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oyal passengers of Jakarta'€™s city-owned bus operator, PT Transportasi Jakarta (Transjakarta), have warmly welcomed real-time bus tracking applications developed by independent IT firms.

Many bus-tracking applications on Google Play and the Apple App Store developed by independent IT companies are available for free download. Most of the applications are user-friendly with a neat display.

Apps available for free download, among others, include TransJakarta, developed by Tuxer, and GPS Bus Transjakarta, developed by AADev Studio. The tracking systems include information on the position of each bus as well as its serial number.

Stefani Trininta, a loyal Transjakarta user, is one passenger taking advantage of the apps.

'€œThe applications are very user-friendly and useful. I can predict my time of travel and make decisions on how I should travel,'€ Stefani said.

She added that apps developed by private IT companies were simple and easy to use.

Stefani said she also knew about the city administration'€™s Smart City website but said accessing it on a mobile phone was difficult as the website'€™s display contained too much information, including resident complaints, locations of gas stations, taxi pools and street vendors.

Navigating the website, Stefani said, was even more difficult. '€œIt'€™s difficult to navigate the website because it contains too much information.'€

Passenger Ananta Yogi said he did not know the city administration had such a system, although he was a daily Transjakarta commuter. Ananta said he preferred to use apps developed by private IT companies.

'€œSometimes we wait a long time for a Transjakarta bus. Therefore I'€™d like to know where the bus is so I don'€™t get impatient,'€ Ananta said.

He added that apps from independent IT developers were not only informative but easy to use.

The newly inaugurated head of the Communications and Information Agency'€™s Smart City Jakarta unit, Setia Aji, acknowledged that there was still room for improvement in the website. Setia said the city intended to provide useful information on Jakarta in one display, thus resulting in too much content.

'€œGlitches still occur here and there and there are some things in the system that we are trying to improve,'€ Setia said on Thursday.

Jakarta Governor Basuki '€œAhok'€ Tjahaja Purnama said the city administration welcomed all IT firms that helped in providing more information to residents. He said he kept track of all apps developed by independent IT firms, and acknowledged that the city administration'€™s system still needed improvement.

'€œWe welcome all IT developers which help the city. I have been keeping track of the IT firms which are helping the city, and we will cooperate with selected developers to improve our system,'€ Ahok said.