BUSLOG: Bus Ticketing and Scheduling
Software
BY
IMEDIA AFRICA COMPANY - KENYA SENIOR DEVELOPERS
1st Flr, Krishnah Mansion Building Mr. Michael K. Kiseu P.O. Box 26172 - 00100 NBI, Kenya Mr. Benjamin K. Kikwai http://imediaafrica.com
Proposal for Provision of BUSLOG Services
By
B. Kikwai
Imedia Africa Company LTD
Prepared For
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Contents
1. Executive Summary 4
2. BUSLOG Ticket Booking Software 5
3. MPESA/Mobile Online Booking System 6
4. Courier System 7
5. Pricing and Implementation 9
6. Our Clients 10
7. Our Contacts 10
1. Executive Summary
We are a small team of software developers, we are passionate about developing interactive business solutions. Our main aim to use our experience and expertise in software development to help ordinary businesses and individuals to achieve their potential productivity.
BUSLOG services comprises of three main applications desegined to work together in a seamless manner:
i. BUSLOG Ticket Booking Software: To put it simply, Buslog is a feature packed bus ticket booking and scheduling software. This application has been developed to help in the management of bus scheduling, selling of tickets and tracking sales reports.
ii. MPESA/Mobile Online Booking System: This application depends on the Bus-log application mentioned above. It enables clients to book seats, purchase bus tickets online and make payments using MPESA as well as other mobile payment systems.
iii. Courier System: This application can work independent of the applications men-tioned above. It enables capturing of waybil information, printing of loading manifests as well as tracking of the process of delivering the courier packages.
We sincerely believe that these applications software will increase the efficiency in your operations and in effect increase the productivity of your entire team as a whole. Please feel free to give us a call and request for a demonstration of how any of the above application software works.
2. BUSLOG Ticket Booking Software
The BUSLOG application has a lot of features, some of which I am going to describe here in more detail. The core functionality of the system is to create bus schedules, generate bus tickets and produce sales reports.
i. Web Browser Based: All the three applications runs in the browser. The implica-tion is that it can be run on any operating system and therefore it can save your company monetary resources that could have been used in purchasing operating system licenses.
ii. Ticket Reservations and Advanced Booking: The BUSLOG application allows ad-vance booking as well as reservation of seats. This brings added advantage for clients who would like to avoid last minute rush as well as those clients who have preference on their sitting positions in the bus.
iii. Ticket Cancellations and Voucher Generations: Passengers may change their minds about their traveling schedules. The BUSLOG application has ticket canceling fea-ture as well as automatic voucher generation feafea-ture. If a client changes his mind about a booked ticket, that ticket can be canceled and a voucher will be gener-ated automatically. The voucher can be redeemed at a later date or at a different booking station for a seat of the same or lesser cost. The systems also allows generation of travel vouchers for rewarding loyal clients and hence a boost in client retention.
iv. Mobile Money Payments: BUSLOG enables acceptance of mobile money payments
for those clients who would like to pay their fare by mobile money transfer in-stead of cash payments. Accepting mobile money transfer may also minimize chances of cash misappropriation by less trusted cashiers or their supervisors. v. One Click Multiple Booking: For clients who would like to book multiple seats
under one name e.g. family trips, school trips, company staff trips e.t.c. BUSLOG enables booking of as many seats as possible, all in one step, without having to enter the same details over and over again.
vi. Connected and Networked Service: The entire application runs in a centralized server connected to as may booking offices as required. This means that cashiers stationed for example in Nairobi can be able to book a ticket for a client wishing to travel for example from Mombasa to Dar-es-salaam. Additionally cashiers will be able to book return tickets for those clients who would like to be assured of seats for their return journey.
vii. PDF Based Tickets: All tickets, vouchers and reports are generated on the fly as PDF documents. This facilitates hassle free printing and reprinting of damaged or misplaced tickets. You can also send the ticket as email with an attachment. viii. Other Features: BUSLOG application has many more additional features that am
just going to list some of them here. For a detailed demonstration of the func-tionality these features please don't hesitate to call us. More features includes: Centralized Bus Fare Management, Buying Tickets for Midway Journeys, Accept Different Currencies(KSh, TSh, UGSh), Possibility to accept debit card payments e.g VISA Electron, Printing Boarding Manifest, Sales Reports per Cashier, per Booking Station, per Currency, Sales Reports in PDF Document Format as well as EXCEL Spreadsheet format, Multiple User Type/Multiple Roles e.g. Administrators, Man-agers, Cashiers, System Administrators, Bus Fleet Managements, Staff Manage-ment(Drivers, Conductors, Hostesses), So much more...
