On the Issue of Lagos BRTs… part 2

An attempt at upgrading Lagos BRT experience

In a previous article, I touched on some of the challenges an average Lagos commuter faces when using the BRT service and alluded to building a BRT tracker to tackle the most pressing problem with BRT today. In this article, I’d be discussing the solution further, highlighting the first set of features that would form an MVP in an attempt at upgrading Lagos BRT experience

BRT Tracker: created with https://www.storyboardthat.com/

Introducing the BRT Tracker

The BRT Tracker is a solution that intends to solve the challenges plaguing the service today. One of those challenges is with the scheduling. In tackling this challenge, I’ll be describing the solution/flow, as summarized in the image above, which will form the features of the BRT Tracker that would make this possible.

BRT Tracker (Driver Mode)

This mode, accessed by the BRT driver, transmits information from the app that informs on the status and positioning of the BRT which will be used when building the BRT schedule.

Positioning: The BRT tracker will need to operate within any device that is GPS compliant to be able to determine its longitude and latitude which we can use to determine its location on the map and its distance, in terms of time.

Status: The BRT route, its bus number and availability are the information needed to determine the status of the bus when building its schedule.
- The BRT route tells which route the BRT is currently on and it’s information that will need to be updated per time as the same BRT plies different routes at different times of the day.
- The bus stops which indicates the stops a bus is assigned to. Not all buses plying the same route stop have the same stops/pick up points.
- The BRT bus number which is the bus unique identity that is visible on the exterior of the bus.
- Availability: This information will also need to be updated by the driver regularly as the 3 states of this info could either be:
* Full: No chance of taking in more passengers
* Standing: New passengers can only stand in the bus
* Empty: Available bus ready to be loaded.

BRT Tracker (Commuter Mode)

This mode, accessed by commuters, receives and filters the information sent by the “driver mode” for the commuter. To receive the schedule of the day, the commuter will need to answer these question “Where are you now?” as in current bus stop where the commuter wishes to be picked and “What is your route?”

The current location and the route of the commuter will be used to filter the information received from the “driver mode” and will be used to draw up the BRT schedule of the day which will show the bus number, how far away it is in time and its availability.

A sample of what the BRT schedule could look like

What does this solve and what next?

This solution takes on the scheduling challenges of BRT buses head on as it addresses the following:

• When is the next BRT scheduled to arrive?
  Info on the ETA, lets you know how far away the next bus is (in time)
• Which is the next BRT scheduled to arrive?
  Info on the BRT bus number provides an answer to this. The BRT bus numbers are printed externally on the bus which can be spotted by the commuters. This also addresses the frustration of not knowing which bus is assigned to a bus stop as that info is sent and filtered for the commuter when building the schedule.
• What is the scheduling of the day (per bus stop)?
  The built-up schedule answers this question and the schedule is built per the bus stop the commuter is at.
• Is the BRT operational today?
  While this question isn’t answered directly, it is answered in part. The BRT schedule can only be built if the necessary information are sent in the “driver mode” which will only be sent if the BRT is operational for that day.

This version of the solution is the first iteration in an attempt at upgrading the Lagos BRT experience and as it’s the first iteration, doesn’t solve all the initial challenges identified with the current BRT system.

It does, however, provide a structure with which other features could be built upon. An example of an upgrade is building a feature that addresses the information issues with the BRT operation. e.g. “Getting live updates on the state of the queue at the bus stops”.

Adding more features such as this could help this app get to the point where it can be more prescriptive by adding intelligence to it. The app could begin to anticipate rush hour and suggest the best time to catch the next BRT.

Is there more?

In this article, I focused on having the first version of the BRT Tracker tackle the scheduling issues of the Lagos BRT and described how this tackling could be done.

To know if there is a future for such a solution in Lagos, this MVP will need to be built and beta tested, so hackathon idea anyone?

Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, please don’t forget to share and applaud 👏 👏 👏

Also if you think this is good enough to get started in a hackathon and if you have other suggestions, let me know in the comments below. Cheers.