GrabTaxi, Southeast Asia's largest taxi-booking mobile phone app, iscooperating with the World Bank to provide local governments inSoutheast Asia with innovative, open-source data technology to transformpublic transport for 620 million residents in the region, includingVietnam.

Traffic congestion and road safety affect both thequality of life and economic opportunities for taxi drivers andpassengers in developing economies.

The World Bank-GrabTaxipartnership provides an award-winning, open-source data platform,OpenTraffic, at no cost to local governments in the Philippines,Indonesia and Vietnam to improve traffic congestion and road safety.
The programme is being piloted with local governments incities in which GrabTaxi operates: Cebu, Manila, Davao City, Jakarta, HoChi Minh City and Hanoi.

The programme empowers localtransportation agencies to monitor real-time traffic conditions andcollect historic travel time data.

As a result, governments willbe able to make better, evidence-based decisions that previously wereout of reach, including decisions about traffic signal timing plans,public transit provisions, roadway infrastructure needs, emergencytraffic management, and travel demand management.

Anthony Tan,GrabTaxi founder and group CEO, said: "We are a social startup and thispartnership will drive GrabTaxi closer towards our social mission tosignificantly improve the lives of our drivers and passengers, andultimately change the way 620 million people move in Southeast Asia.Together with the World Bank and local governments, we look forward toimproving road safety and traffic congestion in the cities where weoperate."-VNA