Thousands of South Africans depend on public transport like taxis, buses, trains and mini buses to commute on a daily basis.

However, a challenge identified by Johannesburg born computer scientist Lebogang Nkoane is that despite the use of public transport in the country, many people are often confused about how to reach their destination via various services.

Having noticed this Nkoane decided to develop an application that could simplify this aspect, and a web app dubbed “awayto.be” was then born.

ITWeb Africa assistant editor Simnikiwe Mzekandaba spoke to Nkoane about the application that seeks to smooth the commuter experience.

SIMNIKIWE MZEKANDABA: Can you tell me more about Awayto.be?

LEBOGANG NKOANE: Awayto.be is web application that shows you how to get from where you are to anywhere using public transport.

SIMNIKIWE MZEKANDABA: Can you explain exactly how the application assists users of public transport?

LEBOGANG NKOANE: It actually provides an integrated routing and times of buses, trains and taxi routes. This can best explained by an example of moving from Alexandra Township to Hyde Park: 1. a local taxi to Marlboro station; 2: catch the Gautrain from there to Rosebank station; then catch a bus from Rosebank to Hyde Park.

The returned response would have sequential listing of when the next train and bus; taxi times are estimate, intelligent guess work of the frequency of taxi as per my experience over the years I've been commuting.

SIMNIKIWE MZEKANDABA: And when did you launch this app?

LEBOGANG NKOANE: It is an idea conceived in 2004 when I had to rely on public transport to move around Johannesburg. A prototype went live around mid-2011, but an official public version was made available in July 2012. By this time I had a better designed algorithm and interface that I believed could be easily used.

SIMNIKIWE MZEKANDABA: What was your motivation to launch this service and why the particular focus on public transport?

LEBOGANG NKOANE: In 2004, my uncle was in car accident and I had to lend my car to my aunt, during that time I was staying in Killarney and quite close to bus routes and taxi routes. But I found it difficult to know which bus or taxi I needed to catch in order to get around the city of Johannesburg. The information provided wasn't sufficient in helping me know exactly which bus and bus stop I needed to be to catch a bus and which taxi should I take.

In the following years I forego the ownership of a car and relied on public transport - that even drove me more and more to want to create a simple way for me to know how to move around a city. The focus on public transport is also driven by the belief that Johannesburg is a metropolitan city, the generic idea that, 'you need a car in Johannesburg', didn't sit well with me and I wanted to prove that it is possible to navigate this city just using public transport. We are not there yet.

I remember what my geography teacher in 1995 said, "public transport is not about moving people from A to B it is about moving ideas." This notion alone justifies the need for awayto.be - the easier we can move around a city the easier for entrepreneurs to engage in business and reach a wider and bigger market.

SIMNIKIWE MZEKANDABA: How is the application enabled, is it web-browser or USSD?

LEBOGANG NKOANE: It is only web based - USSD is debatable if it will logical to implement or if it will enhance the service and experience, but, I am still investigating a way to integrate it, but this is a future plan.

SIMNIKIWE MZEKANDABA: How many people have used your application - what has been the sign up process like?

LEBOGANG NKOANE: I haven't looked at the uptake. I am not currently monitoring that uptake; it is not yet a priority.

SIMNIKIWE MZEKANDABA: How can users access the app?

LEBOGANG NKOANE: By simply going to: http://awayto.be via any device (laptop, phone, tablet).

SIMNIKIWE MZEKANDABA: Is the application only available to Johannesburg citizens or is it national?

LEBOGANG NKOANE: As things stand Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria are covered. We are, painfully, collecting and digitising public transport routes in Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth and Gaborone (Botswana). The only thing that stops awayto.be from providing public transport routing in any other cities and countries across the continent is access to that public transport information.

SIMNIKIWE MZEKANDABA: What are your plans for the future?

LEBOGANG NKOANE: We are seeking funding to improve the speed at which we can provide routing across the continent, and seeking assistance in accessing information from all departments of transport across the continent. These are our immediate plans going forward and through that we hope awayto.be will be able to provide routing across the African continent by the middle of next year.