TDX data has been available for a number of years on 131500.info, but many tools are GTFS specific. I also find GTFS easier to work with.

Luckily, converting from TDX to GTFS is not overly difficult, and below are some instructions. This howto is a bit old, as I am only now copying it from my "Notes" folder to put online to help others.

Note: You can now directly download GTFS from the TransportInfo website: https://tdx.131500.com.au

1) Signup for an account with EC2 (AWS), unless you have 16GB of memory available on a machine.
2) Upload TransXChange2GTFS to a place you can download from.
3) Upload the latest TDX data dump from 131500.info to a place you can download from.
4) Login to AWS and start an EC2 instance.  I picked a large instance and used 64-bit Ubuntu 10.04, us-east-1 ami-f8f40591
5) Download the Data and transxchange to /mnt

wget http://ec2-175-41-139-176.ap-southeast-1.compute.amazonaws.com/Data20110127.zip
wget http://cdn.kelvinism.com/transxchange2GoogleTransit.jar

6) Install Sun JRE.

apt-get install python-software-properties
add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ lucid partner"
apt-get update
apt-get install sun-java6-jre

7) Check how much memory is available

root@domU-12-31-39-10-31-B1:/mnt# free -m
             total       used       free     shared    buffers     cached
Mem:          7680        626       7053          0         11        329
-/+ buffers/cache:        285       7394
Swap:            0          0          0

8) Create a configuration file sydney.conf

url=http://131500.info
timezone=Australia/Sydney
default-route-type=2
output-directory=output
useagencyshortname=true
skipemptyservice=true
skiporhpanstops=true

9) If you're on the train like me, start screen, and start converting. The number you pick for "-Xmx" obviously needs to fit in the amount of free memory you have.

java -Xmx104000m -jar dist\transxchange2GoogleTransit.jar Data20120524.zip -c sydney.conf

I seldom used Facebook, and felt a bit depressed after logging on each time. I don't know if I am alone, but each time still felt a bit like a secret spitting contest. A bit, not a lot, but sort of subconsciously. Oh, he has a nice (sounding) job. -1 I've traveled more than her. +3 The old school cool guy is back living with his parents. +3 She has five kids already - I knew that would happen! -5 Honestly, though, even at an involuntary subconscious level, I don't like spitting contests. I would rather be sharing ideas or creating something. Wish me luck.

Here's a little hack I thought I'd share. There are maybe other ways to do this, but this way took all of two minutes, which suits me. My daily routine has me taking a train along the Inner West Line (here in Sydney), and I wanted to know in advance if there was any issues with the line. 131500 provides weekely emails about upcoming trackwork, and there's an RSS feed of delays; this is what you'd see in many of the Sydney transport-related apps. Another information source is through Twitter. For all of these sources I only really care about the one line I take every day - the quickest answer would seem to be if I could only get updates on Twitter for my line

Luckily this is all quick to do using an only service called ifttt. What I needed to do was create a task searching Twitter for "Inner West from:131500trains", and if any new items are located it sends me a message on GTalk. This is one example of what I like about having some mostly open data - I can consume it how I want it. Let's just say I'm looking forward to GovHack 2012

This example could be extended for other purposes, e.g. searching for the word "discount" on some suppliers Twitter stream.

Now that our Europe trip has ended, I need to leave a note of things I wish we had done better, both travel-wise, and the stuff we brought along.

I like to travel light, and find it a little comical when I see people struggling with giant 70L backpacks; my partner and I always do carry-on, no matter for a two week trip, or two months. (This means our packs have to weigh less than 7KG). Even in winter it is possible to pack light. The trick seems to be only packing what one will use regularly, with no duplicates, of appropriate size, and hopefully reusable for other purposes. Don't pack anything you would be gutted if it broke.

The lessons below are not just to pack light, but also to reduce stress. Some really only apply to me for next time :) This is not a howto list on packing light for travel, just a few things I need to do better for next time.

Electronics

Only bring electronic devices that can be charged by USB, which leads me to my next point...

Look on eBay or from Amazon for a USB charger that has multiple inputs (make sure it has enough amps if you are charging certain phones). It became a hassle trying to charge four or five devices using just one USB charger. The charger, if going to Europe, should have room to accept a ground, or be able to get around the ground plug used in many places. In other words, get one like this one not like this one (basically, not like any of the block ones from eBay). Once again, try to get a 4-port one with travel adaptors included.

I'm going to consider not bringing my Kindle next time, but instead bring one paperback book. The weight might be about the same. I might not even bring a book - less stuff to break or get wet. I don't do much reading on my travels anyway, instead writing in a journal or finding out what to do next.

Get an Eye-Fi or be able to read a USB stick with my phone. I need to figure out a way to backup photos from my camera to the cloud every night using only my phone (if the hotel has free wi-fi). Sorry if you are the guest next door...

Going Light

Don't bring jeans, or bring only one nice pair of pants for semi-formal situation. I have to admit, I almost never wore my jeans. After only wearing them once or twice they would get wet, dirty, and/or smelly, so I would be forced to wear my Columbia pseudo-hiking pants over and over. The pants are not particularly stylish, especially in European cities, but they are reasonable warm, repel water, dry quickly, and are exceptionally light. After weeks of abuse they didn't smell, or look dirty, somehow. I'm a bit of a Columbia fan...

Try to find one pair of shoes that are ergonomic and athletic enough for walking 20KM/day, or on a trail, but also stylish enough to go into a nice restaurant and not draw too much attention. And dry quickly. I don't really have any suggestions, since I'm still looking, but I'm certainly never going to put my Allen Edmonds shoes in a backpack. I am an AE fan, too...

Bring cotton undershirts instead of normal shirts for winter travel. I never ended up wearing a t-shirt on the outside, so the shirts were basically just used to keep the rest of my clothing clean. I may look into undershits that wick better than cotton.

Replace my money belt with something. It is just uncomfortable. I am trying to find an alternative, maybe something that goes over the shoulder instead. I only need something for my passport.

My fingerless gloves worked really well, because I could still use my mobile phone without taking off my gloves.

Staying Clean and Healthy

Bring two large dry bags for dirty clothing, a dry bag for larger electronics, a dry bag for electronic cords/cables/chargers, and a dry bag for lotions and creams. Or get indestructible bags. The zip-loc bags I brought all had holes within the first few days of travel, spewing my cables everywhere. The corners on any bottle tears straight through them. I have since bought some Loksak bags, and a year later they are still holding up.

Bring more vitamins, both Multi and C, especially if in winter. A tube from an energy capsule mix would work well to store them in, or Vitamin C fits well into a Tic-Tac container. Only bring enough pills that you need. For instance, I usually only bring two pills of Gastro-Stop, because that stuff works maybe too well. Also, vitamins were really inexpensive in parts of Europe compared to most places I have lived.

Long Johns next time we travel in winter and it looks to go below 0C. We were OK, but that extra layer would have been nice.

Buy a Mach 3 as soon as possible. I tried shaving in Prague before the opera with a normal three blade razor, and it was horrible. I had to use an entire pack just to see skin, and even then had little patches of hair that I couldn't get. I'm never making that mistake again. Alternatively, I'm thinking of getting a portable Sanyo electric razor that I saw my dad use when we were in New Zealand.

RELATED: I have added a similar entry on our recent trip to Nepal (12/2012).