Netpower / References / Mobile app for public transport
KOLUMBUS
Mobile app for public transport
Kolumbus’s mobility app for public transport in Rogaland combines ticketing, real-time information and journey planning in a single app.
Written by Oda Hjelmeland
Netpower has delivered:
Kolumbus is Rogaland’s mobility provider
Kolumbus is Rogaland County Council’s mobility provider, responsible for bus and express boat services across the county. It also works to connect trains, cycling, walking and car sharing seamlessly with bus and boat, so people can get from A to B without using their own car.
Through a close collaboration with Netpower, the Kolumbus app has grown into a complete travel companion, where passengers can plan, pay for and complete an entire journey in one app.
One app for everything
When Netpower and Kolumbus began working together, there were three apps: one for buying tickets, one for real-time information and one for journey planning. A great deal has changed since then, and the three have now been merged into a single, complete solution: the Kolumbus app.
A seamless journey
A central focus of the project has been creating a seamless, joined-up journey, where passengers do not have to juggle several apps, different ticketing systems or manual steps along the way.
The app follows the passenger door to door, from planning and payment to real-time guidance and getting off. Behind that simple experience sits an advanced technology platform handling real-time data, payment and route calculation in one system.
The app is built on modern technologies that deliver high performance, fast updates and stable operation, even when thousands of travellers use the service at the same time.
– The result is an app that gives passengers full control and confidence throughout, whether they commute every day, are visiting the city for the first time, or combine bus, boat and bike on one trip, says Alexander Bjørnås, project manager at Netpower.
Live real-time information and a digital travel companion
Kolumbus has long been known for its real-time network. That is now built far more tightly into the journey itself. Passengers get continuous updates on where the bus is, the expected arrival time and any delays.
The new guidance feature is one of the most heavily used. Passengers enter where the journey starts and ends, and the app sets up the whole route automatically, including changes, walking distances and times.
– You are told when to set off, which bus to take and when to change. For iPhone users, Live Activity is integrated, so they can follow the journey straight from the lock screen without opening the app, explains Andre Mæland, product developer at Netpower.
The result is a digital travel companion that brings reassurance and predictability, particularly for people who do not use public transport every day or who are somewhere unfamiliar.
An automatic stop button
One of the features in the Kolumbus app is the automatic stop button, which lets passengers signal the driver straight from their phone.
– When guidance is active, the app knows which bus you are on and makes sure it stops where you need to get off, Mæland continues.
The feature is not only practical; it is an important step towards more inclusive public transport. It helps tourists who do not know the routes, and people with disabilities who may find the physical stop buttons on the bus difficult to use.
Adding boat booking
A new and long-awaited addition is boat booking, which makes it possible to book a boat trip to the smaller islands directly in the app. Travellers used to have to signal for a pick-up in person – now it happens digitally.
The solution gives a better overview for Kolumbus and passengers alike. The system automatically registers where the boat needs to call, so routes can be planned more efficiently.
The feature is part of Kolumbus’s push for seamless mobility, bringing bus, boat and bike together in one app.
The app is built in Flutter with a Kotlin-based backend, and uses Swift (iOS) and Kotlin (Android) for features such as Live Activity.
The journey so far
Behind the app lies a long, close collaboration between designers, developers and Kolumbus’s own product team. The work has been marked by open dialogue, commitment and continuous improvement, where small, frequent releases have kept development steady and quality high at every stage.
Mathias Molden, Head of Design at Kolumbus, says this about the work:
– We are very pleased with Netpower as our development partner and with the app we have created together in a strong team of internal and external people. The app is heavily used, its users are happy – and it has a range of sophisticated features no other public transport operator can match.
Kolumbus and Netpower have had a clear strategy of building on insight from real users. New features are tested continuously, and decisions are made on the basis of genuine usage data.
The focus in the time ahead will be on integrating the city bike scheme, so users can find, unlock and hire a bike directly in the app. Payment and boat booking are also being developed further, which will give people even more flexibility in how they travel.
– Working with Kolumbus has been fantastic. They are a committed team who really care about this project, Bjørnås concludes.
The Kolumbus app has grown impressively:
in a single month it had more than 142,000 active users and gained 14,000 new ones.
Kolumbus has also won several awards:
Video: Moxey for Kolumbus.