The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), the state-government run bus service for Bengaluru and its periphery has launched its new official mobile app titled ‘My BMTC’. The app can be downloaded from the Google Play Store here.
The app, which is currently in its beta stage, has been developed by Bengaluru school student Nihar Thakkar, who had previously made a similar app. The app made by Nihar previously relied on public information put out by the BMTC, and was being used more than BMTC’s previous official app, which had no dynamic features.
Nihar’s app was shut down in July 2019 after being operational for two years. The app was shut down after the BMTC stopped sharing its data publicly over concerns of misuse of data by taxi aggregators.
The new app provides the estimated time of arrival of buses at a specific bus stop, and shows the nearby bus stops along with route-based search options. The app also has a trip planner option, which allows commuters to plan their journey from and to locations they choose to set in the app, similar to Google Maps. Buses can also be live-tracked through the app.
The new app was officially launched by former MLA NS Nandiesha Reddy, the chairman of BMTC, BMTC MD C Sikha, and Director of Vigilance and Security Anupam Agarwal.
According to officials, the app will soon be available on the Apple App Store.
The app is expected to fill the reliability gap which exists for the BMTC, leading to high usage of private vehicles and cabs, resulting in congestion on Bengaluru’s roads.
The daily ridership of BMTC has steadily fallen over the years, from 51.3 lakh in 2014-15 to 36 lakh in 2018-19. At the same time, the length of cancelled routes increased almost 200% over four years — from 241.6 lakh km in 2013-14 to 717.9 lakh km in 2017-18.
The app also has an SOS feature for women passengers, fare chart indicator, facility to buy passes, and can also be used to book BMTC buses on a casual contract basis too.
Officials said that a feedback mechanism will also be set up, where customers can give complaints or suggestions to improve the service.
The full version of the app will be ready by the end of January 2020, and will also be available in Kannada.