BART Departures Screensaver
The BART Departures screensaver shows every train due across the whole San Francisco Bay Area BART system, using BART's own published public key. It's free, runs in your browser, and ESC exits.
Live preview
Press ESC to leave fullscreen. Settings are saved in your browser only.
How the BART Departures screensaver works
The saver reads the source described above and draws it on a canvas — no account, no tracking.
Every train due across the whole San Francisco Bay Area BART system, using BART's own published public key. The feed carries the line colour each train runs under, so the board is coloured the way the network map is, and lateness is reported per train.
It refreshes on a schedule, so what you see stays current.
Colours and any options can be changed in settings; nothing is stored beyond your own browser.
About BART and its real-time feed
BART, Bay Area Rapid Transit, is the rapid-transit rail system connecting San Francisco, Oakland, the East Bay and the peninsula towards the airport. Its main lines run on 5 ft 6 in broad-gauge track rather than the standard 4 ft 8.5 in, and the system mixes underground, elevated and surface sections. Trains run on colour-coded routes, each with a named end-of-line destination.
Real-time departures come from BART's legacy API, which publishes estimated minutes until departure for each train, along with its length in cars, its platform, a direction, its line colour and a delay figure in seconds off the scheduled departure. The API accepts a public key that BART itself publishes, though BART recommends its GTFS and GTFS-RT feeds as the up-to-date, supported standards. A minutes value of Leaving means the train is departing now.
Because a line is identified by its colour and terminus, the same station can show trains headed in opposite directions, and routes sharing track mean one platform can serve several lines. The minutes are estimates, so the board shows what the system reports at that moment, not a promise of arrival.
A worked example
Every train due across the whole San Francisco Bay Area BART system, using BART's own published public key. The feed carries the line colour each train runs under, so the board is coloured the way the network map is, and lateness is reported per train.
Settings & tips
- Accent and Background recolour the display.
- Every number on screen comes from the live source — nothing is simulated.
- Press ESC to leave fullscreen.
Frequently asked questions
- Is this real data?
- Yes — it comes from the source named on this page and is refreshed on a schedule.
- Is a key needed?
- No. This source is fully key-less.
- Is it free?
- Yes — free, no download, in your browser.
- What does Leaving mean?
- In BART's API it means the train is departing now, in place of a number of minutes.
- Why do colours matter on the board?
- Each BART route has a line colour, and the API reports it with every train, so colour identifies the route and helps you tell lines that share track apart.
- Are the minutes exact?
- No. They are estimates and can change, especially during delays, which the API reports separately in seconds off the scheduled time.