3. MPESA/Mobile Online Booking System
Even though the MPESA/Mobile Online Booking System is dependent on the BUSLOG software detailed above, it is packaged independently. The reason is that it comes complete with a website and can be accessed on the Internet by clients. It makes is possible for companies, who may have not enrolled for mobile payment paybill numbers, to opt-out of the online system. Here are some of the features of the Online Booking System:
i. Online Ticket Purchases: Basically the MPESA/Mobile Online Booking System al-lows passengers to send money via mobile transfer services and book their
pre-ferred seats without having to come to the booking office. For passengers who would like to book more than one seat, they can transfer their fare in one trans-action and book multiple seats in one operation.
ii. No Middle Men: Passengers will send money directly to your account. We will not collect fare on your behalf and furthermore, passengers will not incur additional fees nor charges.
iii. TOP-UPS:For passengers who may have sent less fare than the value of the seat they are trying to purchase, they can send additional funds (TOP-UP) and type in multiple transaction codes to book their preferred seats.
iv. Ticket Printing: Upon successful ticket purchase, clients will be able to download and print bus tickets in PDF format. Passengers who may have not been able to download and print their tickets can be issued bus ticket at any booking station once they provide their identity documents.
v. Passenger Online Accounts: Clients can also sign-up for an account and whenever they purchase tickets while logged in, their tickets will be saved in their created online profiles. The advantage of this is that clients will be able to reprint their tickets at any location where they can access printing services.
vi. Waybil Tracking: This will only be enabled if your bus company enrolls for the Courier System Application. The online booking website also acts as a front end for clients to track the process of delivering their courier packages.
vii. Social Media: The online booking website shall be also able to display picture galleries and locations of booking stations. It shall also be connected to different social profiles of your bus company and in effect growing online presence of the company.
4. Courier System
Most public transportation bus companies usually provide convenient courier/parcels services. Our Courier System Application is however independent of the bus ticketing
software. The courier system enables cashiers to accept packages, parcels, envelopes e.t.c and capture the details and issue a waybil receipt. Here are a few features of the application:
i. Waybil Generation and Printing: The core functionality of the system is to capture the details of waybil packages and generate receipts. The system automatically calculates V.A.T. amount which is of significance when calculating the returns of the Courier Services. Regular clients may opt in to be invoiced instead of paying cash each time they send parcels/packages through the services.
ii. Loading Sheets and Tracking: The cashiers will be able to create loading sheets and add parcels/packages to be delivered. This enables accurate tracking of the delivery process and will minimize the chance of a parcel being misplaced within the reception office or while in transit.
iii. Invoice Generation and Payments: The courier system can generate invoices for clients who have been registered in the system. It can also display the amounts that have been invoiced, amounts that have been received from an invoiced client and amounts that need to be invoiced to the clients.
iv. Sales Reports: Just like the BUSLOG system, the administrator shall be able to print daily sales reports per booking station, per cashier, per day. The sales reports shall only be available to authorized personnel.
The Courier System has other features. Please feel free to call us at any time for a full demonstration of the functionality of the system.
5. Pricing and Implementation
All the three detailed applications are provided by Imedia Africa Company LTD under a Software as a Service (SAAS) agreement. Imedia Africa Company LTD shall be sending invoices periodically as per the terms agreed upon enrollment. Here is the current pricing table for the services:
BOOKING STATIONS MONTHLY PAYMENTS 1. BUSLOG Application 1 - 5 Stations KSh 10,000*
More than 5 Stations KSh 60,000 2. Online Booking All Stations KSh 40,000 3. Courier System 1 - 5 Stations KSh, 8,000* More than 5 Stations KSh 45,000 4. All Three Applications All Stations KSh 120,000
* => Payment per booking station.
Imedia Africa Company LTD shall provide around the clock support and free training of systems users. There shall be a free one month testing and evaluation period where you shall evaluate the software and determine how useful it is to your company. In this period you shall also be able to propose additions or changes to the system to suit your requirements. Feel free to call us at any moment for more discussion or clarifications if need be.
6. Our Clients
1. Modern Coast Express Limited: Modern Coast Express Limited has been using BUS-LOG ticket booking system since the year 2005 and Online Booking System since the year 2009. Their online booking website is available athttp://modern.co.ke 2. The Guardian Coach Bus Service: The Guardian Coach Bus Service is currently
run-ning the BUSLOG ticket booking system. The Guardian Coach Online Booking Sys-tem is available on the URLhttps://theguardian.co.ke.
3. TSS Express Limited: TSS Express Limited that offers intercity transport to passen-gers throughout Kenya. Its routes include Nairobi-Kisumu , Mombasa-Malindi-Lamu and Mombasa-Nairobi-Kitale. TSS Express Limited is currently run-ning the BUSLOG ticket booking system and is in the process of evaluating the Courier System.
7. Our Contacts
IMEDIA AFRICA COMPANY - KENYA
Krishnah Mansion Building, First Floor RM 16 P.O. Box 26172 - 00100 Nairobi, Kenya
http://imediaafrica.com http://buslog.api.co.ke
Contact Persons
1. M. Kalachu Kiseu - System Analyst & Senior Developer. Cellphone: +254-723 711 978, Twitter: @mkalachu
2. B. Kikwai - Senior Developer & Online Applications. Cellphone: +39-345 6069 045, Twitter: @kikwaib
