Kochi Open Mobility Network expands services across Kerala

Kochi Open Mobility Network (KOMN), a pilot initiative by the State Transport Department, has expanded its services throughout the State to enable digital discoverability for transport operators and its services.

It is implemented under the aegis of the Kochi Metropolitan Transport Authority with the support of FIDE (erstwhile Beckn) Foundation. The service will be expanded to the entire State as Kerala Open Mobility Network through its integration with ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), as a part of the larger initiative to bring diverse aspects of commerce including mobility as a part of the open network.

T Koshy, Managing Director and CEO, ONDC, said, “The launch of the Kerala Open Mobility Network takes us one step closer to our goal of democratising the digital ecosystem and being a single point of access for various services. The State will eventually enable access to various mobility services, offering people more choices of transport, and at the same time, the service providers will also benefit from the easy and wide discoverability of their services. This is a journey we have just embarked upon and will become a catalyst for the expansion of open mobility networks across India.”

With this development, users can buy mobility in addition to grocery items, and food and beverages on the network.

Kochi Open Mobility Network was the first step towards establishing an open network of transport services in Kerala. Since its launch in 2021, KOMN has successfully combined several taxi associations and Kochi Metro booking systems into an integrated solution on one network, using the open-source Beckn Protocols, which is also an underlying protocol of ONDC.

KOMN integration on the ONDC network will enable digital discoverability for all transport operators and their services through any digital platform. This is unlike the current situation wherein each digital platform operates as a walled garden allowing interaction only between service providers and users who are part of that particular platform.