About

What it is

Spick Me looks up connections in the Swiss timetable and tells you what you need on the platform: when to leave, which track, how long the change really is, and where the coaches will be standing. It shows live delays where the operators publish them, and says nothing where they do not.

There are no accounts, no advertising and nothing to buy. It is a private project, not a company and not a transport undertaking.

There is, admittedly, one thing in here that is not a timetable. It is on no menu and behind no link. It lives behind the logo, and it opens for the impatient.

How it works

The apps carry the whole Swiss timetable on the device. It is downloaded once, and after that every search is answered locally — in a tunnel, abroad, or with the phone in flight mode. Nothing about a search leaves the device.

The timetable in your browser works differently, because a browser has nowhere to keep a national timetable: the search is sent to this site and answered here. What that means for your data is set out on the privacy page.

What it costs your phone

The timetable is a download of about 60 MB — 345 MB once unpacked on the phone — and it is only fetched when you ask. The app looks for a newer one every three to five days, when you open it, and asks before taking it. Live delays cost under a kilobyte every 30 seconds, and only while the app is on screen; the home-screen tiles fetch nothing in the background unless you switch that on.

On Android it asks for your location only while it is open, to find the stops around you, never in the background. It uses no Bluetooth and does not scan for nearby devices, and it reads no contacts, photos or microphone. Notifications and exact alarms are there for your trip alerts.

Where the timetable comes from

Timetable, real-time, formation and occupancy data come from third parties — principally opentransportdata.swiss and the Swiss transport undertakings. We pass it on and draw it; we do not produce it and cannot correct it.

The map of a connection is drawn from this same timetable — from the coordinates of the stops on the way. The ground under it is Natural Earth, public domain, and ©swisstopo; the relief was produced using Copernicus data and information funded by the European Union - EU-DEM layers. No map service is contacted, and none is paid.

So it can be incomplete, out of date, delayed, or simply wrong. Where this site and the operator disagree, the operator is right — check the displays at the station when it matters. The full statement is in the terms.

Who makes it

Gian Calgeer and Jörg Schenker, in Zurich. Written in Switzerland, for the network we use ourselves — which is most of the reason the details are the way they are. Who to contact and how is on the legal notice.

Where to get it

Android and Wear OS, a desktop app and a Pebble watchface: all on the downloads page, with checksums. The timetable here needs nothing installed at all, and nor does asking your AI assistant.

Tell us what is wrong

We only find out what is missing or broken when somebody says so. The feedback page reaches us directly, and the ideas page is what we are thinking about next.