For NJ Transit rail & bus riders

The NJ Transit companion I built for my own commute.

Live tracking, real delays, whole-station boards, trips with a change — and a nudge when it's time to leave the house. In a clean little app that just works, and it's free.

Just your email. No password, no app store, no catch.

RailDash showing live NJ Transit departures from Allendale to Hoboken — each train with its number, line, departure track and arrival time
The back-story

The official app was hard for me to get around.

I moved to Jersey and suddenly I was riding NJ Transit all the time. The official app just never quite clicked for how I ride — I'd be squinting on a cold platform trying to figure out if my train was late and which track it was on.

So one weekend I built something that worked the way I wanted, with my AI pal. Something that opens instantly, shows me exactly what I need, and pings me when my train's running late. My wife and I ended up using it every single day.

It got good enough that keeping it to ourselves felt a little selfish. So here it is — free, for any NJ Transit commuter who wants a calmer ride.

— Max, a fellow NJ Transit commuter

Why RailDash

The features I wanted, in one place.

Here's what I kept wishing for on the platform every morning — and what RailDash does about it.

I wanted to see exactly where my train is on the line.

See your train's real position, stop by stop, as it moves — including when it's standing at a platform rather than between two.

I wanted my track as early as possible — not a last-second scramble.

Your departure track sits right in the train list — and we'll ping you the moment it's posted. Walk over early; skip the sprint.

I wanted just my next train, front and center.

Your next train is front and center, and a late or boarding train stays put until it actually pulls out — not when the clock says it should have.

Once aboard, I wanted to see which stops were coming up.

Full stop-by-stop route, the train's live GPS position on it, and your stop highlighted.

I wanted delays and cancellations the moment they happen.

Live delays and cancellations, plus real service alerts — minus the marketing fluff. A cancelled train keeps saying cancelled, even after NJ Transit drops it from the board.

I wanted to skip the login-and-reset-your-password dance.

Passwordless — one emailed code and you're in, and you stay signed in for 90 days. There's nothing to forget.

Not a knock on the folks running the trains — just a lighter tool for the daily ride, built on their excellent developer feeds.

What you get

Everything you actually need. Nothing you don't.

Built around real commuting, and added to most weeks.

🚆

Live train tracking

Watch your train move down the line, stop by stop, with an honest ETA into your station — and see it sitting at the platform it's actually standing on, not the one it already left.

RailDash tracking a live NJ Transit train to Hoboken, with the train's marker drawn on the route between two stations and the time it reaches every remaining stop
⭐

Your next train, and its track

The one you'll use every day. Save the trips, station boards and bus stops you check, and the home screen counts each one down to the next departure and names the track — “in 7 min · Track 2” — before you've tapped anything. Drag them into the order you actually ride them.

The RailDash home screen: a saved station board, a saved bus stop, and a saved Allendale to Hoboken route counting down 'in 7 min · Track 2'
⏱️

Delays, track and the train itself

Real-time lateness, the departure track the moment NJ Transit posts it, whether it's a double-decker, and when each train gets you to your stop — all in the list, so you're never guessing on the platform.

Departure list from Allendale to Hoboken — each train showing its number, the Main/Bergen line, Track 2, whether it is single-level, and its arrival time
🚉

Whole-station board

Just want to know what's leaving next? Pick any station and see every upcoming departure — all lines and destinations, with track and live status — like the big board on the concourse.

Station departure board for New York Penn Station showing every upcoming train across all lines, each with its destination, line, track and live status
🏃

Tell me when to leave

Say how long it takes you to reach your station — walking, driving, or getting dropped off — and RailDash works backwards from your train: “Leave by 7:34 for the 8:02 to Hoboken.” It never quietly slides later because the train is running late. That's how people miss trains.

A tracked NJ Transit train in RailDash with a Notify me about this train button, explaining you get a push when the track is posted, if it is delayed or cancelled, when it is time to leave, and when your stop is next
🔔

Heads-up alerts

Opt in and get pushed the moment your track is posted — plus if your train is late or cancelled, and when your stop is coming up next. Even with the app closed.

Lock-screen push notification from RailDash reading: Track posted — 12:25 to New York Penn Station departs from Track A
🔀

Trips with a change, on one screen

No one-seat ride? RailDash works out the connection and puts the whole journey on one screen — where you change, how long you've got, what time you actually get there, and a tab for each train so you can look at leg 2 before you've boarded leg 1.

RailDash journey screen for New York Penn Station to Allendale: change at Secaucus with 6 minutes to change, arriving Allendale 8:41 PM, with a tab for leg 1 train 3965 and a tab for leg 2 train 1127
⏳

…and whether you'll make it

Your connection is tracked live on its own track number, and RailDash says plainly when the change looks too tight — then lists the trains after it, so you already know the fallback before you're standing on the platform at Secaucus.

The connection panel on a RailDash journey: the 7:57 PM train 1127 from Track F marked 6M TO CHANGE — TIGHT, with later trains listed at 33, 66 and 91 minutes to change
🔗

Share your live ETA

Send whoever's collecting you a link to your live arrival. No app for them to install, no login, nothing to sign up for — and the link expires by itself.

RailDash tracking screen with a Share live ETA button above the train's stop-by-stop route with the time at each station
📣

Live service alerts

Real disruptions — track conditions, cancellations, adjusted schedules — surfaced right on the route you're looking at. The noise and marketing copy are filtered out.

