In September 2019, we sent an email enquiry to Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) asking how the company ensures the accuracy of its mobile phone app, as the app reported a bus delay due to a traffic jam at 6am. There was no reply from KMB until we contacted the Transport Department for help this October. In its reply, KMB still could not explain why its bus was apparently stuck in the traffic during non-rush hours, as reported by the app.

The best way to improve the KMB bus app is to introduce competition from alternative apps offering better services. Through the government’s open data sharing platform, the real-time data of estimated arrival time of buses from Citybus, New World First Bus and New Lantao Bus has been made available for the government and technology companies to develop such alternatives. Regrettably, KMB has not shared its data through the open data platform.

Hejian Ma and Simon Wang, Kowloon Tong