Track & Alert Public Transport Delays using ScrapeGraphAI, Teams and Todoist

Public Transport Delay Tracker with Microsoft Teams and Todoist

⚠️ COMMUNITY TEMPLATE DISCLAIMER: This is a community-contributed template that uses ScrapeGraphAI (a community node). Please ensure you have the ScrapeGraphAI community node installed in your n8n instance before using this template.

This workflow continuously monitors public-transportation websites and apps for real-time schedule changes and delays, then posts an alert to a Microsoft Teams channel and creates a follow-up task in Todoist. It is ideal for commuters or travel coordinators who need instant, actionable updates about transit disruptions.

Pre-conditions/Requirements

Prerequisites An n8n instance (self-hosted or n8n cloud) ScrapeGraphAI community node installed Microsoft Teams account with permission to create an Incoming Webhook Todoist account with at least one project Access to target transit authority websites or APIs

Required Credentials ScrapeGraphAI API Key** – Enables scraping of transit data Microsoft Teams Webhook URL** – Sends messages to a specific channel Todoist API Token** – Creates follow-up tasks (Optional) Transit API key if you are using a protected data source

Specific Setup Requirements | Resource | What you need | |--------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------| | Teams Channel | Create a channel → Add “Incoming Webhook” → copy the URL | | Todoist Project | Create “Transit Alerts” project and note its Project ID | | Transit URLs/APIs | Confirm the URLs/pages contain the schedule & delay elements |

How it works

This workflow continuously monitors public-transportation websites and apps for real-time schedule changes and delays, then posts an alert to a Microsoft Teams channel and creates a follow-up task in Todoist. It is ideal for commuters or travel coordinators who need instant, actionable updates about transit disruptions.

Key Steps: Webhook (Trigger): Starts the workflow on a schedule or via HTTP call. Set Node: Defines target transit URLs and parsing rules. ScrapeGraphAI Node**: Scrapes live schedule and delay data. Code Node**: Normalizes scraped data, converts times, and flags delays. IF Node**: Determines if a delay exceeds the user-defined threshold. Microsoft Teams Node**: Sends formatted alert message to the selected Teams channel. Todoist Node**: Creates a “Check alternate route” task with due date equal to the delayed departure time. Sticky Note Node**: Holds a blueprint-level explanation for future editors.

Set up steps

Setup Time: 15–20 minutes

Install community node: In n8n, go to “Manage Nodes” → “Install” → search for “ScrapeGraphAI” → install and restart n8n. Create Teams webhook: In Microsoft Teams, open target channel → “Connectors” → “Incoming Webhook” → give it a name/icon → copy the URL. Create Todoist API token: Todoist → Settings → Integrations → copy your personal API token. Add credentials in n8n: Settings → Credentials → create new for ScrapeGraphAI, Microsoft Teams, and Todoist. Import workflow template: File → Import Workflow JSON → select this template. Configure Set node: Replace example transit URLs with those of your local transit authority. Adjust delay threshold: In the Code node, edit const MAX_DELAY_MINUTES = 5; as needed. Activate workflow: Toggle “Active”. Monitor executions to ensure messages and tasks are created.

Node Descriptions

Core Workflow Nodes: Webhook** – Triggers workflow on schedule or external HTTP request. Set** – Supplies list of URLs and scraping selectors. ScrapeGraphAI** – Scrapes timetable, status, and delay indicators. Code** – Parses results, converts to minutes, and builds payloads. IF** – Compares delay duration to threshold. Microsoft Teams** – Posts formatted adaptive-card-style message. Todoist** – Adds a task with priority and due date. Sticky Note** – Internal documentation inside the workflow canvas.

Data Flow: Webhook → Set → ScrapeGraphAI → Code → IF
a. IF (true branch) → Microsoft Teams → Todoist
b. IF (false branch) → (workflow ends)

Customization Examples

Change alert message formatting // In the Code node const message = ⚠️ Delay Alert: Route: ${item.route} Expected: ${item.scheduled} New Time: ${item.newTime} Delay: ${item.delay} min Link: ${item.url}; return [{ json: { message } }];

Post to multiple Teams channels // Duplicate the Microsoft Teams node and reference a different credential items.forEach(item => { item.json.webhookUrl = $node["Set"].json["secondaryChannelWebhook"]; }); return items;

Data Output Format

The workflow outputs structured JSON data:

{ "route": "Blue Line", "scheduled": "2024-12-01T14:25:00Z", "newTime": "2024-12-01T14:45:00Z", "delay": 20, "status": "Delayed", "url": "https://transit.example.com/blue-line/status" }

Troubleshooting

Common Issues Scraping returns empty data – Verify CSS selectors/XPath in the Set node and ensure the target site hasn’t changed its markup. Teams message not sent – Check that the stored webhook URL is correct and the connector is still active. Todoist task duplicated – Add a unique key (e.g., route + timestamp) to avoid inserting duplicates.

Performance Tips Limit the number of URLs per execution when monitoring many routes. Cache previous scrape results to avoid hitting site rate limits.

Pro Tips: Use n8n’s built-in Cron instead of Webhook if you only need periodic polling. Add a SplitInBatches node after scraping to process large route lists incrementally. Enable execution logging to an external database for detailed audit trails.