South African apps are coming in by the numbers now, and we often forget that mobi sites are becoming cleverer by the day. Sometimes a mobi site is more efficient than an app, depending on numerous factors, and one of those is your target market. Feature phones sometimes cannot use the apps, most apps are for a specific brand or device, and sometimes what you need to achieve is best done on an ubiquitous platform.
One of these is GoMetro, a mobile community of public transport users in South Africa, pioneered by Justin Coetzee of mobi.lity. While native apps are in the pipeline, GoMetro’s very basic mobi site has attracted thousands of daily train and bus users, all keenly using it and giving feedback for the things they don’t like.
The mobi site does what the app will also do – allow one to see train times (and how late your train will be!), fares, as well as general information and news around public transport in South Africa. However, this “mobile content portal” will soon expand to include user profiles, a communication forum and messaging, ticket purchases – the list goes on and on.
A very effective feature of the current solution is actually curbing labour strikes in SA. If you are a worker coming late to work due to the trains, GoMetro alerts your boss via SMS or email, who now won’t fire you when you arrive. This is done via a mobile check-in system at the station. Until now, companies have blamed Metrorail for trains bringing workers late, and workers blaming them too and striking after being fired.
The lower LSM market in itself is a tough nut to crack and as GoMetro’s entrepreneurial leader, Coetzee, also has to contend with governmental institutions as clients, such as Metrorail, historically very slow technology-wise. But through perseverance, he has shown them that solutions like these are essential to curb major problems. Currently Metrorail is pretty much fully behind GoMetro, with its logo prominently displayed in many train stations alongside the train operator’s. Coetzee has also recently struck up partnerships with other communities, including Mxit.
Coetzee is one of the entrepreneurs in South Africa doing things right: building a prototype to launch early and learn from feedback (a.k.a The Lean Startup), achieving some revenue early to attract interest and investment, and managing to juggle various balls all at the same time. And while GoMetro is in it’s infancy right now, with a confirmed governmental institution behind it and revenue in the bank, this stands out to be a big contender for success in the not so distant future.
About the author: Jess Green is a digital entrepreneur, passionate about tech, web and mobile. Follow him on @jessello.
