India uses Twitter in travel change bid during Delhi car bans

The government of India has announced it will use Twitter to provide journey-planning when it bans cars according to their number plates in Delhi in an attempt to curb air pollution.

Transport minister Gopal Rai said that for car commuters who do not know about buses, Metro services and auto-rickshaws, Twitter will be used to "solve the vacuum of information" in the run-up to the policy, to be implemented in the fortnight from the 1st January, it was reported. Users will be able to Tweet their origins and destinations for real-time information on the shortest possible public transport options.

"Twitter will instantly send users real time public transport updates pertaining to the area," Raheel Khursheed, director (news, politics, govt) of Twitter India. The government said in the press it plans to run special buses, increase the frequency of Metro trains and in addition has registered extra private buses, whilst 25,000 auto-drivers have registered themselves with the PoochhO app.