Malawian Student creates bus depot locator App

Innocent Bvalani, a student at National College of Information Technology (NACIT) in Blantyre, has come up with an innovation that is going to ease people’s movements.

The innovation, an Android application called Matola, will help people easily identify bus stages. It has come in consideration of more time spent looking for bus stops, especially for people who are not familiar with the areas.

“Matola is an Android application as well as a website that allows people to find minibus stages in an area. In Malawi minibus stages are not well documented therefore it is a challenge for a person who is not familiar with the environment,” Bvalani told Malawi24.

Besides giving users information about bus stops within an area, it also indicates the exact position of the user. So far a total of 70 stages in Blantyre have been included on the software with more pending to be added across the country.

In expanding the beneficiaries’ scope, the developer has included a suggestion feature within the product that will allow people from different districts to suggest stages. This is one of the ways Bvalani wants to use in growing his brainchild.

The Blantyre based student also made clarifications concerning leaving out those without Android phones.

He said: “People without Android phones can also get locations of minibus stages on the websites.”

However, the computer genius admitted creating the application for gadgets which run on Android Operating System. This follows the increase in the number of people who use phones with the said operating system.

On the progress of Malawi Information Technology Services (ITS), the 21 year-old said there is an improvement only that the rate has been too slow.  He said the enhancement is entirely based on an increase in smartphones in the country which have allowed people to access new services.

The undergraduate has suggested reforms in the communications sector if computer mediated services are to improve further. He proposed a removal of tax charged on internet if numbers of users are to be added.

Bvalani is only two weeks away from finishing his degree studies at the institution and as a student he has managed to come up with two innovations; an internet messenger called Bho and the latest Matola.