Bart vs ViaFrei
A side-by-side look at the Bart and ViaFrei MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Bart for travel & transportation work as a local process; choose ViaFrei for travel & transportation as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Bart when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Travel & Transportation domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: No auth required.
- You want tools like
bart_departures, bart_stations, bart_trip_planner.
Choose ViaFrei when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Travel & Transportation domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: No auth required.
- You want tools like
check_autobahn_traffic, find_cheapest_fuel, find_fuel_station.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Travel & Transportation | Travel & Transportation |
| Quality signal | 52/100 · Good | 64/100 · Good |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | No auth required | No auth required |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Required env vars | None listed | None listed |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 0 | 0 |
| Directory activity | 2 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 1 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 4 | 22 |
| Full listing | View Bart | View ViaFrei |
Tools & capabilities
Bart tools 4
bart_departuresReal-time BART San Francisco Bay Area train departures for a station — next train departure times in minutes, per destination, with platform, direction, train length (cars), line color, delay, and bikes allowed. Station accepts a 4-letter BART code ("EMBR", "SFIA") or a station name ("Embarcadero",…bart_stationsList all 50 BART San Francisco Bay Area train stations with 4-letter code, full name, city, street address, and coordinates. Optional filter matches station name or city (e.g. "Oakland", "Berkeley", "airport"). Use to find the station code for departures, trips, or fares. Example: bart_stations({ f…bart_trip_plannerPlan a BART trip between two Bay Area stations — the next trains from origin to destination with departure and arrival times, trip duration, legs (line, transfer stations, bikes), and the fare (Clipper and discount prices). Covers trips like SF to Oakland, Embarcadero to SFO airport, Berkeley to Mi…bart_advisoriesCurrent BART service advisories and delays for the San Francisco Bay Area train system, plus elevator outage status at stations. Answers "is BART delayed right now", "are there BART service alerts", "which BART elevators are out". Example: bart_advisories({})
ViaFrei tools 22
check_autobahn_trafficJams, slow traffic, closures and roadworks in force this minute on up to 5 motorways, with delay/speed. Use when asked about a named motorway now: Stau, a delay, how it looks, or a LIST of closures now; name every motorway (Munich→Berlin: A9). Do NOT use for yes/no: is a road open/closed/passable — check_road_status, even now — nor a closure with no time word or a later one (tonight, weekend); Baustellen dated or geplant — find_roadworks_ahead; Stau in a town, no motorway — check_road_status; fuel (find_cheapest_fuel), trains (get_train_departures). ~5 min old. Show the attribution line.find_cheapest_fuelReturns the cheapest stations for one fuel grade near a place or coordinate: price per litre, brand, address, distance, open state. Use when the user asks where to fill up or what fuel costs. Do NOT use for charging an electric car (call find_charging_station), price history, or traffic (call check_autobahn_traffic). Radius ≤ 25 km, at most 10 stations. For a brand, a name, open now or at a named time, or nearest-first, call find_fuel_station. Each line names the age of its price and opening-hours claim. Prices are consumer information only; the attribution line and MTS-K note must be shown.find_fuel_stationFinds filling stations around a place or coordinate under any combination of filters — grade, brand, name, open now, open at a time you name, open 24 h — sorted by distance, price or name. Use when the question is WHICH station: the closest diesel to a stop, an ARAL open tonight, what one forecourt sells. Do NOT use for the plain "where is fuel cheapest" question (call find_cheapest_fuel) or for charging an electric car (call find_charging_station). Every result carries the attribution and the MTS-K note, and says how old each price and opening-hours claim is.find_parkingParking near a place, a coordinate or along one motorway: lorry parks, car parks, P+R and disabled-badge bays, with total spaces and, where published, free spaces now and the reading's age. Use when asked where to park or leave the car for the train ("Parkhaus in Köln", "Rastplatz A3", "P+R"). Do NOT use for fuel (find_cheapest_fuel) or EV charging (find_charging_station). Radius ≤ 25 km, ≤ 10 sites per list; ODbL and CC BY-SA sources are separate lists (up to three). No "free now" means no published count, not full. No prices: for "was kostet" say so, no call. Show each source's attribution.check_road_statusIf a motorway, B/Land road (NI, BW, MV, SN, TH; B also SH, BY, BE; pass Land/town as place) is open/closed/restricted now/next days; by place, jams, city/Land messages, Hamburg traffic cameras; lorry limits, Lang-Lkw (vehicle). Use when asked if a road is open/passable — "ist die A8 in diesem Moment gesperrt", at any clock, closures tonight/weekend — or city Stau: "Stau in Köln?". Do NOT use for jams/delays on