Kenya: Google Transit Map for City Commuters
Nairobi commuters will benefit from a new service by Google, that maps out all gazetted bus stops within the city.
The Google Transit, which was launched yesterday, is aimed at streamlining public transport.
"Launching Google Transit in Nairobi is part of our effort to make Google Maps more comprehensive, accurate and useful for people within the city who take buses and matatus to their next destination," said Google country manager, Charles Murito.
Country program manager Evans Arabu said Nairobi becomes the third African city, after Lagos and Johannesburg, to use the service which is available in more than 2,800 other cities and towns worldwide.
The upgrade, that has taken three years to develop, was done in collaboration with Google, Digital Matatus and the Rockefeller Foundation.
"Roughly 3.5 million people depend on matatus every day in Nairobi but have little information on the over 130 different routes," said Sarah Williams from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Fernando Wangila, the ICT deputy director at the NTSA, said passengers can alert authorities on illegal matatu operations.
Google said it will extend the service, that is available on Android and iOS mobile platforms, to other parts of the country.
A PDF version of the map can be downloaded from both mobile platforms.
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