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

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

1. Install community node: In n8n, go to “Manage Nodes” → “Install” → search for “ScrapeGraphAI” → install and restart n8n.
2. Create Teams webhook: In Microsoft Teams, open target channel → “Connectors” → “Incoming Webhook” → give it a name/icon → copy the URL.
3. Create Todoist API token: Todoist → Settings → Integrations → copy your personal API token.
4. Add credentials in n8n: Settings → Credentials → create new for ScrapeGraphAI, Microsoft Teams, and Todoist.
5. Import workflow template: File → Import Workflow JSON → select this template.
6. Configure Set node: Replace example transit URLs with those of your local transit authority.
7. Adjust delay threshold: In the Code node, edit const MAX_DELAY_MINUTES = 5; as needed.
8. 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:

1. 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

1. Scraping returns empty data – Verify CSS selectors/XPath in the Set node and ensure the target site hasn’t changed its markup.
2. Teams message not sent – Check that the stored webhook URL is correct and the connector is still active.
3. 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.