The full upstream README, mirrored here for reference. Install config, tool schemas, adoption signals, and an original overview live on the 511 Sf Bay listing page.
Live departures, vehicle positions and service alerts for every transit operator in the San Francisco Bay Area, from the regional 511.org open-data API run by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission.
Part of Pipeworx — an MCP gateway connecting AI agents to 1683+ live data sources.
Requires an API key — free, self-service and issued instantly at https://511.org/open-data/token.
PLATFORM_511_KEY_apiKey argument on any tool| Tool | What it answers |
|---|---|
bay511_operators | Which agencies publish here, and their agency codes |
bay511_stop_predictions | Live predicted departures from one stop |
bay511_vehicles | Where an operator's vehicles are right now |
bay511_alerts | Current disruptions, with cause and effect |
511 is the Bay Area's single regional aggregator — BART, Muni, Caltrain, AC
Transit, VTA, SamTrans, Golden Gate and two dozen more all publish through it
behind an agency code. Splitting it per operator would be thirty packs over
one credential and one upstream. Call bay511_operators first to get the code.
The JSON is served with a UTF-8 BOM and JSON.parse throws on it. Stripped
in readJson(); do not "simplify" that away.
Two response families on one host and key. Departures and vehicles are SIRI
JSON. Alerts are GTFS-Realtime protobuf and go through the shared decoder
in @pipeworx/shared (fetchGtfsRt). Same key, different content type.
Add to your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, etc.):
tools/list at https://gateway.pipeworx.io/511-sf-bay/mcp returns the tools in the table
above plus the shared Pipeworx meta-tools — ask_pipeworx,
discover_tools, search_within, remember/recall and the rest of the
gateway-wide set. So the tool count you see is larger than this table: a
single-pack endpoint currently lists roughly 30 shared tools alongside the
pack's own. The connection's initialize response states its exact scope, and
is the authoritative answer for a given day.
This is deliberate, not multiplexing by accident. The meta-tools are what let a
scoped connection answer a question this pack does not cover — via
ask_pipeworx, which routes across the whole catalog — without you adding a
second MCP server. There is currently no way to mount a pack endpoint without
them; if the extra schemas cost you more context than the routing is worth,
connect to the full gateway once rather than to several pack endpoints.
Or connect to the full Pipeworx gateway to get every pack's tools listed directly, instead of just this one's:
Both URLs reach the same gateway and the same 1683+ data sources. The
only difference is which pack's tools are listed directly; ask_pipeworx
reaches all of them from either one.
No account needed for the first calls. Inspect any tool: GET https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/bay511_operators. Find one: POST https://gateway.pipeworx.io/v1/tools/search_packs with {"query":"..."}.
This package also runs as a local stdio MCP server — no Pipeworx account, no gateway round-trip:
Or run it directly to confirm it starts:
It speaks MCP over stdin/stdout and answers initialize/tools/list/tools/call
for only this pack's tools — none of the shared meta-tools the gateway
connection above adds. Same source, same tools, no ask_pipeworx routing.
Instead of calling tools directly, you can ask questions in plain English — this works on the pack endpoint above as well as on the full gateway:
The gateway picks the right tool and fills the arguments automatically.
MIT