Bus bot

Telegram bot to notify when seats are available on a bus.

Requests

List of requests for the information we need

API	Description	Used by	URL	Query Parameters?	Notes
eligible_journeys	Get journeys for pass ID	Rides page	https://app.zeelo.co/api/travels/38u1fj13-rfd8-q99a-ap22-ao92929ifikf/elegible-journey-groups	❌
stops	Get stops	Rides page	https://app.zeelo.co/api/stops/by_id?page=1&per_page=25	❌
journeys	Get journeys	Pass page	https://app.zeelo.co/api/travel-passes/38u1fj13-rfd8-q99a-ap22-ao92929ifikf/eligible-journey-groups	✅
capacity	Get capacity	Pass page	https://app.zeelo.co/api/journeys/capacity_between_stops	❌

Journeys URL parameters

Parameter	Description	Example
product_id	Product ID	38u1fj13-rfd8-q99a-ap22-ao92929ifikf
origin_stop_id[]	Origin stop ID	38u1fj13-rfd8-q99a-ap22-ao92929ifikf
destination_stop_id[]	Destination stop ID	38u1fj13-rfd8-q99a-ap22-ao92929ifikf
tier_id[]	Tier ID	38u1fj13-rfd8-q99a-ap22-ao92929ifikf

Example URL

https://app.zeelo.co/api/travel-passes/38u1fj13-rfd8-q99a-ap22-ao92929ifikf/eligible-journey-groups?product_id=38u1fj13-rfd8-q99a-ap22-ao92929ifikf&origin_stop_id[]=38u1fj13-rfd8-q99a-ap22-ao92929ifikf&destination_stop_id[]=38u1fj13-rfd8-q99a-ap22-ao92929ifikf&tier_id[]=38u1fj13-rfd8-q99a-ap22-ao92929ifikf

Requirements

Requirement	Version
Python	3.11.1

Commands

Set up environment

python -m venv env

Install dependencies

pip install -r requirements.txt

Run

python ./bot.py

Telegram credentials

To obtain an access token for telegram, see help page, but in essence, talk to the BotFather.

The access token is used via an environment variable, or a .env file, which is not tracked by git.

Also in the environment should be an "admin ID", where errors are sent via the error handler.

touch .env

TELEGRAM_BOT_ACCESS_TOKEN=...
ADMIN_USER_IDS=...

Persistent data

To store each user's preferred stops and reminder preference, a persistent pickle file is used. This is not tracked by git. This uses the Persistence API from python-telegram-bot.

persistent_data = PicklePersistence(filepath="bot_data.pickle")
application = Application.builder().token(API_KEY).persistence(persistent_data).build()

Deploy on remote server

Set up environment on server

ssh server
mkdir -p /usr/alifeee
cd /usr/alifeee
git clone https://github.com/alifeee/bus_bot.git
cd bus_bot
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install python3.10-venv
python3 -m venv env
source env/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
echo {} >> historical_capacities.json
# create user
sudo adduser --system --no-create-home --group bus_bot
sudo chown -R alifeee:bus_bot .
chmod g=rw historical_capacities.json
chmod g=rw bot_data.pickle

Move over secrets

scp google_credentials.json server:/env/alifeee/bus_bot/
scp .env server:/usr/alifeee/bus_bot/

Run bot

ssh server
cd /usr/alifeee/bus_bot
cp bus_bot.service /etc/systemd/system/bus_bot.service
sudo systemctl enable bus_bot.service
sudo systemctl start bus_bot.service
sudo systemctl status bus_bot.service

Update

ssh server
cd /usr/alifeee/bus_bot
git pull

Then repeat steps in Run