a named motorway or multi-motorway route — check_autobahn_traffic; roadworks by date window — find_roadworks_ahead; city street: not held, say so. ≤ 14 days/11 entries. Show attribution.find_roadworks_aheadReturns roadworks PLANNED on one motorway, one Bundes-/Landesstraße in NI, BW, MV, SN or TH (BY: B only), or city streets by place, in a date window: section, restriction, dates. Use when a date or window is named, it says geplant, or how long a site lasts ("Baustellen auf der A7 in den Sommerferien?"). ONE road/place per call. Do NOT use when more than one motorway is named, for the situation this minute, or for Baustellen with neither date nor geplant — all three are check_autobahn_traffic; whether a road is open — check_road_status. ≤ 92 days, max 20 sites. Show attribution.find_charging_stationReturns EV charging sites near a place or coordinate with operator, connector types, maximum power, price per kWh where published, and how many points are free right now where the operator publishes live status. Use when an EV driver asks where to charge ("Wo kann ich laden?", "CCS 150 kW near Leipzig", "ist gerade eine Säule frei?"). Do NOT use for petrol or diesel — call find_cheapest_fuel; for E-Kennzeichen or Ladekarte rules — call get_driving_rules. Radius ≤ 25 km, ≤ 10 sites; availability is missing for most operators and is then unknown, never free. Show the attribution line.find_hydrogen_stationReturns hydrogen (H2) filling stations near a place or coordinate, nearest first, with operator, address, pumps (700 bar car, 350 bar truck/bus), opening hours where published and the age of the record. Use when someone asks where to refuel a fuel-cell car, lorry or bus ("Wasserstofftankstelle", "H2 tanken", "hydrogen station near me"). Do NOT use for petrol or diesel (call find_fuel_station) or EV charging (call find_charging_station); LPG/Autogas and CNG are not held — say so. Radius ≤ 150 km, ≤ 10 stations; no live availability or price is published. Shows the attribution line.find_placeLooks up a place name and returns every match, each with its kind, population, English name and coordinate; the official key (AGS/RS) only in the structured result. Use when the person asks where somewhere is, when you need a coordinate for another tool, and above all to RECOVER after a tool reported a name as ambiguous — this is where you find out which Neustadt is which. Pass `near` to rank and separate same-named places by distance. Do NOT use to find a company, shop or landmark: call find_poi. At most 10 results, radius <= 200 km. Every result carries an attribution line to show the user.find_poiFinds a business or landmark by name or kind — company, shop, clinic, hotel, hostel — with address, category and coordinate. Use when the person names a THING rather than a town: "the adesso office in Dortmund", "the nearest Aldi", "a hotel in Weimar". The coordinate passes to any other tool as lat/lon. Do NOT use for a town, district or station (every tool's `place` resolves those), nor for fuel, charging or parking (own tools). Give "in" (a town) when you can: far faster than nationwide. 25 per page, 50 via cursor; radius <= 50 km. OpenStreetMap under ODbL 1.0; show the attribution line.find_addressLooks up a street address: its coordinate, and the named OpenStreetMap objects at it (company, shop, office) or that none are. Use when the person gives a STREET AND NUMBER — "Bahnhofstraße 12, Fulda" — for the point or the business there, never who lives there. The coordinate passes to any other tool as lat/lon. Do NOT use for a town/district/station name alone (find_place) or a company/shop/landmark by name (find_poi). At most 5 points; a door mapped twice is folded, points far apart say how far; several towns are a question. OpenStreetMap ODbL 1.0; show the attribution line.describe_locationTurns a coordinate into words: the nearest address, settlement and motorway junction with their distances, and the Gemeinde, Kreis and Land the point lies in; also any low-emission zone. Use when you already HAVE a lat/lon and need to say where that is. Do NOT use to look up a place or address BY NAME — that is find_place, find_poi or find_address; this only goes coordinate to words. Those come from the municipality the point lies in (its key), not the nearest Kreis point; near the border the answer says so. OpenStreetMap ODbL 1.0 for the address; show the attribution line.- +10 more on the listing page
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
Bart
{
"mcpServers": {
"bart": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@pipeworx/mcp-bart"
]
}
}
}
ViaFrei
{
"mcpServers": {
"viafrei": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"viafrei"
]
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Bart is categorized under Travel & Transportation and uses a local stdio subprocess. ViaFrei belongs to Travel & Transportation and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Bart for travel & transportation work and ViaFrei for travel & transportation.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
Bart is listed as free. Auth: no auth required. ViaFrei is listed as free. Auth: no auth required. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add bart and viafrei as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Bart has a quality signal of 52/100 (Good) with 2 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars. ViaFrei has 64/100 (Good) with 1 views, 0 installs and 0 GitHub stars.