Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation moves to open live bus data for smarter journey planning

The integration of BMTC's live bus data with ONDC is expected to improve journey planning for commuters by enabling third-party applications to offer more accurate bus arrival information. Currently, commuters rely on less precise estimated arrival times or the Namma BMTC app, which lacks the second-by-second updates available for Metro trains through ONDC. This shift could provide a more reliable basis for coordinating travel across different transport options.

This move could enhance multimodal travel coordination in Bengaluru. For instance, auto-taxi aggregators like Namma Yatri, which already share data with ONDC, could align their bookings with bus arrival times. This potential for integrated planning extends to last-mile travel, serving the more than 40 lakh commuters who use BMTC daily.

The initiative uses the General Transit Feed Specification, a widely adopted public transport data format, for data sharing. While BMTC had previously raised concerns about commercial use, the current managing director is reportedly proactive in advancing this open data access. Officials are analyzing historical journey data to identify errors and gaps, with optimism for integration completion by year-end, though no firm deadline has been set.