Madireddy Pratap, VC and MD, APSRTC launches the Chalo app and Chalo Travel Cards for city buses
365telugu.com,onlinenews,Vijayawada,February20, 2020: The Chalo app, a free mobile app that provides live tracking for buses was launched at Vijayawada by Madireddy Pratap, Hon’ble VC and MD of APSRTC, in the presence of other government dignitaries and Vinayak Bhavnani, Chief Technology Officer, Chalo. The app, launched in collaboration with APSRTC, will integrate all 500 APSRTC city buses in Vijayawada into a single live-tracking and journey planner tool. With this launch, Vijayawada joins an elite rank of global smart cities that offer technology-enabled public transport services for their residents.
The free mobile app will benefit 2.5 lakh bus travellers of Vijayawada. The Chalo app empowers commuters in Vijayawada to: Residents of Vijayawada can experience the Chalo app right away by downloading it free from the Google Play Store.
APSRTC also launched the Chalo Travel Card, a pre-paid smart card to buy bus tickets on the go. The card can be bought and recharged in any city bus. The card is offered free with a first recharge of Rs. 100, and subsequent recharges can be any amount in multiples of Rs. 10 upto Rs. 3,000 at a time. Each bus will now also have a tap-to-pay machine for ticket purchase and incorporates the latest security technology to prevent fraud and duplication. The Chalo Bus card can be used for buying bus tickets of any amount and hence eliminates the need to carry change. An attractive bonus of 5% is being offered on every recharge – so commuters can travel with both convenience and savings. The card can also be used to buy the 1-day ‘travel as you like’ bus pass as well.
By making it easier to take the bus, the app and the card together are bound to increase the usage of public transport and reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions which are major challenges in a growing city like Vijayawada.
Launched in 2014, Chalo is a free mobile app developed by Zophop Technologies Private Limited, a technology-driven transport solutions company that aims to make travel better for everyone. The app has been developed specifically for travellers who rely on buses, trains and other forms of public transport to get around their city. It enables users to track their bus live on a map, check the arrival time and plan their journey door-to-door with a multi-modal trip planner.
Chalo is currently present in over 23 cities and tracks nearly 10 thousand buses. Over 50 lakh tickets are issued daily using the Chalo technology.