Digital Matatus, a collaboration between the Center for Sustainable Urban Development, C4D lab University of Nairobi, Civic Data Design Lab Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Groupshot, developed technology and processes to collect transit information for the semiformal minibus bus (matatu) system in Nairobi. The team created the first GTFS transit data for semiformal bus systems. These systems form the bulk of public transit in Africa. In Nairobi on 26 August 2015 Digital Matatus, in collaboration with Google, launched Google Transit – a feature in Google Maps for Nairobi. This was made possible by the digital matatus data. The transit feature helps people plan public transport trips quickly and easily and will assist in planning. The story was covered by Wired magazine.
