Technology has a solution to almost every problem. Perhaps it has an answer to the capital city’s ever-growing issue of traffic congestion as well. A group of young aspiring technologists developed a mobile application to encourage the use of public transport over private vehicles in Thimphu. Called the City Bus Information system, the app is ready for public use after the vaccination programme.
The app is currently uploaded to Google’s Play Store. It gives live location, schedule, route, stops and fare of the city buses in Thimphu. Currently, there are 45 city buses in Thimphu.
Phuntsho Wangdi, a computer engineer developed the app based on the inconvenience he personally experienced while using the city bus service in Thimphu.
“Currently, I reside in Yoesipang and I wanted to go to Thimphu and I looked for the bus. I heard there was a bus and I found that there was an app already called Happy Ride, I looked for it, I installed it but it wasn’t functional. There are a lot of people like me, so I thought maybe I could create one thing so everybody could use it. So from there came the idea of developing the app,” said Phuntsho Wangdi.
The app is of course not the first of its kind. The City Bus Service and the Ministry of Information and Communications developed and deployed a similar app in 2018. But that app is not functional today due to a lack of maintenance. Tandin Dorji, the team leader explains what sets this app different from the rests.
“We are investing our time, resources and even our personal financial resources into it. We can’t just develop something and deploy it and then be done with that. For example, whether it is e-LaYog that I am currently doing or the city bus app that we are working on, we need to make sure that this gets out there and is used by people. So that is why we really focus on the interface to see how user-friendly the app is,” said Tandin Dorji.
As technology is in its emerging stage in the country, challenges are plenty for these young aspiring technologists.
“When we go with technology solution they are not very keen on adapting that. The other issue I have had with government agencies is that they are not very keen on sharing data with us. They say they don’t share it with private companies. So I think if we really want to harness the potential of digital technology for our country, I think we should all come with a single goal to help each other out,” added Tandin.
Tandin and his friends aspire to establish a tech firm that develops solutions to local problems, creates employment opportunities and contributes to national revenue.
Phub Gyem
