Hi again,
In this post today, I am talking about this IFTTT app that informs me in advance if my commute (to work) may be delayed either due to Traffic jams, public transport (train or bus) service being down.
Although I built it specific to Melbourne's western suburb. you can certainly change it to serve your purpose.
You can find this app here
If a new Tweet was found on Search, Notify on the mobile app : https://ifttt.com/applets/DguqyPnL
Happy reading.
While as a family we loved being closer to Melbourne CBD, we wanted to have more space in the place where we lived. So, a couple of years back we decided to move to Melbourne's western suburbs.
While we loved the space we had for ourselves, it was the commute that bothered us. Although we were aware that travel to work would take longer, we weren't ready for constant delays in the travel. Be it by road or rail, private vehicle or public transport, we always had issues.
A simple 45 minutes trip to the city often took over 90 minutes with the complexity of crowded public transports.
I raised complaints with the Metro Train (Melbourne's train service provider), CDC (public bus service provider) but all in vain.
After various conversations with Metro Train, CDC, and Vic Traffic, I was educated that they update any delays on Twitter as they get the information at the control center. So, all I had to do was follow their Twitter handles and my problem would be solved.
So, what I thought but I was wrong!
With so many tweets from them every few minutes, it was difficult to know which of those tweets are related to our services.
So, I decided to build this app that will notify me on my phone if there was a tweet, from one of these 3 providers, that corresponds to my service.
The idea of this app is simple.
The app looks for keywords in the tweets from the 3 providers
If a tweet was found, it will send me a notification on my IFTTT app within my phone.
Here is the keyword search that I have configured
Close, Delay, Open
Suburb names where I live - Laverton, Werribee
From :
VicTraffic for Traffic issues
Metro Trains for train service delays
CDC Victoria for bus service delays
And this is what I see on my phone
Like I mentioned earlier, for this app to cater to your suburb replace my suburbs (Laverton, Werribee) with yours and that's it.
One other thing, you need to register for a free IFTTT account and install the IFTTT app on your mobile device for you to be notified.
As always, any difficulty with any of these details, do not hesitate to drop me a note below or on my Twitter.
#automationforlife #lifeOnAutoMode
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