Right Track

Availability

Right Track is available as a Progressive Web App on any device that has a relatively modern web browser at righttrack.io. There are also Android apps available for each agency that provide some additional Android-specific features.

Currently supported agencies include:

• Metro North Railroad (NY/CT)
• Long Island Rail Road (NY)

If you would like to see Right Track support another agency, please request the agency using the Right Track Feedback Form.

Features

	Offline Trip Searches Look up scheduled train times between two stations, even without an internet connection! These display the departure, arrival and travel times as well as status information and track numbers (when available). Transfers with up to 2 transfer stations are supported.
	Station Tables View upcoming departures from a single Station, along with their real-time status and track information.
	Service Status View real-time status information from supported transit agencies, such as the MTA (subways, buses, and rail) and the New York State Thruway Authority (I-87/I-90 between New York City, Albany, and Buffalo).
	Favorites Save your favorite Trips, Stations, and Transit Lines for quick access. When you create an (optional) account, favorites are synced across devices.
	Line Maps (Coming Soon) View all of the lines and stops on an interactive map, along with real-time status information.

History

Right Track originally started as an Android app for Metro North Railroad (a commuter rail agency serving NY and CT north of New York City). It initially provided a mobile-friendly view of Metro North's TrainTime tables, displaying upcoming departures with their track numbers and real-time status information (such as delays or cancellations). Soon after, trip searches were added which allowed users to search an in-app database to find scheduled departure and arrival times between two stations. The trip searches combined the scheduled times with the real-time information from the TrainTime tables, combining information from multiple data sources in a user-friendly interface.

Many users started requesting support for the Long Island Rail Road. The app was rewritten to support any agency that publishes their schedule data in the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) format (a standardized way of making transit schedules publicly available, originally developed by Google for their Maps service). The update also included a visual refresh to bring the app in line with the current Android app standards, such as including a side navigation drawer. The new version also added additional features, including a static line map, trip sharing, alarms, and widgets.

After many years, the native Android app was replaced by a web-based Progressive Web App, allowing users to access the app on any device (mobile and/or desktop) with any modern web browser. The PWA still uses an in-app database (now stored in the browser's storage) that can perform trip searches without a network connection (at near-native speeds) using a WebAssembly implementation of sqlite. The app can be accessed, just as any other website, at https://righttrack.io/ and can be installed, like a native app, by most browsers. PWAs are still best supported by Chrome (and their variants, such as MS Edge, Brave, Vivaldi, etc) and Firefox.

Open Source

The source code for all of the components of the Progressive Web App version of Right Track are publicly available on GitHub and licensed under the MIT License. The main components of Right Track include:

• right-track-db-build: A set of node/JS scripts that are used to build the sqlite3 database containing an agency's GTFS schedule data and additional Right Track-specific information.
• right-track-core: Core data classes and database query functions shared by the API Server and PWA.
• right-track-server: A RESTful API server (powered by Restify) that has endpoints for getting GTFS data, real-time status information, and managing Right Track user accounts.
• right-track-pwa: The Progressive Web App frontend for Right Track, built using Vue 2 with Vuetify Material Design components.

Any contributions, such as logging issues, suggesting features, or contributing pull requests are greatly appreciated.