Public Transit API

Request public transport connections between given points and find stations nearby using the ‘HERE Public Transit’ API.

Connections

The function connection() allows to request public transport connections from the API. Two types of requests are provided:

1. Sections

Request available public transport connections as detailed sections:

connection_section <- connection(
  origin = poi[3:4, ],
  destination = poi[5:6, ],
  summary = FALSE
)

The id column corresponds to the row of the input locations (origin and destination) and the rank column enumerates the alternative routes. The maximum number of alternatives can be set by the results parameter. Each row in the returned sf object corresponds to a route section with a transport mode in a vehicle without a transfer.

id rank section departure origin arrival destination mode category vehicle provider direction distance duration
1 1 1 2022-07-24 15:57:00 ORIG 2022-07-24 16:07:00 Lausanne, Sallaz pedestrian NA NA NA NA 577 600
1 1 2 2022-07-24 16:07:00 Lausanne, Sallaz 2022-07-24 16:17:00 Lausanne, gare subway Metro Service m2 Transports Publics de la Région Lausannoise sa Lausanne, Ouchy-Olympique 2940 600
1 1 3 2022-07-24 16:17:00 Lausanne, gare 2022-07-24 16:20:00 Lausanne pedestrian NA NA NA NA 180 180
1 1 4 2022-07-24 16:20:00 Lausanne 2022-07-24 17:26:00 Bern intercityTrain Long Distance Trains IC1 Schweizerische Bundesbahnen SBB St. Gallen 82104 3960
1 1 5 2022-07-24 17:32:00 Bern 2022-07-24 17:43:00 Kehrsatz Nord cityTrain Suburban Railway S3 BLS AG (bls) Belp 8663 660
1 1 6 2022-07-24 17:43:00 Kehrsatz Nord 2022-07-24 17:46:00 DEST pedestrian NA NA NA NA 203 180

Print the public transport sections on an interactive leaflet map:

if (requireNamespace("mapview", quietly = TRUE)) {
  mapview::mapview(connection_section,
                   zcol = "mode",
                   layer.name = "Transport mode",
                   map.types = c("Esri.WorldTopoMap"),
                   homebutton = FALSE
  )
}

2. Summary

Request a summary of the available public transport connections:

connection_summary <- connection(
  origin = poi[3:4, ],
  destination = poi[5:6, ],
  summary = TRUE
)
id rank departure origin arrival destination transfers modes categories vehicles providers distance duration
1 1 2022-07-24 15:57:00 Lausanne, Sallaz 2022-07-24 17:46:00 Kehrsatz Nord 2 pedestrian, subway, pedestrian, intercityTrain, cityTrain, pedestrian Metro Service, Long Distance Trains, Suburban Railway m2, IC1, S3 Transports Publics de la Région Lausannoise sa, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen SBB, BLS AG (bls) 94667 6180
1 2 2022-07-24 15:58:00 Lausanne, Champ-Rond 2022-07-24 17:46:00 Kehrsatz Nord 3 pedestrian, bus, subway, pedestrian, intercityTrain, cityTrain, pedestrian Bus Service, Metro Service, Long Distance Trains, Suburban Railway 42, m2, IC1, S3 Transports Publics de la Région Lausannoise sa, Transports Publics de la Région Lausannoise sa, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen SBB, BLS AG (bls) 94602 5820
2 1 2022-07-24 15:37:00 Basel, Kleinhüningen 2022-07-24 17:17:00 Zürich HB 1 pedestrian, lightRail, pedestrian, intercityTrain, pedestrian Tram Service, Long Distance Trains 8, EC Basler Verkehrsbetriebe, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen SBB 96895 5640
2 2 2022-07-24 16:07:00 Basel, Kleinhüningen 2022-07-24 18:03:00 Zürich HB 1 pedestrian, lightRail, pedestrian, intercityTrain, pedestrian Tram Service, Inter Regional Rail Service 8, IR36 Basler Verkehrsbetriebe, Schweizerische Bundesbahnen SBB 93407 6900

Stations

The function station() allows to request public transport stations nearby points of interest (POIs). The radius defines the maximum search distance in meters and results specifies the maximum number of returned stations. The returned sf object contains the locations of the stations and the available public transport lines at the station.

stations <- station(
  poi = poi,
  radius = 500,
  results = 5
)

Print the POIs, the radius and stations on an interactive leaflet map:

buffer <-
  poi %>%
  st_transform(2056) %>%
  st_buffer(500) %>%
  st_transform(4326)

if (requireNamespace("mapview", quietly = TRUE)) {
  m <-
    mapview::mapview(poi, alpha.region = 1, col.region = "black",
                     label = poi$city, layer.name = "POIs",
                     map.types = c("Esri.WorldTopoMap"), homebutton = FALSE) +
    mapview::mapview(stations, col.region = "yellow", alpha = 1,
                     label = stations$station, layer.name = "Stations",
                     homebutton = FALSE) +
    mapview::mapview(buffer, col.region = "transparent", alpha.region = 0,
                     layer.name = "Buffer", homebutton = FALSE, legend = FALSE)
  m
}

API Reference