TfL London Tube Arrivals Scraper

TfL London Tube Arrivals Scraper

Scrape live London Tube arrivals for any line or station, up to a million per run. Every arrival comes with its destination, expected time, platform, and current status. No API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

Transport for London's official API needs registration and rate limits you. This reads the public arrival feeds directly, filtered by line or station, and returns each match in one fixed schema.

Who uses it	What they scrape TfL London Tube Arrivals for
Transport analysts	Monitor service frequency and delays across lines
App developers	Power real-time arrival boards for stations
Researchers	Study passenger flow and disruption patterns
Commuters	Check next trains for a specific station

What it does

This Actor collects live London Underground arrivals by line or stop point, and returns each one as a flat row.

• 🚇 Line or station scope: query all arrivals for a line, or narrow to one stop point.
• 📊 Flat rows: each arrival is one record with destination, expected time, and platform.
• ⚡ Live data: pulls current arrivals at the moment of the run, no caching.
• 🔢 Volume control: set a maximum number of arrivals per run, from 1 to 1,000,000.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with TfL London Tube Arrivals data

🚇 Build a station departure board.

A developer runs the Actor for a stop point ID and renders the returned arrivals as a live board for commuters.

📈 Track service frequency.

A transport analyst runs the Actor for a line every hour and compares arrival counts to spot gaps or bunching.

🔍 Monitor disruptions.

A researcher runs the Actor across multiple lines and flags arrivals with unexpected statuses or long waits.

📱 Power a travel app.

An app developer runs the Actor on demand to show users the next trains at their chosen station.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
Live arrivals	Current expected times and destinations for every train
Line or station	Scope by TfL line ID or NaPTAN stop point
Fixed schema	Same fields for every arrival, ready for analysis
No API key	Reads public feeds directly, no registration

How it compares

No other Store actor targets TfL London Tube Arrivals the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	TfL London Tube Arrivals Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When TfL London Tube Arrivals changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from line IDs and an optional stop point ID, alone or together, and set a maximum number of arrivals so only the latest matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "lineIds": [
 "victoria"
 ],
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "lineIds": [
 "victoria"
 ],
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.0085 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.85
1,000 results	$8.50
10,000 results	$85.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the TfL London Tube Arrivals Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to TfL London Tube Arrivals through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

$claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/tfl-london-arrivals-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that the line ID is valid and that trains are running. Late at night or during closures there may be no arrivals. Also verify the stop point ID if you used one.

The run stops before reaching my maxItems.

The Actor stops when there are no more arrivals to fetch. If the line or station has fewer live arrivals than your maximum, you will get all of them.

I get an error about an invalid line ID.

Use the lowercase TfL line identifier, such as victoria or central. Check the TfL website for the correct IDs.

The data seems outdated.

The Actor fetches live data at run time. If you need continuous updates, schedule the Actor to run every few minutes.

Can I filter by destination?

The input does not support destination filtering. You can filter the output dataset after the run using a tool like Excel or a script.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need a TfL API key?	No. The Actor reads the public arrival feeds directly, so no registration or key is required.
How do I find a line ID?	Use the TfL line names in lowercase, such as victoria, central, jubilee, or elizabeth. The input accepts one or more IDs.
What is a stop point ID?	It is the NaPTAN identifier for a station or stop. You can find it on the TfL website or in open data feeds.
Can I get arrivals for multiple lines at once?	Yes. Add multiple line IDs to the input and the Actor will collect arrivals for all of them in one run.
How many arrivals can I collect?	You can set a maximum from 1 to 1,000,000 arrivals per run. The Actor stops when it reaches that number.
What format is the data returned in?	Each arrival is a flat row with fields like destination, expected time, platform, and status. You can export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
Does this include bus or Overground arrivals?	No, this Actor is for London Underground tube arrivals only. For other modes, use a different TfL scraper.
How fresh is the data?	The Actor fetches live arrivals at the moment you run it, so the data reflects the current service state.
Can I schedule this to run automatically?	Yes, you can set up a schedule on Apify to run the Actor at regular intervals and store the results.
What if a line has no arrivals right now?	The Actor will return an empty dataset. This can happen during engineering works or late at night.

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Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Transport for London. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.