UK based TRAFI, an app which provides bus and train times across countries like Russia, Latvia, Estonia, Taiwan, Turkey, Lithuania and Brazil, has launched its services in Pune. The company said that the app has been available in Mumbai and Bangalore since April this year. The app is available in both English and Hindi.
TRAFI allows users to search for routes on buses, trains and metros, see timetables of public transport services as well as nearby stops. It provides bus number, the route, the stops and the time in which a bus will reach or start from specific stops. While checking the stops on various bus points, the app also prompts a “How often do you use this route” question.
Namasthae! We are live now in PUNE, India! #Trafi #Trafiapp #app #Pune #India #publictransit pic.twitter.com/w3pYtmAnHc
— TRAFI (@TrafiApp) June 7, 2016
Users can save routes, favourite them and use the app offline. TRAFI also has a ‘news and reports’ section on the app which lets users follow hashtags to get bite sized updates on incidents, transport updates and suggesting app improvements in the city. A user can then ‘thank’ or leave a comment on the other user’s post. They can also share or flag the post.
Tie up with PMC: The company said that it will offer dashboard, analytics and fleet solutions to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), for which it has partnered with it, the Smart Cities team and the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy (ITDP). TRAFI and PMC will test public access to real time data and record the usage of public transport. In the future, TRAFI plans to add real time bus and metro information for the city.
TRAFI is available on Android, iOS as well as the web and counts Octopus Investments, European Bank for Reconstruction and Redevelopment, Practica Capital, Kuriame Lietwos ateiti and BaltCap as investors. The company was founded by Jurgis Pasukonis (CTO), Mantas Vizbaras (COO), Martynas Gudonavicius (CEO) and Algimantas Krasauskas (VP, product) in 2013.
Funding: In May last year, TRAFI raised Series A funding worth $6.5 million led by Octopus Investments with participation from EBRD Venture Capital Investment Programme, BaltCap and Practica Capital. The company had plans to expand to other markets, develop its technology and scale it team. At that time, the service was available in Turkey, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Brazil.
Developments in the public transport section in India:
– Earlier this month, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation was planning to share bus data with private entities like Google and TRAFI, for real time traffic and bus information. BMTC relaunched its Android app recently, with features like trip planner, bus and bus stop locations, list of buses arriving at larger bus stands in the next hour, location of route and bus ETA etc.
– Last month, State run Odisha Road Transport Corporation launched an Android app to let users in Odisha to make bus bookings online.
Image Credit: David Alejandro Rendón under CC BY-SA 3.0
