An Android app under the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) platform of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) here is all set for a launch next week. Students from Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE), Mysuru, developed the app, which will soon be available on Google Playstore.
As many as seven student groups had been shortlisted by the screening committee of the KSRTC for developing the app after holding an ‘Appathon’ here in February. The groups had been provided customary training.
The concepts of two student groups had been approved after a technical review. Among the two, the app developed by a group led by G. Punith from SJCE was selected in the final round. Officer in-charge of ITS, KSRTC, Maqsood Ahmed said: “The app selected for the launch has come in praise from our World Bank consultant who hails from Ireland. The app has surpassed our expectations.”
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The other members of the group which developed the app include Abhishek S., Vikranth, Venkatesh Kurle and Raghavendra Bada, all students of computer and information science.
Suraj Shanbag, a student of eighth semester computer science, who is also from SJCE, stood second with his concept. “Mr Suraj had been asked to improvise the concepts for future use,” Mr. Ahmed said.
Getting the list of buses based on user’s location; tracking the buses; time-table schedule; finding next buses at your location; buses nearby; women safety; alerts and many more are the features in the app.
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The KSRTC had shared its real-time information about its intra-city bus operations, ‘big data’, with the students and asked them to develop the app accordingly.
There was an issue on the information about the buses which will be now be catered through the mobile app though convenience and reliability of bus services had improved over the last couple of years after the launch of ITS here.
The app primarily focuses on location-based information. A person will be getting information on the number of buses and their arrival time at a particular location by accessing the app.
Another factor behind developing the app is to encourage private transport users shift to public transport as KSRTC found in its recent survey that many city residents, especially youngsters, relied on private transport.