www.gometro.co.za, a website for Metrorail commuters, was launched to Western Cape commuters in September and to Gauteng commuters in October 2012. GoMetro is carefully developed to work efficiently on any device, from smart phones to entry-level handsets, with the sole prerequisite that the phone has an Internet connection. Free to commuters, only minimal data charges are incurred (and in some cases free if commuters download the native App for their handset).
GoMetro.co.za has reported 280 000 unique visitors in the month of January 2013, with over 1,2 million page impressions, which places GoMetro in the top 15 mobile website ranks in the country. GoMetro is exclusively represented by the SpaceStation, "with the on-going growth of mobile online use in South Africa, we are very excited to have a product like this in our stable," says Gustav Goosen, CEO of The SpaceStation.
Designed to provide Metrorail commuters real-time train timetables, line announcements, updates and other key services directly from Metrorail's control centre, the site details access the next six train times, including predicted time of departure and arrival at destination when consumers input their current and desired location. As the GoMetro system is integrated into Metrorail's control centre and train monitoring systems, the data is never older than 15 minutes.
International research shows that commuters are most active on their mobile phones during their commute. Local research carried out by MetroRail in the Western Cape shows that 98% of commuters own a cellphone with 81% of them using them more than usual while they are commuting.
The GoMetro platform is therefore a potential hot ticket for advertisers who want to access the LSM 4-7 target market. Says Gustav Goosen, "This mobile offering brings a few 'firsts' to our network, GoMetro speaks to an LSM market that has been somewhat unavailable to us up until now. This makes it an exciting and attractive opportunity for advertisers."