A live NJ Transit service alert shown on a RailDash route: Morris and Essex Line service is subject to up to 30-minute delays in both directions due to a track condition near Morris Plains
📅

Plan ahead — any day's schedule

Not traveling today? Tap Tomorrow or pick any date up to about six months out and see that day's full timetable. You can even arm a delay or cancellation alert ahead of time — it stays quiet, then wakes up on the day of your trip.

RailDash showing tomorrow's scheduled trains from Allendale to Hoboken, with Today, Tomorrow and Date buttons and a Back to today link
🔢

Look up a train by number

Heard “train 1132” over the PA, or that's all the text message said? Type the number and RailDash works out which run you mean, then tracks it.

Typing the train number 1132 into RailDash, which resolves it to the 7:55 PM Main line train from Suffern to Hoboken
🔍

Low Vision mode

One switch makes the whole app bigger and bolder — larger type, larger targets, stronger contrast — for reading a departure time on a dark platform without hunting for your glasses.

The RailDash home screen in Low Vision mode, with noticeably larger text on the favorites list and the search controls
Also live — buses

Buses, too — across the whole state.

Every NJ Transit bus stop and route, in the same fast app — now with live bus times. See real-time delays and where your bus is on its route, with the full schedule always there too — clearly labeled, so you're never guessing.

🚌

Any stop's departure board

Pick any of ~16,500 NJ Transit bus stops and see what's leaving next — every route, where it's headed, which gate, and when.

NJ Transit bus departure board for Port Authority Bus Terminal, listing upcoming buses by route number, destination, gate and time
📍

Find your stop, fast

Search by name, type the stop number printed on the sign, tap Near me, or browse by route. However you think of your stop, it's a tap away.

Searching bus stops by name in RailDash — typing 'port authority' shows matching NJ Transit stops with their 5-digit stop numbers, plus Near me and Browse routes options
🗺️

Every bus on the road right now

Pick a route and see the buses actually running it this minute, each one saying where it is — “between Willow Ave at 2nd St and Observer Hwy” — and whether it's on time.

RailDash showing NJ Transit route 126 running now: two live buses, each marked ON TIME with the pair of stops it is currently between
📍

Follow your bus, stop by stop

Tap any bus to see it drawn on its own route, moving between stops, with the time it reaches each one — so you know exactly when it gets to you.

The route 126 timeline in RailDash with the live bus marker drawn on the line between Willow Ave at 2nd St and Observer Hwy at Willow Ave, and the time at every stop
⭐

Save a stop — or just your route

Star a stop for one-tap access. At a busy terminal like Port Authority, pin just the one route you ride and skip the other forty.

The RailDash favorites list in Edit mode, with rename and remove buttons beside a saved station board, a saved Port Authority bus stop and a saved rail route
New

Your favorites follow you to a new phone.

They used to live on one handset and nowhere else — a new phone, a reinstall, or signing in on a tablet meant starting from an empty list with no way to get the old one back. Now they're kept with your account.

  • ✓Sign in anywhere and your saved routes, boards and stops are already there, in the order you arranged them.
  • ✓How long it takes you to reach each station comes too — so the “time to leave” nudge works on the new phone from the first train.
  • ✓It happens quietly in the background. Nothing to switch on, nothing to tap; Settings just tells you when everything was last saved.
  • ✓Already using RailDash on two devices? The first sync combines both lists rather than picking one, so nothing you saved is lost — you may want to tidy up a duplicate or two.
The RailDash home screen with a saved Allendale to Hoboken route counting down to the next train and naming its track
Browse live schedules

Every line, station and route — live.

Jump straight to live NJ Transit departures, delays and schedules for any rail line, station or popular trip — plus statewide buses.

🎟️

One honest catch: no ticket buying.

RailDash tells you everything about your train — but it can't sell you a ticket. There's a one-tap Buy tickets shortcut that drops you straight into the NJ Transit app, but you'll still pay there or at the station. And no, I sadly can't offer you a discount on your fare either. Believe me, I tried.

Get started

Up and running in under a minute

No app store. No password to remember. Just your email.

1

Open the app

Head to raildash.app — on iPhone open it in Safari, on Android in Chrome.

2

Add to Home Screen

On iPhone: tap , then Add to Home Screen . On Android: tap ⋮ → Install app. Runs full-screen and enables alerts.

3

Launch it

Open RailDash from its new Home Screen icon.

4

Sign in

Enter your email, pop in the 6-digit code, and you're in. No password, ever.

On Android, Chrome usually offers to install it for you — just tap the prompt.

Privacy first

We don't want your travel data.

Seriously. There's nothing to sell and no one to sell it to.

  • ✓What we keep is your account and your own settings: your email address, when you last signed in, and the things you chose to save — the favorites you created, how long it takes you to reach your station, and how you like the app set up. That's the database.
  • ✓We never record where or when you actually travel. The trains you look up, the searches you run and the trips you take are not logged against your account. Saving a route is you choosing a shortcut — it isn't us watching you use it.
  • ✓No ads. No trackers. No analytics selling. No third parties get your data, and none of it is for sale. There is nothing to sell and no one to sell it to.
  • ✓Your email is used for one thing: sending your sign-in code. No newsletters, no spam.
  • ✓Free to use, and open to anyone. This is a passion project from a commuter, not a startup chasing your attention.