SEPTA Train View Scraper

SEPTA Train View Scraper

Scrape real-time SEPTA train positions, speeds, and next stops from the public Train View feed. Every train comes with its line, destination, lat/lon coordinates, and service status. No API key or authentication required. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

SEPTA's official Train View API provides live train locations across the Philadelphia region, but raw access requires parsing a streaming feed with no built-in filtering. This Actor reads the public Train View endpoint directly, filters by line name if you choose, and returns each active train as a clean, flat row. You get real-time situational awareness without writing a single line of integration code.

Who uses it	What they scrape SEPTA for
Transit app developers	Building a real-time regional rail tracker for commuters.
Operations analysts	Monitoring on-time performance and service gaps across lines.
Data journalists	Investigating SEPTA service patterns and delays for a story.
Hobbyist makers	Powering a home dashboard or LED map of live train positions.

What it does

This Actor collects live SEPTA train data from the public Train View feed and returns each active train as a flat row with its line, destination, coordinates, speed, and next stop.

• 🚂 Live train positions: latitude, longitude, heading, and speed for every active train.
• 🏷️ Line filtering: optionally restrict results to a specific line like Paoli/Thorndale or Trenton.
• 📊 Fixed schema: every row has the same columns, ready for analysis or a database.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with SEPTA data

🚉 Build a commuter dashboard.

A transit app developer runs the Actor every 30 seconds, filters for the Paoli/Thorndale line, and displays live train positions on a map for riders.

📈 Monitor service performance.

An operations analyst collects all trains every minute for a week, then calculates headway adherence and delay patterns by line and time of day.

🗞️ Investigate transit stories.

A data journalist scrapes the full feed during a service disruption, correlating train positions with official statements to verify what happened.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	The public Train View feed requires no registration or authentication.
Real-time data	Positions update every few seconds from SEPTA's own feed.
Flat output	Every train is one row, no nested JSON to unpack.
Line filtering	Target a single line or collect every active train in the system.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets SEPTA the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	SEPTA Train View Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When SEPTA changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor with an optional line name filter and a maximum item count, and filtering runs as each train is read so only matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.0085 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.85
1,000 results	$8.50
10,000 results	$85.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the SEPTA Train View Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to SEPTA through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/septa-train-view-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting zero trains?

SEPTA may have no active trains at that moment, especially late at night or during service suspensions. Try running during peak hours. Also check that your line filter substring matches an actual line name like 'Paoli' or 'Trenton'.

The line filter is not returning the trains I expect.

The filter is a case-insensitive substring match. 'thorndale' will match 'Paoli/Thorndale'. If you see no results, verify the exact line name spelling on SEPTA's website and try a shorter substring.

My run timed out.

The Train View feed is usually responsive, but SEPTA's server can occasionally be slow. Increase the Actor's timeout in the run settings, or reduce maxItems to collect fewer trains per run.

The coordinates look wrong or are missing.

SEPTA occasionally reports trains with stale or zero coordinates when a train is in a tunnel or has started its run. These rows are still included. Filter them out in post-processing if needed.

FAQ

Question	Answer
How often does the data refresh?	The Actor reads SEPTA's public Train View feed, which updates every few seconds. Each run captures a single snapshot of all active trains at that moment. Schedule frequent runs for continuous monitoring.
Does this cover buses, trolleys, or the Market-Frankford Line?	No. The Train View feed covers only Regional Rail trains. Buses, trolleys, the Market-Frankford Line, and the Broad Street Line are not included.
Can I filter by train number or destination?	The input schema supports filtering by line name substring only. You can further filter by destination or train number in your own code after the data is collected.
Is an API key or SEPTA developer account required?	No. The Train View feed is publicly accessible with no authentication, registration, or API key.
What area does this cover?	It covers the entire SEPTA Regional Rail system, including lines serving Philadelphia, Montgomery, Delaware, Bucks, and Chester counties, plus service to Trenton, New Jersey and Wilmington, Delaware.
How many trains can I collect per run?	You set the maximum with the maxItems input. SEPTA typically has fewer than 200 Regional Rail trains active at once, but the Actor supports up to 1,000,000 rows per run.
What format is the output?	The Actor returns a flat dataset you can export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML from the Apify platform.
Can I run this on a schedule?	Yes. Use Apify's built-in scheduler to run the Actor every minute, every 5 minutes, or on any cron schedule you need.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.