BMTC app to get a facelift

Bharath B T

The Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation is in the process of overhauling its smartphone app, which would soon be ready with the necessary bug fixes.

Three years after its launch, the app had 2.5 lakh downloads, but users had negative reviews about several of its features. Users griped over showing the live locations wrong, inaccurate information on buses, lack of consumer details and frequent freezing, among other technical glitches.

Now, BMTC has swung into action to correct those faults. It directed the app developer to fix the bugs with the plans of re-launching the new version soon.

“I’ve been a long-time user of this app. I’m forced to uninstall it since it freezes frequently,” Sachin Rao, an app user, said adding that the app’s location is unreliable.

“Though we board from the Innovative Multiplex, we get our ticket from Kadubissanahalli as the starting point. Conductors say they don’t get multiplexes as starting points in their ticketing system,” tweeted another user Swaminathan N.

“All the depots have a server and information is being fed into the system. If the depot fails to update the information, the central server will not identify it,” explained a senior BMTC official.

“There are other factors why the location cannot be right, such as the breakdown of a bus. With all such unpredictability, it would be harder to be absolutely accurate about the location,” he added.

The new app will have better features like e-ticketing and e-passes, besides a better interface with enhanced live tracking. These, along with several other features, would make the app more user-friendly, the official said further.