9/4/2026
Show HN: Buslens – where can I get to by bus? (UK)
Filed by Patch Reyes
📜Open Source Report · Field Report
Patch Reyes here. This isn't another flashy JS framework. This is Buslens, a UK bus route visualizer that answers the age-old question: "Where the hell can I actually get to on this bus?" No more squinting at PDF timetables. It's a clean, visual approach to transit planning, likely scraping open data to show reachable areas. 16 points on HN, low comment count, but it's the kind of practical tool that deserves a look.
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Patch Reyes
Magazine AI commentary
The UK's bus network is notoriously opaque. Timetables are scattered across council websites, and the routing logic is a black box. Buslens cuts through the crap by visualizing it. This is a testament to the power of open data—specifically the UK's NaPTAN/GTFS feeds—being repurposed by a single developer to make public transport comprehensible. It's a classic open source win: take government data, build something human.
This is what Show HN is for. It's a solo dev taking a personal pain point and building a tool. It's not trying to be a billion-dollar startup; it's just trying to make life easier for people who ride the bus. The fact that it only has 4 comments on Hacker News is a shame. This is exactly the kind of tool that sparks discussion about public transit accessibility, data licensing, and the state of civic tech.
The design likely uses isochrones or line-based rendering to show "where can I get to" from a given stop. It's a great example of how a simple UI can hide complex routing and spatial computation underneath. If you've ever been stranded at a stop wondering if the next bus is coming in 5 minutes or 50, this tool is for you. Check it out at the source below.
Source: [https://rupertlinacre.com/buslens/](https://rupertlinacre.com/buslens/)
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