BENGALURU:The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) launched an app for the benefit and easy commute of the passengers in May 2016 but it doesn’t seem to serve its purpose. With 2 lakh downloads and only 3.4 star rating on play store, several people complain of incorrect GPS location of the buses, and as a result find themsleves on the wrong route. Some have even uninstalled the app disappointed with the experience.
Citizens who recently moved in to the city find it even more difficult to commute using the app. Nadeem Nizar, a 27-year-old marketing agent who shifted to Bengaluru three months ago travels from MG Road to various parts of the city. He says, “ I am expected to be on field five days of the week. I depend on the GPS location of the buses for my travel, and that has not only delayed my work but has left me stranded at several bus stops with a no-show. The app shows that the bus will arrive in five minutes and suddenly the notification just disappears, which would mean that the bus has already passed the location,” says the distressed youngster.
He adds that other navigation maps cannot also be used as it does not show the right bus to take. “I have ended up reaching the wrong destination,” he adds. Megha Oomen, an architect who arrived in the city as part of her internship, travels from Lingarajapuram to Vasanth Nagar every day. Facing the same struggles as Nadeem, she finds the application ‘useless’. “I wish there was a zero or negative rating that I could give to the app,” says the 22-year-old. “The bus drivers are also not friendly to help us with the routes,” she adds.
Commuters complain about the lack of help from drivers as well as conductors for the bus routes which is why they depend on mobile applications. “If nobody is willing to help us, at least BMTC should make sure that the other platforms which are designed specifically to help us, works well,” says Adithya Dev, a former user of the app. “I have now uninstalled the app as it is inefficient and gives inaccurate information,” he says.
When City Express contacted the BMTC chief systems manager, Nagendra, he was not available to comment.