Urban transport goes hi-tech

What you need to know:

This app was introduced in January 17, 2017, seven months after the launch of Uber App, providing a similar service only that it came with a bonus where a passenger can request for either a taxi, bodaboda or bajaj.

Twende is another mobile friendly app that has reduced the hassle and bustle of bodaboda. bajaj and taxi  on looking for passengers.
This app was introduced in January 17, 2017, seven months after the launch of Uber App, providing a similar service only that it came with a bonus where a passenger can request for either a taxi, bodaboda or bajaj.
Unlike Uber which is based on taxi users alone, the Twende App targets low income earners who own smartphones.
CEO and owner of Twende App, Mr Justine Kashagili in a statement during the app launch said: "With this App, which is currently available to Tigo Mobile Network users, we ensure the security of the passenger as well as the driver because, in order to access, one has to register all his information in the system. The App also allows the passenger to agree with the fixed price or bargain, depending on where he/she wants to go."

The app is now connected to more than 2,000 taxis, bajaj and bodaboda operators, enabling a passenger to call for transport of his or her choice.


One of the bajaj drivers who have already benefited by the App, Mr Juma Mfumo, who is also a deputy chairperson of the union of bajaj drivers with disabilities in Dar es Salaam, said the system will help them increase their income since it will boost credibility.
“Twende has increased income to the drivers because before they were dependent on their stations but now the App could link them with up to 20 passengers, a number they never achieved by standing at their stations alone,” he says.
Mr Kashagili said that challenges that they have faced so far are awareness and use of the App. He believes that not enough people know about existence of the App or what it does but also the drivers lack knowledge in technology usage.

He says: “There is a need to train our drivers on how to exploit technology for doing business in transport.”

Mr Kashagili said he developed the technology while he was a student at the Institute of Finance Management (IFM) in 2015. He made it known and was soon approached by Dar es Salaam Technohama Business Incubator (DTBI) for furnishing and later, Tigo Mobile Company also contacted him.

Both were impressed with the technology which they believed could make transport in the city easier. In 2015, Mr Kashagili joined Buni Hub which is under the DTBI and stayed with them for one year, focusing on efforts to develop the software before it was launched. He has now employed a team of five people.

 
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