It’s common for us to see strangers struggling to find the right bus to reach any destination. But it is not everyday that this quandary inspires someone to come up with a solution.

Despite living in Mumbai for years, we don’t necessarily remember bus routes to many places. After local trains, the BEST buses are responsible for ferrying lakhs of people in the city. Wouldn’t it be great if bus routes in any part of the city are easily available on your mobile handset?

‘Mobile 4 Mumbai’ is a first of its kind application and is getting popular rapidly, which aims to help 42 lakh Mumbai’s commuters search the right bus route.

It is a simple application, which can be downloaded from a website. Moreover, it doesn’t require a high-end mobile set or even configuring the internet on a handset. The software can be
transferred from a phone using Bluetooth applications.

“Till date ‘Mobile 4 Mumbai’ application is getting a good response,” said Raxit Seth, creator of the application, who works as a consultant with Polaris Software.

Within first two weeks of its launch, 2,000 users have downloaded the application. The application was also featured on Tech2.com, India’s largest technology portal.

“It’s been four weeks that we have launched the application and everyday I get approximately 20 calls for additional bus routes.

There more than 10 messages appreciating the application everyday. However I would want more commuters to benefit from it since the software’s USP is that unlike other applications. It won’t occupy much space and it’s free and user-friendly,” added Raxit.

0The website (http://www.m4mum.com/) has a section called ‘contribute and get famous’ where commuters can suggest if they want bus stops in a particular area or general suggestions. Names of the top three contributors will be displayed on their portal. “I chanced upon the application and realised that BEST bus routes are at my fingertips. I can access the information, without texting or downloading GPRS. This application is a blessing and we need not be dependant on anyone to reach a particular destination. This application has given renewed confidence to the individual bus passengers,” said Moksh Juneja, a social media consultant who has downloaded the application.
The application works even without GPRS or sending text messages. A commuter has to insert the start and end destination and the software will suggest the bus routes. “We are getting requests from other cities like Chennai and Bangalore to devise similar applications.” says Raxit.