Jakarta shares bus data with two startups

Jakarta’s government is partnering with two startups to give citizens data on bus arrival times. Jakarta has partnered with the startup behind Qlue, Jakarta’s public service complaints app.

Apart from checking for buses, the app’s new feature, Qlue Transit, also lets citizens share feedback on their experience with public buses. Also, Go-Jek - Indonesia's motorcycle taxi app - now has a new feature called Go-Busway from where citizens can check when the next public bus is arriving, and book a Go-Jek service to pick them up at the bus stop. Motorbike taxi drivers now tend to wait around bus stops for passengers,

Go-Jek’s Brand Director Kevin Aluwi said. But with this new feature, they will no longer need to crowd around the bus stops, he added. Both apps can track 12 bus services.

To enable this feature, the government has installed GPS devices on buses and is sharing real-time location data with the startups, as part of its Smart City initiative. The new features are available in beta for Android phones, and will be available for iOS devices in the next few weeks.