South African IT entrepreneur, Tshidi Morabi has created a mobile app that allows parents to track scholar transport vehicle in real time. LocTransie provides the parents with scholar transport price comparison within the neighbourhood or district. It also provides SMS notifications at various points in the journey.
According to the founder, the app reduces the risk of swopping of children from one transport company to an unknown third party without the parent’s knowledge.
“Every day, thousands of South African children travel by scholar transport. I struggled to find the right transport company, and then constantly worried when I was not kept in the loop. There had to be a better solution,” says Morabi, who runs an IT firm called Ginini Consulting.
The name LocTransie comes from Loc for “locate” and Transie for “transport” in township slang. Through a user-friendly interface on a smartphone or tablet, the app keeps parents directly informed of delays or route diversions whilst allowing the driver to privately notify parents of emergency events through customised push notifications.
For schools, the app allows for a signing-in and signing-out of children. “The launch of the app was delayed by a number of weeks to allow the school component to be included. This was based on extensive discussions with schools who wanted to be involved and ‘tick off’ when students arrive or exit their care,” adds Morabi.
Morabi is actively canvassing scholar transport companies to sign up and provide this service to their customers. “This is a low-cost solution that is compelling to potential customers. Many scholar transport companies don’t have websites and they will benefit from the increased visibility that will come through being listed on the in-app directory,” says Morabi.
The app was developed in South Africa in line with Morabi’s belief in supporting local talent. “Local app development is key. Many local entrepreneurs have been burnt by creating an app very cheaply overseas in India or Bangladesh, only to find it impossible to refine or update the product once it has been launched.”
While this is the first app that she has developed to commercialise for Ginini Consulting, Morabi is no stranger to software development and large IT projects. With a BCom in Informatics and a post-graduate diploma in risk management, she has been in the ICT arena for the past 19 years as a business analyst and trainer. She started Ginini Consulting in 2014 to fulfil her dream to build her own consulting firm.
LocTransie is currently available to parents, schools and parents free of charge through the Google Playstore with Apple iStore application expected shortly. Scholar transport companies will pay a monthly fee to be listed on the price comparison directory.
Edited by Fundisiwe Maseko
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