South African transport solutions startup WhereIsMyTransport has launched Findmyway, an app offering a point-to-point journey planner integrating public and alternate modes of transport, in Tshwane.
Disrupt Africa reported in January WhereIsMyTransport was one of 13 startups selected by Cape Town-based high growth investment company Knife Capital for its Grindstone accelerator programme.
The startup has now launched Findmyway in Tshwane, while it is also in beta testing in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Nelson Mandela Bay, Durban and Buffalo City. The app allows commuters to choose between all available routes and public transport options, simply by entering their destination.
It is based on live data from participating transport operators in the city, and presents users with various routes and modes of transport, arranged by cost or travel time. The app is being released in conjunction with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)’s Earth Hour City Challenge.
“Sustainability and inclusion are at the heart of our mission at WhereIsMyTransport. With Findmyway, we are proud to bring integrated public transport to South Africa’s commuters, and our partnership with the WWF and the City of Tshwane is part of that,” said co-founder Devin de Vries.
“This is exactly the kind of thing that speaks to the biggest obstacle to people using public transport: they need integrated information at their fingertips. This way, we tackle climate together,” said Louise Naude of the WWF.
“We wanted to give commuters real choice, and cities real insight into commuter needs,” said De Vries. “The solution has to start with access for commuters, access to information, to movement, and to their cities.”
Another South African transport app, Cape Town’s GoMetro, has been busy of late, most recently mapping all transport routes around the Cape Town suburb of Belville as a proof of concept for its innovative new mapping techniques.
The startup has also launched an “Email My Boss” functionality, which allows commuters stuck on delayed trains to prove to their employer the cause of their late arrival to work, and GoMetro Mini, a mobi site designed for older phones and available to commuters in all of South Africa’s 11 official languages.
