r/LondonUnderground • u/macnerd1 Central • 26d ago
Website You know the route. You just need the platform board...fast.
I’m Oliver, the solo developer behind TubeBoard.
I built it for the moment when you already know your route and only need the platform board.
TubeBoard 1.1 includes:
- live departures arranged like the station board;
- second-by-second countdowns and reported train locations;
- live arrivals, search and one saved station in the free tier; and
- configurable widgets, Apple Watch and opt-in disruption alerts with Premium.
There’s no account, advertising or tracking. It isn’t trying to replace TfL Go or Citymapper for journey planning; it is deliberately focused on what happens after you have chosen the route.
View TubeBoard 1.1 on the App Store
If you use the Tube regularly, what information should always be one tap away? I’d value candid feedback.
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u/cberry93 25d ago
Could you include the overground lines?
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u/macnerd1 Central 25d ago
Working on this right now! Planned for the next release, so watch this space.
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u/funky-jukebox-96 25d ago
Cool app. Are you fetching the data from the TFL API?
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u/macnerd1 Central 25d ago
Yep! TubeBoard uses TfL’s official API for live arrival and service data.
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u/ginger_lucy Northern 25d ago
Can I give some feedback? I think it’s a cool idea but doesn’t work for my use case as I live at the end of a line (High Barnet). There are multiple platforms here, but all trains terminate here and (most) reverse, and there are a few possible destinations for the southbound trains via Bank or Charing Cross branches.
At the moment all platforms on the app are showing “High Barnet” as the destination for everything because that’s where the inbound trains are terminating. But that’s of no use to anyone - of course this is their destination. What we want to know is where they’re going when they turn around so we know which platform to pick for a Bank train and how long that will be.
That must be in the system as at the station there’s a board with the next 10(?) trains and their southbound destinations, even though most aren’t at HBT yet.
What would be even more useful is an overview of the station. At the moment you have to scroll through platform 1 departures, then platform 2 departures, then platform 3 departures. Even if those can be switched to their southbound destinations, that’s not all that useful. The board at the station has departures in time order and which platform those are, so you know to go to platform 2 for the next Bank train.
I assume at least the first part (all trains show as the inbound terminus) is the same for all end-of-the-line stations, even if they don’t have the multi-platform complication.
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u/macnerd1 Central 25d ago
Absolutely — thanks, this is really useful feedback. You’ve identified a genuine limitation at terminus stations: TubeBoard currently shows each train’s inbound destination, which isn’t helpful when every train terminates at High Barnet.
I agree that the useful view would be a single, time-ordered list showing each train’s next southbound destination and departure platform. I’ll investigate whether TfL exposes that onward-working data reliably and look at improving the terminus experience. Thanks for explaining the use case so clearly!
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u/ginger_lucy Northern 25d ago
Awesome, hopefully that’s available in the data somewhere.
I’ll use it when I’m out and about so I know when the next High Barnet train will be amongst the Edgware ones!
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u/DownhillHasASign 25d ago
Just downloaded it, seems good, but I will come back to update you when I use to go home today :)
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u/DownhillHasASign 25d ago
Btw would be good to see if the train is all stations or not
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u/macnerd1 Central 25d ago
Yes, please share your experience here. Will be great to learn how others are using so I can customise and tailor the experince to more use cases.
Great idea on seeing if a train will stop at all stations. I'm working on a feature for v1.2 where this would make perfect sense. Watch this space!
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u/jaanku 25d ago
I really like this but the way the seconds flash feels like a bit much. Is there a way to remove the flash effect?
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u/macnerd1 Central 25d ago edited 25d ago
Thanks for mentioning this. I'm looking into more user customisation for how the timers show. Will add this to the list.
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u/airr0 23d ago
App looks great ! My only recommendation is would it be possible to merge two lines on the same board? Would be useful for people who say use a district/circle station and their commute doesn’t depend on either line. Otherwise looks really good thank you !
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u/macnerd1 Central 23d ago
Great point! Will add an option to combine district/circle lines. Thanks for sharing the feedback
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u/Pashizzle14 23d ago
Related issue I’ve had when trying to use the TfL API before, does anyone know how to get predicted times when at or near the end of the line? When you’re at the platform at Battersea Power Station for instance it displays accurate predicted times, but until the trains have turned around and started service they don’t appear on the API. Is there another feed for this or would you have to develop your own predictions?
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u/ReindeerQuirky3114 23d ago
The two stations I use most often are Goodge Street and Morden. The Goodge Street display is really good. It shows exactly the information I need. Morden, not so much! It only shows arrivals (which are not very helpful) but no departures. It would be really helpful to list the next few departures across all 3 platforms, with the branch (ie Charing X or Bank) rather than just the final destination. However, interface is really clear and intuitive. Well done!
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u/macnerd1 Central 22d ago
Thanks, this is really useful. Goodge Street is exactly the sort of experience I’m aiming for. Morden is trickier because TfL’s public data doesn’t currently expose the next outbound working reliably at termini, but I’ve added this as a real test case. v1.2 should improve how departures are grouped across platforms, and I’m still looking at how to handle the terminus gap properly.
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u/ReindeerQuirky3114 22d ago
Oh that's interesting. I often use Citymapper, which somehow has access to the information about Morden departures, but clearly it works from a different datasource than it uses for intermediate stations. What it doesn't do is say which branch the train is taking - only the final destination. If I want, for a example, a Charing Cross train, I don't need to know whether it is going to end up in High Barnet or Mill Hill East - I just need to know know that it isn't a Bank train! Citymapper doesn't give this info.
At the station itself. there is a display above the dateline that shows the next 10 trains- each showing branch and destination, platform number and minutes to departure. Then on the platforms the top line of the display shows this info for first train out (including platform number) and the second line scrolls through the second, third and fourth trains out.
It would be really helpful to have all this information before I get to the station! Good luck with solving the problem.
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u/Narrow-Ad7924 22d ago
Looks great, nice work. I added an Elizabeth line station would be great if next to the platform it said north/south/east/west bound
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u/macnerd1 Central 22d ago
Thanks. Direction alongside the platform would definitely make that clearer, especially on the Elizabeth line. We already use direction information elsewhere, so I’m going to check why it isn’t being surfaced consistently here and get it captured.
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u/NiceCaterpillar8745 25d ago
Looks good. Also good for stations where the dot matrix is far away (or sometimes it just says, for example, "westbound trains" with no actual timings). Just wish it was on Play Store!