The developers of a free smartphone application for ACTION Bus users, The Imagine Team, yesterday met with Territory and Municipal Services (TAMS) Minister Simon Corbell to discuss several issues surrounding the Government’s $12.5m request for tender for a private company to develop a similar product.
The team has said it can do the work for much less given that it has already developed an application that could form the basis of what the Government requires.
Mr Corbell told ABC News that the meeting was very positive, and cleared up a number of questions surrounding the Government’s plans.
“I welcome the involvement of these types of groups looking at new and exciting ways to use data that the Government will be making available as open source, such as the ACTION route data,” Mr Corbell said.
The Minister also confirmed the Government’s position that bus data should be made available as Open Source, allowing the Imagine Team and other would-be app developers to provide mobile solutions for Canberra’s smartphone-equipped commuters. Data to be potentially released as open source includes real-time bus locations and passenger information as well as GPS data for bus routes and stops.
At this point in time it is not confirmed as to whether or not an official ACTION app will be included within the tender.
This page was last updated on 10 August 2011
