Sakay.ph’s new app shows MRT congestion levels
Traincheck gives commuters info on how crowded the train stations are and tells them when’s the best time to leave
Published 6:20 PM, November 27, 2016
Updated 6:20 PM, November 27, 2016
http://www.rappler.com/nation/
MANILA, Philippines – Describing itself as the “Google Maps or Waze, but for commuting,” Sakay.ph launched a new service called Traincheck for passengers of the Metro Rail Transit Line 3 (MRT3).
Traincheck will automatically show the current congestion level at the chosen station, the best time to leave, and a summary of congestion for the day.
For instance, in the image below, the North Avenue station heading southbound shows “medium” congestion as of 9:02 am. Traincheck suggested that commuters leave at 9:45 am when the congestion would be “mid-light.”
Estimating congestion levels
The Sakay.ph team will then estimate a congestion level for each image. They follow 5 levels of congestion: light, light-medium, medium, medium-heavy, and heavy.
There are 3 factors in estimating congestion levels:
- Number of people in line at the ticketing station
- Number of people in line for the arriving train
- Number of people in line who immediately get into the train that arrives
“Over time, our software can begin to form an understanding of when crowds are formed, based on these image ratings. Using this, we can use historical data to derive patterns by which we can predict future congestion levels,” co-creator Philip Cheang shared in his blog.
Developments and plans
As of posting, Traincheck still has incomplete data on Taft Avenue-northbound and Guadalupe-southbound, but data on the rest of the MRT3 stations are complete.
“It just requires a bit more data so we have better confidence on the data that we publish,” Tan explained. “[But] that should be done by around Tuesday (November 29), next week.”
Aside from the MRT3 congestion, Sakay.ph also offers a list of transportation routes and an accompanying map showing the jeeps or buses the user should take, where to get off, and an estimate of how much to pay.
This should make it easier for commuters to access information, and plan a better travel schedule with just a few clicks.
“By launching Traincheck, we hope to help with the metro’s transport situation. Our goal is to save daily train riders 10 minutes every day by cutting down time spent lining up at suboptimal times. Reducing commuters during peak hours will also help distribute rider load, making service better for everyone,” Sakay.ph said in a statement on Tuesday, November 22.
Traffic woes
On the government side, the Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has its own app for traffic in key roads.
Earlier this month, the MMDA also joined the Waze Connected Citizens Program for real-time data-sharing for traffic management and planning. The Philippines is among the countries with the “worst traffic on Earth,” according to a survey done by Waze in 2015.
The traffic crisis has long plagued Metro Manila, costing the country an estimated P3 billion a day.
Congress has held a series of hearings since August to determine whether or not President Rodrigo Duterte should be granted emergency powers to address the traffic crisis in Metro Manila, as well as in the cities of Cebu and Davao.
Senator Grace Poe, chairperson of the committee on public services, previously said that the bill may likely be approved in the Senate by December. House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez said, however, that congressmen are unlikely to approve the measure before they go on Christmas break. – Rappler.com
