Departure Board

Real-time Norwegian public transport departures using Entur's API. Built for a physical SSD1322 256x64 OLED display powered by a Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W, with support for a web interface that can be embedded in Home Assistant or any browser.

Features

• Real-time departures for multiple stops (trams, buses, trains, ferries, airports etc.)
• Delay detection with visual indicators
• Clean, minimalist display design
• Web interface for browsers and iFrames
• Hardware OLED support for physical displays

Quick Start

Web Interface

Perfect for testing API or embedding in dashboards like Home Assistant.

# Configure your stops
cp config/config.template.json config/config.json

# Start the web server
cd web && python3 -m http.server 8080

Open http://localhost:8080 in your browser.

OLED Display

This will require soldering, wiring knowledge and is not plug and play.

For physical hardware setup, see the OLED Setup Guide.

Quick version:

# Enable SPI on Raspberry Pi
sudo raspi-config  # Interface Options → SPI → Yes

# Install dependencies
python3 -m venv oled-env
source oled-env/bin/activate
pip install requests Pillow luma.oled luma.core smbus2

# Run the display
python3 oled.py

Development Mode

Test OLED graphics on your development machine using the emulator.

python3 -m venv oled-env
source oled-env/bin/activate
pip install requests Pillow luma.emulator
python3 oled.py

On Python 3.14 there is no pygame wheel yet, so pip builds it without SDL_image and the emulator fails to load its PNGs (File is not a Windows BMP file). Swap it for the community fork: pip uninstall pygame && pip install pygame-ce.

Configuration

Copy the template and edit config/config.json:

cp config/config.template.json config/config.json

Basic configuration:

{
  "stops": [
    {
      "id": "NSR:StopPlace:12345",
      "name": "StopName",
      "type": "tram",
      "description": "Main tram stop"
    }
  ],
  "api": {
    "clientName": "your-client-name",
    "timeout": 10
  },
  "settings": {
    "numberOfDepartures": 3,
    "refreshInterval": 30000,
    "timezone": "Europe/Oslo"
  },
  "display": {
    "maxRows": 3,
    "showRealtime": true,
    "showDelayIndicator": true
  }
}

See config.template.json for all available options and descriptions.

Finding Stop IDs

1. Visit Entur's stop place search
2. Search for your stop
3. Copy the NSR:StopPlace ID from the URL or stop details

Hardware

• Display: SSD1322 256x64 OLED (grayscale)
• Computer: Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W (or any Pi with GPIO)
• Interface: 4-wire SPI

For complete hardware setup, wiring diagrams, and troubleshooting, see:

• OLED Setup Guide - Hardware preparation and software installation
• Wiring Guide - Pin connections and SPI configuration

Integration

Home Assistant

Add to your dashboard configuration:

type: iframe
url: http://<raspberry-pi-ip>:8080
aspect_ratio: 100%

Systemd Service

To run the OLED display on boot, create /etc/systemd/system/departure-board.service:

[Unit]
Description=Departure Board OLED Display
After=network-online.target

[Service]
Type=simple
User=pi
WorkingDirectory=/home/pi/departure-board
ExecStart=/home/pi/departure-board/oled-env/bin/python3 /home/pi/departure-board/oled.py
Restart=always
RestartSec=10

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Enable and start:

sudo systemctl enable departure-board
sudo systemctl start departure-board

Dependencies

• Python 3.10+
• Python packages:
  • requests - API calls
  • Pillow - Image rendering
  • luma.oled + luma.core - OLED display driver (hardware)
  • luma.emulator - Display emulator (development)
  • smbus2 - I²C support (hardware)