What the T-Time is and isn't

• Makes planning your spontaneous T trips very easy (head out when you see your train coming)
• Keeps you off your phone as you're leaving the house
• Sometimes better than the phone apps (I put a bunch of effort into filtering out ghost trains/buses)
• Cool MBTA themed desk/home decoration
• Shows time/weather outside so you can plan ahead

• Although all the images above show trains, the T-Time has full bus support for all us bus enjoyers!
• The T-Time MinuTe model (pictured above) will cost less than $100.
• The stops/trains shown are completely reconfigurable after purchase from a locally hosted webserver on the device (no app needed).
• When the number of entries on the screen exceeds the 3 row limit, it will step through pages of departures in order of departure time and then start over.
• The screen will also scroll horizontally for all entries wider than the visible section, in the style of old CD players.
• You can set minimum and maximum departure times to avoid showing trains that you can't catch and avoid clutter.
• You can add multiple bus and train stops to the configuration settings, so you don't need multiple T-Times.
• The T-Time is powered off a single standard 500mA rated USB-C connection.
• When released, updates are done manually by uploading a new firmware file through the webserver hosted from the device or over the USB port.
• I have no control over the device after I ship it to you, it just runs locally on whatever WiFi you install it on :)
• If you want to go see a real T-Time in the wild, go check out the beta version I built for Currentea (and try some of their tea)! It sits on the upper right of their stall's storefront in the North Station's Hub Hall.

My best guess for normal release is within the first 2-3 months of 2026.

I'm getting the first order of prototype PCBs in very soon and a giant order of Bambu Lab PETG filament (better longevity), so hopefully I will be able to test and fix any issues soon. Unfortunately I still have some things that I need to finish aside from the electronics like full weather integration and new CAD models for the version with my PCB. I will likely offer some of this batch of prototypes away at a lower price to the first people who are interested!

If you want to go see a real T-Time in the wild, go check out the beta version I built for Currentea (and try some of their tea)!  It sits on the upper right of their stall's storefront in the North Station's Hub Hall.

T-Time units leverage the MBTA's API V3 to regularly fetch real-time transit info for the stops and routes you select. This data is then processed to remove broken and incorrect entries, and finally displayed and regularly updated on loop for the user to see. The local time and weather are also displayed for the Boston area using NTP synchronization and the NWS API service provided by NOAA. The device runs entirely locally with no paid subscriptions, API keys, or cloud management. Since it only pulls data from these three free APIs, it can work on basically any WiFi network, even open networks with a captive portal (I tested it at a Caffè Nero downtown and it worked very well).

The T-Time does have a local web-server that runs on your network which you can access at http://t-time.local/ or the IP address displayed on the screen once you have it connected to your network. This allows you to configure settings such as the stops and routes you wish to see, the min and max departure times to display, the time you want the backlight to turn off and on (if needed), and other features like LCD color depending on the model. This same web-portal is available as a network that you initially will connect to from another device with a web browser to for configuring the WiFi settings on the T-Time. This will be a familiar process for anyone used to setting up smart home devices, but only requires web browser.

The project originally started while I lived in Boston last summer, but now I'm back in Madison, WI. I'm still working on it from here, and I'll start shipping units from Madison once I get past the prototyping stage. Eventually I hope to move back to Boston for work someday, since I love the city!

My initial prototypes used basic PLA plastic printed on a FDM printer, but for production I will be switching to a Matte PLA shell. I plan to sell versions both with the duo-tone colored section and without. I chose to go with PLA over PETG or ABS due to supply-chain issues and printability.

Eventually, I would like to investigate special filaments like wooden and marble, but I don't have the time/budget to do that yet.