The Game of DPI and How to Play It

Growing up, building Lego sets was one of our favorite activities. Despite a finite set of building blocks, the possibilities of creation seemed infinite. Stacking together blocks of different colors, shapes and sizes showed us how the interconnectedness of the pieces could give us entirely new products to play with. What if the same core principles could offer a potential solution to enable a paradigm shift in our national pursuit of decarbonization?

Our recent research publication, “The Open E-Bus Blueprint,” draws on the idea of Lego bricks to illustrate how the concept of building blocks can be combined with the principles of digital public infrastructure (DPI) to address the complexities of the public transport ecosystem, particularly as it undergoes a massive transition toward electric buses.

Digital Public Infrastructure as Building Blocks

Today, with just a few taps on your phone, you can make payments anywhere in the country, verify your identity for government services, apply for a SIM card or even open a bank account. This seamless experience, which is now second nature to us, is powered by the building blocks of Indian DPI — like UPI and Aadhaar. These foundational systems aren’t just technological advancements; they’re carefully constructed blocks, each fulfilling a specific role to make daily transactions possible with unprecedented ease.

Behind every such transaction lies a series of interconnected digital components, each with a specific function — whether it’s a platform, a piece of code, a protocol or an application. When stacked together, these building blocks create the digital foundation that supports the essential services we rely on every day.

And that’s the real magic of building blocks: they don’t need to be reinvented for every new service. By reusing the same foundational components, we avoid the need for tailored solutions, making the delivery of services faster and more efficient.

The Challenge of Fragmentation in Public Transport

Buses are the backbone of India’s transit network. They provide affordable travel for an estimated 399 million people, accounting for about 90% of public transport trips nationwide. For public transport to remain dependable, reliable information on fares, routes and availability is necessary for passengers to plan their journeys. This information is also essential for operators, technology service providers, app developers and other agencies to ensure seamless collaboration. Ideally, these entities should function cohesively, each contributing essential information — bus routes, locations, ticketing, payments, fares, schedules — to ensure reliable services.

However, the sector’s fragmentation obstructs the ideal. With most buses being operated by small, independent operators, a lack of standardization and coordination persists. This forces each operator to develop their own siloed information systems, raising costs and limiting scalability.

How Can the Game of DPI Play Out for Buses?

The ongoing shift to electric buses presents an opportunity to electrify 500,000-800,000 buses (~30% of the ~2.4 million registered buses) in the coming years. This offers a chance to leverage India’s digital innovations. Transitioning from internal combustion engines (ICE) to electric vehicles (EVs) introduces new needs, such as batteries, charging stations and renewable energy. A connected digital ecosystem is key to managing these complexities.

We don’t need to reinvent the wheel — just tweak the spokes! By rethinking the bus system as modular, interoperable building blocks, we can foster innovation and create a flexible foundation for essential services. Minimalist technology interventions such as standards for information exchange, protocols and lightweight technology architecture paired with sound governance can allow anyone to build specialized solutions.

Like Lego bricks, each building block — such as schedule specifications, ticketing and payment standards, battery health and charging — is independently functional but forms a cohesive structure within the DPI ecosystem. This modularity allows specialists to perfect their piece of the puzzle, avoiding the rigidity of proprietary systems and fostering an adaptable, cost-effective and evolving ecosystem.

How Will DPI Change Things?

When we think about buses, we are reminded of our college days. Waiting for hours for a bus was a daily ordeal. We often imagined a future where we could afford to avoid taking the bus altogether, not because we disliked them, but because of the constant uncertainty and inconvenience. How will things change for such commuters with this DPI approach?

This DPI approach can seamlessly integrate the building blocks like scheduling, ticketing and tracking specifications with other DPIs, such as the Open Network for Digital Commerce (ONDC) and UPI, to unlock an entirely new experience. Imagine planning a trip on an app connected to the ONDC network: you could easily search for your bus, buy a ticket and even order a coffee to be delivered right to the bus stop — all on the same app.

These smart connections between building blocks (such as UPI for payments and scheduling for bus arrivals) mean that even the coffee shop can track the real-time location of your bus to deliver your coffee right on time. This seamless experience eliminates the need to juggle multiple apps or worry about missing anything. Everything you need is in one place: the bus ETA, your ticket and updates on your coffee’s arrival!

It doesn’t stop there. This approach could work across other modes of transport as well. Imagine combining a bus, bike-share and metro trip into a single QR ticket, all on one app. Finding and booking rides, tracking them in real time, and making payments could become a unified experience.

This connected approach doesn’t just improve public transport; it builds a flexible foundation for continuous growth and endless possibilities. And that’s the beauty of it: the individual pieces are valuable, but the real magic happens when they come together.

Read our working paper, The Open E-Bus Blueprint, to know more.