A public transport smartphone app that can rival taxi apps in India?

A public transport app the company behind it claims to be "the world's most accurate" is to launch in India with the aim of using real-time data from multiple modes on journeys to compete with existing taxi apps.

The company Trafi claims it can predict journey durations and arrival times "200% more accurately" than competitors and local public transport authorities by processing real-time data accurately. The newspaper The Times of India said of the launch in Mumbai and Benaluru that whilst apps "have simplifed accessibility of taxis in the urban commute context, public transport still remains a complex puzzle for citizens to access". Taxi apps have proved popular in India and have extended to rickshaws.

The app will initially integrate information from suburban rail, the metro, mono rail and buses from operators, the newspaper quoted Trafi's head for India, Rajarshi Rakesh Sahai as saying, but then take data from intelligent transport systems once this is available. Trafi provides journey times within a five-second accuracy in countries it operates in, such as in the Baltics and Turkey, it added.