MRTtrackr: An Android App for Train Commuters in Manila

If you’re anything but patient and waiting is the bane of your existence, you know how hard it is to patiently wait for the next train – especially if you’re in the rush.

MRTtrackr is an Android app aimed at commuters in Metro Manila, the Philippines, that helps train passengers find the nearest station, and provide itinerary and basic information about LRT and MRT lines. Founded by Ryan Escarez and Michie Ang, this startup is all about helping the community.

Ang explains to us the interesting story behind how this app and their partnership started:

MRTtrackr started last February 2012 in a GADC event [Google Hackathon]. Ryan Escarez, the developer, is actually a regular passenger of MRT–3 since he was in college and he thought what if there is app that can help MRT commuters like him. So he decided to create an app that is able to share info with other users, and this app can actually inform you when you have already arrived at your destination. He called it MRTtrackr. […] He single-handedly developed the app within 48 hours and won the Globe Choice Award for that event.

It was at StartupWeekend Manila last April that Ang saw the app being pitched, but it wasn’t pursued at the event as no-one else would team up with Ryan on it. Ang, who was at that SW Manila, continues:

I attended the event, and I was wondering why they didn’t pursue his idea, and for some reason they didn’t pursue it. So I just asked him what does he need to push this app out. He said he was looking for a designer and a marketer. Since he is still working full-time right now, he has no time to do all that stuff at the same time. He was actually talking with another designer that time and when the designer said she was tied up in doing another project, he opted to team up with me.

After his day job, we met one night to discuss what should be included in the app. I asked him first what are the abilities of his prototype. He said “It can find the nearest train station, it can provide your itinerary and inform you when you have arrived at your destination and people can share information using the App.” With that in mind, we sketched what the app would look like on the mobile phone.

The, he explains, the duo started coding the Android version of the app, which was completed in less than a week. Though both Ryan and Ang lacked free time, they just about managed to test the MRTtrackr app out on the subway network. Ang goes on:

I also went around the MRT–3, LRT–1, LRT–2 to check out potential info that we can use in the app and find out the usual problems commuters encounter while riding our train system so we can incorporate these [solutions] in the app.

MRTtrackr is currently in beta and already has more than 1,000 users and 4,000 more who signed up to become beta testers. They’re gradually adding more but need to control the amount of feedback they receive.

Not for monetary reasons