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 departure origin arrival destination mode vehicle direction distance
1 1 2020-06-28 14:18:00 ORIG 2020-06-28 14:28:00 Lausanne, Sallaz Walk NA NA 582
1 1 2020-06-28 14:28:00 Lausanne, Sallaz 2020-06-28 14:37:00 Lausanne, gare Train m2 Lausanne, Ouchy-Olympique 2940
1 1 2020-06-28 14:37:00 Lausanne, gare 2020-06-28 14:42:00 Lausanne Walk NA NA 300
1 1 2020-06-28 14:44:00 Lausanne 2020-06-28 15:56:00 Bern Intercity Train IR 15 Luzern 97092
1 1 2020-06-28 16:02:00 Bern 2020-06-28 16:13:00 Kehrsatz Nord Train S 3 Belp 8668
1 1 2020-06-28 16:13:00 Kehrsatz Nord 2020-06-28 16:14:00 DEST Walk NA NA 76

Print the public transport sections on an interactive leaflet map:

mapview(connection_section,
        zcol = "mode",
        layer.name = "Transport mode",
        map.types = c("Esri.WorldTopoMap"),
        homebutton = FALSE
)

Note: The geometries of walking sections are straight lines between the origin, station or destination points instead of routed paths on the pedestrian network. The reason for this is that it is not possible to match the “maneuvers” to the “connections-sections” in the API response using the section id (sec_id). The walking segments can be routed in hindsight using the route() function with transport mode set to "pedestrian".

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 vehicles distance
1 1 2020-06-28 14:18:00 Lausanne, Sallaz 2020-06-28 16:14:00 Kehrsatz Nord 2 Train, Intercity Train, Train m2, IR 15, S 3 109658
1 2 2020-06-28 14:54:00 Lausanne, Sallaz 2020-06-28 16:44:00 Kehrsatz Nord 2 Train, Intercity Train, Train m2, IC 1, S 3 109658
2 1 2020-06-28 14:26:00 Basel, Kleinhüningen 2020-06-28 16:15:00 Zürich HB 1 Tram, Intercity Train 8, 3 94509
2 2 2020-06-28 14:36:00 Basel, Kleinhüningen 2020-06-28 16:39:00 Zürich HB 1 Tram, Intercity Train 8, IR 36 94521

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)

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

API Reference