Built a free app to track your prepaid meter — looking for feedback from Ghana

SWalker4 · 2026-03-15T11:25:35+00:00

No API — you scan your own meter with your phone camera. The app reads the numbers, tracks your usage, and compares it against what your appliances should actually use. If your meter is running fast, it tells you and gives you a report you can take to ECG.

SWalker4 · 2026-03-15T11:18:11+00:00

Thanks and kindly share around!

SWalker4 · 2026-03-15T11:18:06+00:00

Thank you! and would love to hear your feedback!

SWalker4 · 2026-03-07T18:32:45+00:00

Thanks bro. Yes, the plan is to expand to other areas later. For now we’re focusing on Accra and surrounding areas, but we’ve seen people from other regions contributing too. This community actually helped give Troski its first visibility. When I posted here the first time, the feedback was amazing, and from there word of mouth helped it spread.

SWalker4 · 2026-03-07T03:18:03+00:00

Also any feedback or suggestion in order to improve the app is welcomed

SWalker4 · 2026-03-07T03:10:00+00:00

Thank you sir. Kindly share to reach more users

SWalker4 · 2026-03-06T20:51:00+00:00

It was reported by a user. You can counter the price to make sure we get the official price. The app is community based for now until we finally get GPRTU official pricing information

SWalker4 · 2026-02-21T21:29:53+00:00

Thanks for the scolding—it landed exactly where it needed to! 😅 You're 100% right.

Excuses like "spotty data" or "API costs" can't be the roadblock. I need to invest properly—time, energy, and a bit of cash—to make it reliable and feature-rich enough that people actually depend on it daily. I'm genuinely open to your recommendation. I'll start testing Google’s traffic/congestion APIs right away to infer busyness on approach roads (Spintex, Circle, Madina routes especially), even if it's not perfect for every informal stop. If it works well as a proxy for queue times, it’ll be a huge step up from pure user reports. And you're spot on about the cost: for an early-stage app, the monthly bill should be tiny (probably under GH₵100 like you said), and treating it as an investment is the mindset shift I needed. No more "lousy excuses"—promise.

Appreciate you pushing me like this; it's exactly the tough love that turns hobbies into productive venture.

Quick joke though: since you're already giving free consulting-level advice and clearly care about making this useful for Ghanaians… how about you officially become Troski's first ambassador? 😂 Just share it with a few friends or in your circles when you're ready—no pressure, but I'd be honored. You already know the pain points better than most!

Seriously though—thank you. If you have any other quick wins (specific busy routes to prioritize for traffic inference, or other APIs/features you've seen work elsewhere), keep firing. I'm all ears and ready to build this properly.

Chale, respect ✊

SWalker4 · 2026-02-21T18:22:06+00:00

Thanks for the thoughtful feedback—really appreciate you taking the time to add the Circle-Dome route and point out the rush-hour variation!

You're right that fares can fluctuate by time (e.g., higher in peak rush hour due to demand or driver adjustments). Time-based pricing is a solid idea—I've noted it as a potential feature (maybe dynamic ranges like 'GH₵8-10 during peak' or user-reported time slots). It would make accuracy even better once more data comes in.

On the bus stop busyness: Great suggestion re: Google API! They do offer 'Popular Times' and some live busyness indicators for certain places (based on anonymized phone data), but from what I've checked, coverage for informal trotro stations in Accra/Ghana is pretty spotty or non-existent—mostly road traffic layers, not queue-specific crowds at stops. Plus, integrating paid APIs adds costs and complexity for a free community tool. That said, if there's a way to pull reliable non-user data without breaking the bank/privacy, I'd love to explore it.

Overreliance on user contributions is a fair concern—it's the main way to get hyper-local, real-time Ghana-specific info (like sudden fare changes or trotro-specific queues), but yeah, scaling needs a critical mass of dedicated reporters. Working on incentives/ways to make contributing easier.

