Web developer Craig Davey wanted a better web site for checking bus schedules in Ottawa.
So he built his own.
OCTranspo.net provides a stripped down, yet attractive interface to find out just when your bus is supposed to arrive.
Telling the site where you are quickly takes you to another screen that shows how long you can expect to wait for a bus.
While it's not as full-featured as the official OC Transpo web site (it lacks a travel planner,) it's friendlier and easier to use on a mobile device.
The creation of OCTranspo.net also demonstrates Tim O'Reilly's point from his recent speech in Ottawa, suggesting that the government should be a platform for developers, rather than trying to provide all web services internally.
Robert Janelle
Robert Janelle is a freelance technology journalist living in the National Capital Region. He's spent time covering the Ottawa start-up scene as a columnist and feature writer with his work in National Capital Scan, The Ottawa Citizen, The Ottawa Sun, Kingston Whig-Standard and The Escapist. He also suffers from a mild addiction to video games.
