Check line statusCheck whether named lines are running, and why they are not: TfL's own wording (Good Service, Minor Delays, Part Suspended), the severity behind it, and the sentence explaining the delay. Each line carries a has_disruption flag and the whole answer an all_good flag, so an alert branches on a fact rather than on matching a phrase.
Check status across a whole modeCheck every line of a whole way of travelling at once - the entire Tube, the Overground, the DLR, the trams, the buses. One call answers 'is anything wrong on the network this morning?' and names the lines to worry about, and it is also how to list the lines a mode runs, since each comes back named.
Get disruptions on a lineRead every disruption TfL has posted against named lines, in full. Where the status check gives one headline per line, this gives every notice behind it, including planned engineering work with the dates it runs between. An empty list means normal service.
Get station closures and lift outagesFind out what is wrong with the stations themselves rather than the trains: closed stations, shut entrances, lifts and escalators out of service, step-free access interrupted. This is what decides whether a journey is possible today for anyone who cannot use stairs.
Check road delaysCheck the main roads TfL manages for exceptional delays - the A roads, the North and South Circulars, the river crossings. Leave the road list empty to sweep all of them in one request, and read roads_with_delays for the ones to avoid.
Get live arrivals at a stopRead the live board at a stop: every train, tram or bus due, how many minutes away, where it is heading and which platform it comes into. Sorted soonest first, so the first row is the next one out. Filter by line at a busy interchange to see only the one you take.
Get the published timetableRead the published departure times from one stop on one line, grouped the way TfL publishes them - weekdays, Friday, Saturday and Sunday each with their own list, first and last departure named. A departure after midnight is written by TfL as hour 24 to 27 and is republished here as a real clock time flagged as the next day.
Search for a stopFind a stop by name and get the code every other action takes. This is how a workflow turns 'Oxford Circus' typed by a person, or read out of an email, into something TfL can answer about. Narrow by mode when a name belongs to more than one place, as King's Cross does.
Get stop detailsEverything TfL holds about one stop: which lines call there, the fare zone, the address and phone number, how many lifts, escalators and gates it has, whether there is Wi-Fi or a toilet, and the full accessibility notes including whether step-free access is by lift.
Find stops near a placeFind the stops within walking distance of a point, nearest first, each with how many metres away it is. Ask for stations, bus stops or both in those words rather than in NaPTAN's thirty stop types.
Find Santander Cycles nearbyFind the cycle hire docking stations near a point and how many bikes and empty spaces each has right now, split between standard bikes and e-bikes. TfL reports these as quoted strings in a property bag; they come back here as numbers, with has_bikes and has_space answering the two questions anyone actually asks.
List the stops on a lineEvery stop a line calls at, with its fare zone, position and the other lines that meet it. This is where a workflow finds the interchanges between two lines, or checks whether a line reaches a station at all.
Get a line's stops in orderThe stops of a line in the order it calls at them, one way round, with each branch listed separately. Where the stop list answers which stops, this answers in what order - which is what tells you whether one station comes before or after another.
Plan a journeyPlan a journey across London the way TfL's own planner does: several options, each with its legs, duration, number of changes and fare in pounds. Leave the time empty to plan from now, or give one and say whether it is when to leave or when to arrive - it is converted into London's clock for you, summer time included. Ask for step-free routes, the fewest changes, or particular modes only.
Get London air qualityToday's and tomorrow's air pollution forecast for London, as a band from Low to Very High with the reading broken down by pollutant. The one thing here that is about the air rather than the trains, and the one worth checking before telling somebody to cycle.
