SWAT Mobility provides SWATRide booking app for P2P commuters in Manila

SWAT Mobility (SWAT) is providing their mobile application, SWATRide, for the Philippines public to book rides on to a point-to-point (P2P) bus service - a mobility project in conjunction with Delta Neosolutions (DNS), Toyota Motor Philippines Corporation (TMP) and the Department of Transportation (DOTr).

As public transportation resumes in Manila, transitioning to a digital service aims to ease the people’s commutes and make their journeys more convenient. With SWATRide, commuters are able to book and secure their preferred seats on the buses in advance and view seat availability. SWATRide is free and available for download from the App Store, Google Play and Huawei App Gallery.

After downloading the app, commuters simply register to create an account, after which they can book a ride by selecting their desired stop point on the fixed route. Currently, passengers can only book rides from the first stop in the bus service. The app accepts bookings 1 day in advance up till the time the bus departs from the first bus stop in the service. Upon boarding, passengers are encouraged to swipe the boarding pass on the app for contact tracing purposes.

The project commenced on 20 July 2020 with the UP Town Center – Glorietta 3 route, selected due to its high ridership. It will run for a duration of 3 months, and over 300 passengers are expected to be served daily.

The mobility solution enables contact tracing to control the spread of COVID-19, without passengers having to manually input their personal details. All project partners have committed to ensuring the safety of passengers, through maintaining proper sanitization levels on the buses and operating the services at 50% capacity in compliance with the physical distancing requirements set by the Government.

Using technology solutions to digitise transport services allows operators like DNS to operate their bus services safely and more efficiently. Drivers are equipped with an app that navigates the route for them and displays relevant details about the service, traffic conditions and their passengers clearly.

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Upcoming plans for the project include potentially upgrading the SWATRide app to allow for in-app payment and support Tagalog. In the future, the solution can even be scaled to support multi-passenger bookings and intermediate stop bookings, and extend to feeder lines.

Stay up to date with this service at the DNS P2P Bus Facebook page.