Undertaking's chairman and committee members say app should be launched only when it is complete; plan to give 200 stops indicators to show expected time of arrival of buses
The test drive was conducted from Khodadad Circle to Ruia College and Maheshwari Udyan stretch along Dr Ambedkar Road on Wednesday
BEST Committee members and its chairman on Friday said that the BEST live-tracking app should only be launched once it is complete in entirety, and not in a half-hearted manner, or else Mumbai's commuters will not spare them. The BEST Undertaking said that there was a plan to equip 200 bus stops in Mumbai with indicators announcing the expected arrival time of buses.
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On Thursday, mid-day reported on its test drive of the app, and had found many of its features satisfactory for starters (BEST app is good but needs improvement). The app seems partially functional with a huge scope for improvement. A number of features need to be updated and more buses need to be live-tracked.
BEST Committee members and its chairman on Friday said that the BEST live-tracking app should only be launched once it is complete in entirety, and not in a half-hearted manner, or else Mumbai's commuters will not spare them. The BEST Undertaking said that there was a plan to equip 200 bus stops in Mumbai with indicators announcing the expected arrival time of buses.
On Thursday, mid-day reported on its test drive of the app, and had found many of its features satisfactory for starters (BEST app is good but needs improvement). The app seems partially functional with a huge scope for improvement. A number of features need to be updated and more buses need to be live-tracked.
'App must be updated'
"The BEST app needs to be updated and linked to Google Maps which can give real time updates to commuters. We have seen the various options and sections and it needs to be developed further. Mumbaikars will not spare us if the real time updates are not given. If we say that a bus is arriving at a particular time and if it gets stuck in traffic and is delayed, the BEST app will be at the receiving end," committee member Ashish Chemburkar said.
"There is no point developing the app in bits and parts. It should be done comprehensively and perfectly," another committee member, Anil Kokil said. The BEST management gave a presentation of the app to committee members on Friday and explained how the back-end processes worked, saying that about 200 bus stops would get Expected Time of Arrival (ETA) information, but they were yet to begin negotiations with Google Maps.
'Wait till it's completed'
BEST Chairman Anil Patankar said that the Undertaking should not launch the app till it was complete in all aspects and that its Committee's permission should be taken before the launch.
"The BEST app needs to be updated and linked to Google Maps which can give real time updates to commuters. We have seen the various options and sections and it needs to be developed further. Mumbaikars will not spare us if the real time updates are not given. If we say that a bus is arriving at a particular time and if it gets stuck in traffic and is delayed, the BEST app will be at the receiving end," committee member Ashish Chemburkar said.
"There is no point developing the app in bits and parts. It should be done comprehensively and perfectly," another committee member, Anil Kokil said. The BEST management gave a presentation of the app to committee members on Friday and explained how the back-end processes worked, saying that about 200 bus stops would get Expected Time of Arrival (ETA) information, but they were yet to begin negotiations with Google Maps.
'Wait till it's completed'
BEST Chairman Anil Patankar said that the Undertaking should not launch the app till it was complete in all aspects and that its Committee's permission should be taken before the launch.
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