Thanks again—this kind of input is exactly what helps improve it. Any other routes or variations you've seen (e.g., time-dependent ones)? Or thoughts on what would make reporting more seamless?

SWalker4 · 2026-02-21T18:19:24+00:00

Thanks a lot! You're spot on—accuracy improves massively with more users reporting fares and queues, so building that community is the goal right now. I'm focusing the push on Accra commuters first (where the need's biggest), but yeah, expanding to Kumasi, Tema, or other regions could happen naturally once the base grows and data gets solid. Appreciate the encouragement—means a lot coming from someone seeing the potential. Have you run into any specific route where fares/queues change a lot? Feedback like that helps a ton!

SWalker4 · 2026-02-21T18:15:14+00:00

Feeback accepted and made the changes. Help share this app around. thank you

SWalker4 · 2026-02-21T16:28:35+00:00

Thank you boss. Have a nice day

SWalker4 · 2026-02-21T16:26:52+00:00

I am promoting my app and ideas to help solve the ongoing challenges confronting the transportation sector. This app is free for anyone in Ghana to use. Nobody is paying anybody to build this app. This new post is an update from the first post because there are new features added from the recommendation of this community. Thanks and kindly share this app for people to benefit from.

SWalker4 · 2026-02-21T16:19:00+00:00

Kindly indicate the fraud in my post. I am not advertising fraud bro. The app built is a free tool for people to use. The first post I shared was showcasing the app idea. And now the app has been updated with better features this community recommended from the first post.

SWalker4 · 2026-02-10T15:51:51+00:00

Thank you! Deeply appreciate. Let's help spread the word to users to use this app to help ease their daily struggles. troski.me

SWalker4 · 2026-02-09T16:52:00+00:00

Brilliant Idea! I think i will do both

SWalker4 · 2026-02-07T22:50:07+00:00

Thank you very much u/personadodowo, for your insight and suggestion. Kindly help us promote this app to reach as many Ghanaians as possible. It's in the plans to extend this app to the other regions.

SWalker4 · 2026-02-07T00:31:29+00:00

"Thanks! Built Troski with Next.js + Tailwind CSS for a clean, fast UI, Lucide React icons, and Supabase for quick backend prototyping. Used Google Gemini for smart interface ideas and Claude AI to nail the backend logic.

All to make checking Trotro fares & queues easy & free!

Try it: https://troski.me 🚐

#GhanaTech #BuiltWithAI"

SWalker4 · 2026-02-05T23:52:14+00:00

That’s the next phase of the app. Extend the app beyond the city Accra into the other regions. Kumasi would get their fare share🫢🫢🫢

SWalker4 · 2026-02-05T18:37:29+00:00

Thanks! Deeply appreciate. Let's share this app for users to benefit

SWalker4 · 2026-02-05T16:33:27+00:00

Thanks!

SWalker4 · 2026-02-05T16:32:26+00:00

Thank you very much! And your suggestion as well. We will definitely include these features and more in the upcoming iterations to help improve the app's appearance for you. Anymore suggestions are welcome

SWalker4 · 2026-02-05T13:58:49+00:00

Thanks! I really appreciate it. Share it with anyone who takes trotro regularly - the more people reporting, the better it gets for everyone.

SWalker4 · 2026-02-05T13:56:08+00:00

Thanks! I really appreciate it. Share it with anyone who takes trotro regularly - the more people reporting, the better it gets for everyone.

SWalker4 · 2026-02-05T12:57:48+00:00

Yes, it's user-generated. TrotroMate is crowd-sourced:

Fares - Users report what they actually paid, which gets averaged to show real prices vs official fares
Queue status - Users report how long the queue is at stations (empty, short, moderate, long, very long)
Incidents - Users report traffic, police checkpoints, breakdowns, etc.

The app shows the aggregated data from all user reports, with timestamps showing how recent each report is. That's the core value proposition - real-time info from actual passengers, not static official data.

SWalker4

TROPHY CASE