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GET
https://www.mtaapi.dev
/
api
/
v1
/
subway
/
arrivals
Get subway arrivals
const options = {method: 'GET', headers: {Authorization: 'Bearer <token>'}};

fetch('https://www.mtaapi.dev/api/v1/subway/arrivals', options)
  .then(res => res.json())
  .then(res => console.log(res))
  .catch(err => console.error(err));
[
  {
    "route": {
      "id": "<string>",
      "shortName": "<string>",
      "longName": "<string>",
      "type": 123,
      "color": "<string>",
      "textColor": "<string>"
    },
    "stop": {
      "id": "<string>",
      "name": "<string>",
      "displayName": "<string>",
      "lat": 123,
      "lon": 123,
      "parentId": "<string>"
    },
    "arrivalTime": "<string>",
    "minutes": 123,
    "realtime": true,
    "source": "<string>",
    "destination": "<string>",
    "displayDirection": "<string>",
    "headsign": "<string>",
    "departureTime": "<string>",
    "tripId": "<string>",
    "raw": "<unknown>"
  }
]

Documentation Index

Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://mtaapi.dev/docs/llms.txt

Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

The mta.subway namespace gives you access to real-time arrival data sourced directly from the MTA’s GTFS-Realtime feeds. Use mta.subway.arrivals to retrieve the next trains arriving at any subway stop for a specific route, including trip IDs, predicted arrival timestamps, and direction of travel.

​
mta.subway.arrivals(params)

Returns real-time arrival predictions for a given stop and route combination. Arrival times are Unix timestamps in seconds and reflect the MTA’s latest feed update, typically refreshed every 30 seconds.

​
Parameters

​
stopId
string
required
The MTA stop ID for the station you want to query (for example, 'A27' for Howard Beach–JFK Airport on the A line). You can look up stop IDs using mta.stops.near or the MTA’s static GTFS data.
​
route
string
The route ID to filter arrivals by (for example, 'A', '1', or 'N'). Optional — when omitted, arrivals across all routes serving the stop are returned. When supplied, only arrivals for that route are returned.
​
direction
string
Optional direction filter. Accepts the feed values 'north', 'south', 'east', 'west', 'unknown', plus the rider-facing aliases 'uptown' (→ north) and 'downtown' (→ south).
​
limit
number
Maximum number of arrivals to return, between 1 and 100. Defaults to 20.
​
includeRaw
boolean
When true, each arrival includes the underlying GTFS-RT entity on a raw field. Defaults to false.

​
TypeScript signature

interface SubwayArrivalQuery {
  stopId: SubwayStopId
  route?: SubwayRoute
  direction?: Direction | 'uptown' | 'downtown'
  limit?: number
  includeRaw?: boolean
}

interface Arrival {
  mode: TransitMode          // 'subway' | 'bus' | 'lirr' | 'metro-north'
  route: Route
  stop: Stop
  direction: Direction       // 'north' | 'south' | 'east' | 'west' | 'unknown'
  destination?: string       // headsign / terminal station name
  displayDirection?: string  // e.g. "toward 8 Av" or "northbound"
  headsign?: string
  arrivalTime: string        // ISO 8601
  departureTime?: string     // ISO 8601
  minutes: number
  tripId?: string
  realtime: boolean
  source: 'mta-gtfs-rt' | 'mta-bustime'
  raw?: unknown              // present when includeRaw: true
}

mta.subway.arrivals(params: SubwayArrivalQuery): Promise<Arrival[]>

​
Response fields

​
arrivals
Arrival[]
required
An array of upcoming arrivals, ordered by arrivalTime ascending. Returns an empty array if no arrivals are scheduled in the current feed window.

​
Code example

import { MTA } from 'mta-js'

const mta = new MTA({ apiKey: process.env.MTA_API_KEY })

const arrivals = await mta.subway.arrivals({
  stopId: 'L08',
  route: 'L'
})

for (const arrival of arrivals) {
  const label = arrival.displayDirection ?? arrival.destination ?? 'unknown direction'
  console.log(
    `${arrival.route.shortName} — ${label} — ${arrival.minutes} min`
  )
}

​
Example response

[
  {
    "mode": "subway",
    "route": { "id": "A", "shortName": "A", "color": "#0039A6" },
    "stop": { "id": "A27", "name": "Howard Beach-JFK Airport", "displayName": "Howard Beach–JFK Airport" },
    "direction": "south",
    "destination": "Ozone Park-Lefferts Blvd",
    "displayDirection": "toward Ozone Park-Lefferts Blvd",
    "arrivalTime": "2026-05-29T18:37:00.000Z",
    "minutes": 4,
    "tripId": "AFA25GEN-A078-Sunday-00_000600_A..S03R",
    "realtime": true,
    "source": "mta-gtfs-rt"
  },
  {
    "mode": "subway",
    "route": { "id": "A", "shortName": "A", "color": "#0039A6" },
    "stop": { "id": "A27", "name": "Howard Beach-JFK Airport", "displayName": "Howard Beach–JFK Airport" },
    "direction": "north",
    "destination": "Inwood-207 St",
    "displayDirection": "toward Inwood-207 St",
    "arrivalTime": "2026-05-29T18:49:00.000Z",
    "minutes": 16,
    "tripId": "AFA25GEN-A076-Sunday-00_003600_A..N03R",
    "realtime": true,
    "source": "mta-gtfs-rt"
  }
]
The MTA feed does not always include arrivals for every route at every stop. If arrivals is empty, the train may not be active in the current feed window — check during service hours and verify the stopId and route combination is valid.

​
mta.subway.direction(params)

The mta.subway namespace also exposes mta.subway.direction(), which resolves a rider-facing destination string (such as "Union Sq") into the north / south feed direction, the terminal the train heads toward, and a display label — handy for pre-selecting the right direction before calling arrivals. See the dedicated Direction reference for full parameters, types, and examples.

Authorizations

​
Authorization
string
header
required

Bearer authentication header of the form Bearer <token>, where <token> is your auth token.

Query Parameters

​
stopId
string
required
Minimum string length: 1
​
route
string
Minimum string length: 1
​
direction
enum<string>
Available options:
north,
south,
uptown,
downtown
​
limit
number
Required range: 1 <= x <= 100
​
includeRaw
boolean

Response

200 - application/json

Response for status 200

​
mode
enum<string>
required
Available options:
subway,
bus,
lirr,
metro-north
​
route
object
required
​
stop
object
required
​
direction
enum<string>
required
Available options:
north,
south,
east,
west,
unknown,
uptown,
downtown
​
arrivalTime
string
required
​
minutes
number
required
​
realtime
boolean
required
​
source
string
required
​
destination
string
​
displayDirection
string
​
headsign
string
​
departureTime
string
​
tripId
string
​
raw
any