DR Smart Transit

Inspiration

The idea for DR Smart Transit came from real-life experiences using public transit. Many times we saw buses pass right in front of people who were just a few seconds away from the stop. This has even happened to us personally.

Another situation was when someone waits near a bus stop or in a nearby shelter because the stop itself doesn’t have one, and the bus driver assumes nobody is there and drives past.

We also noticed that sometimes people simply lose track of time and reach the stop late. That’s why we wanted to create something that helps riders stay aware of their bus timing and communicate with the driver.

What it does

DR Smart Transit is a web application that helps transit riders avoid missing their bus through smart interaction features.

Key features include:

Smart Scheduling – Users can schedule a bus route in advance. The system sends notifications 10 minutes and 5 minutes before the user should leave their starting point.

Check-In System – Riders can check in about 3 minutes before the bus arrives if they are within a certain distance from the stop. This signals to the bus driver that someone is waiting so the bus doesn’t pass the stop.

Halt Feature – Designed for accessibility, riders aged 65+ or those with disabilities can request the bus to briefly wait if they are a few seconds away from the stop.

The application also integrates real-time transit data to provide accurate timing information.

How we built it

The project was built using a combination of AI tools and our own development work.

Frontend: Built using Lovable Backend: Generated and then heavily debugged and improved by us through Lovable, including API requests and feature logic. Deployment: The project was deployed using Railway.

We worked with real-time API data and implemented scheduling, conditional check-in logic, and accessibility features.

Challenges we ran into

Since this was our first hackathon and first web application, we faced several challenges.

Initially we didn’t know how to properly manage frontend and backend integration. We first ran the project locally, which caused issues when trying to pull API data after deployment.

During deployment on Railway we ran into build errors and occasional random crashes. At one point we also used a hardcoded API request link which caused issues in the deployed version.

Other challenges included:

Accidentally treating the entire bus route as walking distance due to variable issues

Writing the conditional logic for the check-in and halt features

Map marker issues where the mark point behaved incorrectly

Some problems related to map “legs” calculations

Debugging these issues took time, but we were able to solve many of them ourselves.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We’re proud that we were able to complete our first hackathon project and first web application.

Some things we’re especially proud of:

Successfully deploying a working web app

Learning how to debug real development issues

Working with APIs and real-time data

Building a functioning UI

Solving several technical problems independently

For a first project, getting a working system online felt like a big achievement.

What we learned

This project taught us a lot because almost everything we did was new.

We learned about:

Git and version control

Frontend development

Backend logic

API requests and real-time data

Deployment and hosting

Debugging real-world development problems

It gave us hands-on experience building and deploying an actual application.

What's next for DR Smart Transit

We have several ideas to improve the project further.

Future plans include:

Integrating Presto card system verification for check-ins

Improving the user interface to make it more intuitive

Turning the platform into a full mobile application

Showing walking distance dynamically as the user moves

Displaying real-time bus locations directly on the map

Our goal is to make DR Smart Transit a smarter and more accessible transit companion for riders.

Built With

• claude
• gtfsdata
• html5
• lovable
• nordjs
• railway
• tailwindcss
• transitapi
• typescript