Development of a mobile phone based passenger information and ticketing services system: the case of Tanzania railways limited (TRL)

The most stressful challenges facing passengers especially in developing countries are the lack of on-time and accurate travel information, the presence of centralized enquiry desks and ticket buying facilities. these affect passengers much as they suffer in long queues while accessing services, the situation which results in wasting their time and disturb plans for their journey. thus stressful situation to the journey becomes part and parcel of their travel life.this study investigated how a mobile based application can be applied to improve ways of access to passenger information and ticketing services (bookings, payments and acquisitions) using messaging services (sms and mms). the study further presents the developed prototype system of such application, the system that brought convenience to both passengers and the management. the passengers were able to get travel information and buy tickets on demand through their mobile phones regardless of their location and thus travel becomes no longer a stressful experience. on the other hand the management increases efficiency of providing services to their customers. through the use of mobile phone based system in accessing trl services, the time a passenger spent in getting services has been reduced since there is no more queues as experienced early. also the service searching cost has been reduced, since the passenger’s movement to and from the trl station which is in most cases associated with commuter bus fare has been eliminated by this application. in this way the passenger saves both money and time which can be used to conduct other day to day businesses.