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ome commuters who are aware of the city’s chaotic traffic and unbearable congestion opt for public transportation to remove some hassle, but a lack of real-time information on the position and condition of the city’s public transportation often presents its own challenge to passengers.

Bank employee Iyan Nopiyana, who often takes Transjakarta buses from his boarding house in Ragunan, South Jakarta, when going out in the capital, said he preferred public transportation due to the cheap tickets and extensive coverage but found it difficult to find reliable information on the whereabouts of buses.

“Sometimes it takes a long time to arrive at the bus stop and I don’t know when exactly it will arrive, he said over the weekend. “I could have done something else if only I had known the bus was not coming on schedule.”

Iyan said that he also heavily relied on Google to know departure times. “But it’s mostly not accurate. Maybe the time is unpredictable due to traffic conditions,” he said.

Another bank employee, Wulan Nurkhasanah, who commutes daily on the electric train (KRL) from her house in Depok, West Java, to her office on Jl. Sudirman in South Jakarta, said that she often faced uncertainty due to trouble with the train.

“I can’t rely on information on the KRL website on scheduling, because it’s never updated based on actual conditions,” she said.

She recalled that last week, when a train derailed, she was left confused about whether to take the train or another mode of transportation because announcements were unclear.

“After waiting for too long I decided to take an ojek (motorcycle taxi) in the hope of arriving at work on time. However, I still got there late,” she said.

Jakarta Smart City program, which is attempting to transform the city into a more digitally savvy place, has attempted to provide digital data, including on public transportation. Recently, the Smart City office cooperated with a startup application called Trafi to provide information about routes and real-time reports.

“We support them with data and facilitate their meeting with related parties such as operators of the city-owned Transjakarta and KRL,” Jakarta Smart City head Setiaji said.

He said that the cooperation was aimed at letting passengers know the arrival time of buses and trains, but also benefited his office by gaining them access to data collected by the startup for research purposes.

Trafi Indonesia country manager Dimas Dwi claimed that the smartphone-based application launched in Lithuania in 2012 would provide accurate and real-time reports on buses and KRL trains in Greater Jakarta, enabling users to set a more accurate itinerary when traveling in the capital.

Transjakarta spokesman Prasetya Budi said that he hoped the cooperation with the start up would give passengers more accurate estimates of arrival and departure times for buses.

Separately, KRL operator PT KAI Commuter Jabodetabek (KCJ) spokeswoman Eva Chaerunisa said that her office had in fact launched an application for finding out the real-time position of trains in 2014.

If there was trouble that caused delays, she continued, that would also be announced at train stations and inside trains. “We also have official social media accounts to inform passengers of any technical issues,” she said. (fac)