Inspiration
Looking at the provided data, one pattern stood out: the same trip can vary by over 30 minutes depending on when you leave. As university students balancing 9am lectures, evening shifts, and late finishes, we realised the question that mattered most wasn't "what's the best route?" as Google Maps already answers that well. It was "when should I leave?" No existing tool addresses this directly, so we set out to build one.
What it does
The NSW Journey Time Explorer sweeps an entire day of departure times using the live TfNSW API and visualises how journey duration changes throughout the day. It highlights the fastest and slowest windows, compares three optimal routes, and supports every mode on the Sydney network: train, metro, bus, ferry, and light rail.
How we built it
The application is delivered as a single HTML file built in vanilla HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It integrates with the TfNSW Stop Finder API for autocomplete and the Trip Planner API for journey data, issuing approximately 30 parallel requests per sweep. Visualisation is handled client-side through a custom SVG chart.
Challenges we ran into
Rate limits on parallel requests required us to design the sweep engine to tolerate partial failures gracefully. Ambiguous stop names across Sydney forced us to disambiguate results using coordinate data. Rendering multi-modal journeys compactly, across walking, rail, and bus legs, took several iterations to get right.
Accomplishments that we're proud of
The application runs on live data rather than a mockup, and the core insight is visible within seconds of rendering. We are particularly proud that it feels like a polished product rather than a dashboard, and that it ships as a single HTML file anyone can deploy in minutes.
What we learned
Open data is only as valuable as the tools built on top of it. Peak congestion penalties are far larger than we anticipated. Pivoting from a dashboard concept to a personal planning tool sharpened every subsequent design decision. Most importantly, commutes are patterns, not isolated events, and designing for that repetition unlocks a fundamentally different product.
What's next for NSW Journey Time Explorer
A native mobile application with optimal departure alerts. Saved journey profiles and weekly time-saved reports. Historical data overlays for real-time disruption detection. Expansion into other cities with open transport data. And a B2B API tailored to employers, delivery operators, and local councils.
