The Delhi government has joined hands with tech giant Google to launch a system that will enable commuters to access real-time information about buses, such as the arrival and departure times, and their routes.
“Google has teamed up with the Delhi Transport Ministry to show real-time bus information. Users will get an estimation of how long their trip is going to take, and if their bus is delayed. Google Transit will automatically update the times in line with the new conditions,” said Delhi transport minister Kailash Gahlot.
“Status of around 3,000 buses is live. More DTC buses will be integrated soon,” he added.
The minister said that Delhi has now joined the league of global cities that provide seamless, real-time information about public transport.
“People will now be able to plan their journeys to the minute,” he said.
The minister expressed hope that the collaboration will encourage several other transit apps to tap into the open data portal of the transport department and create innovative solutions to make Delhi’s public transport system the default choice for everyone.
Once the project kicks off, static and dynamic location data of Delhi buses will be available for passengers in real-time. A commuter will get information of all the routes and bus stops, all bus arrival and departure times in real-time and by bus numbers.
“There will also be updates on any delays. This will cut waiting time and in turn reduce crowding at bus stops and increase accountability of public buses,” a statement by the Delhi government read.
Ramesh Nagarajan, the director of product management at Google expressed hope for the projects.
“We are glad to work with the Delhi transport ministry in launching real-time transit information for the DIMTS agency on Google Maps. We are constantly exploring ways to make the Google Maps experience more useful and we hope the people of Delhi will benefit from having access to this information in making smart commuting choices especially in these times,” he said.
In 2018, the Delhi government had published Open Transit Data with the technical support of Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi to provide real-time data, including geo-coordinates of all bus stops, route maps, timetables as well as the real-time GPS feeds of bus locations, that could be used by third-party app developers and researchers.
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