Data Science Day @ Columbia University

In many of the world's growing cities, semi-formal buses form the basis of public transit. However, little open and standardized data exist on these systems. The Digital Matatus project set out to test whether the geo-locative capabilities of mobile technology could be used to collect data on a semi-formal transit system in Nairobi, Kenya and whether that data could be translated into the General Transit Feed Specification (GTFS) standard for wider use. We were able to do this and get the first GTFS data for these systems upon Google Maps making the transit app available for Nairobi. Results of this work show that mobile technologies, which are increasingly prevalent in developing countries, can be used effectively to collect and deliver data in a modified GTFS format for semi-formal transit. Perhaps more importantly, through our work in Nairobi, we were able to identify the benefits and technical needs for developing data on semi-formal transit.