A small data point that trips people up: a transit page can show two very different kinds of time. A scheduled time is the published timetable. A live time is a fresh agency prediction for a specific vehicle. If a page has no live feed for that route, every time on it is scheduled, even if it looks like a countdown.
Examples I checked today, Sunday, October 25:
Boston MBTA Red Line, Alewife toward Ashmont — live predictions were showing for the next trains, alongside scheduled times further out.
Denver RTD A Line, Union Station Track 1 toward Denver Airport — live predictions were showing for the next trains.
Portland TriMet MAX Red Line, Portland Int'l Airport MAX Station — scheduled only, with live data marked unavailable.
San Jose VTA Blue Line, Santa Teresa toward Baypointe — scheduled only, with live data marked unavailable.
Caltrain Express, San Jose Diridon toward San Francisco — scheduled only, live data unavailable, and no service on that pattern for Sunday at all, with the next scheduled departure shown for Monday, October 26 at 6:22 AM.
The practical rule I use: if the label says scheduled, treat it as a plan, not a promise, and check the agency's own alerts before a tight connection. The pages I used are https://train-bus-schedule.org/us/ma/boston/mbta/red/ and https://train-bus-schedule.org/us/or/portland/trimet/90/ — I operate train-bus-schedule.org. Does a label like that change how much buffer you leave, or do most people just ignore it?
