The Technology Transfer, Licencing and Commercialisation Centre (TTLC) is working with the Zimbabwe United Passengers Company (ZUPCO) to implement and commercialise its digital transport business management application “NECECITY”. The move is set to enforce productivity and efficient service delivery as the company scales up efforts to provide efficient and reliable public passenger transportation nation-wide.
NECECITY is also set to improve efficiency of ZUPCO’s transport system and government’s initiative towards enhancing the public transport system. NECECITY offers technological solutions to the transport sector by making use of mobile technology to improve public transport reliability. The system offers a real time visual tracking of buses, searching of routes and notifications from the service provider. It also has the ability to inform users on delays that may occur and also enables the creation of new routes, and addition of new bus stops by service administrators.
ZUPCO Chief Executive, Mr Evaristo Madangwa said the public passenger transporter is complementing government efforts by introducing a digital system that will enable passengers to track and schedule their routes as well as addressing some logistical issues that crippled the company in the past. “We are working on a digital system that will enable us to track our buses, monitor their presence on the roads, track their fuel use and enabling customers to make cashless or pre-paid fares,” said Mr Madangwa.
NECECITY, is the brainchild of a collaboration between HIT’s research and development team from the Technology Transfer and Licencing Centre (TTLCC) and some Zimbabwean students studying abroad. It is currently in use at Cape Town University and is also being installed at Chinhoyi University of Technology to allow students to know the location of their bus at any given point. The university also can monitor fuel consumption, delays and efficiency of the bus operations.
The digital platform is a game changer in transport management and is currently being tested at ZUPCO’s main depot in Harare through the monitoring of its buses on their various routes and depots. The platform is already online and fully functional.