmware to convert your old kindle to work too!
Future in development:
-I’m working on automatic calendar integration for appointments
-live widgets for your phone or device
Code: github.com/angusbergman17-cpu/CommuteCompute
Posted by Neither_Car_792
8 Comments
Legend!
Fully designed for integrating with the Big Switch Metro Tunnel- if your route is affected, the system will automatically fix for you!
How long did it take for you to get an api key? I requested one over a week ago and that seems a long time?
You vibe coded so hard you didn’t even proofread your own AI generated readme. Upfield and Craigieburn are still going through the City Loop, not the Metro Tunnel. Can’t say it inspires much faith
Very cool.
Was just talking to the wife about wanting something like this.
Would love to know when you do WA!
This is brilliant. Well done!
Might have to dust off my old Kindle if I can bring it back to life.
I have been mucking around with PTV API in the last few weeks but definitely don’t have anything workable like this.
My main inspiration was wanting to know what platform to head to at Richmond to get a direct train to Flinders in the morning.
Fuck yeah, I loved your first post about this, so glad it’s out in the world !
excellent work