Loke Says Transport Data Is Open. So Why Is Journey Planning Still A Headache?

Your bus is supposed to arrive soon. But where is it? And will you still make your train connection?

Malaysia already has public transport data covering routes, schedules and some live vehicle locations. Yet having that information available does not automatically make journey planning easier.

Now, Transport Minister Anthony Loke is encouraging local developers to use the government's open transport data to build better public transport apps. Speaking on Oct 22, he stressed that the information has already been available for several years.

Malaysia's official public transport API provides routes, stops and schedules for services including Prasarana, KTMB and BAS.MY.

And Malaysia isn't starting from scratch. Prasarana introduced an updated MyRapid PULSE app in May 2025, featuring journey-planning tools and a refreshed interface.

So the challenge isn't necessarily launching more apps. It's making the information behind them more dependable.

Malaysia's GTFS Realtime API provides vehicle-position feeds that can update every 30 seconds. Sounds useful, right? But the government's own documentation also identifies important limitations.

These gaps matter because developers depend on the quality of the information they receive. Missing trip details or difficulties matching a vehicle to its route can make accurate journey updates harder to deliver.

After all, knowing where a bus is isn't necessarily the same as knowing exactly when it will arrive.

With the available data, local developers could build tools for comparing routes, checking schedules and tracking supported services.

But more apps alone won't solve the problem. Commuters need accurate information across different operators, and even the smartest app cannot make a delayed bus arrive faster.

Malaysia already has the transport data. The bigger challenge is turning it into information commuters can actually depend on.