· Aaron Brethorst

OneBusAway Launches Official Python and JavaScript SDKs!

OneBusAway is an open-source platform that provides real-time transit information to riders across North America and the world. Our user-friendly mobile apps and web interfaces offer accurate arrival predictions, service alerts, and trip planning for bus, rail, and ferry services. OneBusAway currently serves major metropolitan areas including Seattle, New York City, Tampa, San Diego, and Washington D.C., with more cities joining our network each year. Our mission is to improve the transit experience for millions of riders through open data and community-driven development.

I'm thrilled to announce a major milestone in our ongoing efforts to make public transit information more accessible and developer-friendly. Today, we're launching official OneBusAway Software Development Kits (SDKs) for both JavaScript and Python!

This project, part of our Google Summer of Code initiative, represents a significant leap forward in empowering developers to integrate real-time transit data into their applications with unprecedented ease and efficiency.

tl;dr

Led by Exceptional Talent

At the helm of this groundbreaking project was Ahmed Hossam, an incredibly talented intern from Alexandria, Egypt. Ahmed's dedication, technical acumen, and innovative approach were instrumental in bringing these SDKs to life. His work exemplifies the global reach and collaborative spirit of the open-source community that OneBusAway is proud to be a part of.

Built on Cutting-Edge Technology

Our new SDKs leverage the powerful capabilities of StainlessAPI, a state-of-the-art SDK code generation tool founded by ex-Stripe engineer Alex Rattray. This foundation ensures that our SDKs are not only robust and efficient but also maintainable and scalable for future enhancements.

What This Means for Developers

  1. Simplified Integration: With these official SDKs, developers can now seamlessly incorporate OneBusAway's real-time transit data into their Python and JavaScript applications.
  2. Consistency Across Platforms: Whether you're building a web application, a data analysis tool, or a mobile app backend, you can now use a consistent API across different programming languages.
  3. Improved Documentation: Comprehensive documentation and examples are included, making it easier than ever to get started with OneBusAway data.
  4. Community-Driven Development: As with all our projects, these SDKs are open-source. We encourage contributions and feedback from our vibrant developer community.

Looking Ahead

This release is just the beginning. We're already planning improvements and expansions to these SDKs based on community feedback. Additionally, we're exploring the possibility of creating SDKs for other popular programming languages in the future.

Get Involved

We invite developers of all skill levels to dive in and start using these new SDKs. Your feedback and contributions will be crucial in shaping the future of these tools and, by extension, the accessibility of public transit information.

  • Check out the SDKs on our GitHub repository.
  • Join our onebusaway-api mailing list to discuss, ask questions, and share your projects.
  • Report issues or suggest improvements directly through our projects' issue trackers.

A Word of Thanks

This project wouldn't have been possible without the support of Google Summer of Code, the hard work of Ahmed Hossam, the innovative team behind StainlessAPI, and the entire OneBusAway community. Your continued support and enthusiasm drive us to keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible in open transit software.

Let's continue to work together to make public transportation more accessible, one line of code at a time.

Aaron Brethorst
Executive Director, Open Transit Software Foundation