India, Feb. 24 -- On a warm but windy February afternoon, Ram Swarup, 69, waited for a bus at Barakhamba Road in Delhi. The bus shelter on this road in central Delhi has bright digital screens that flash advertisements, and boasts of a digital clock, an emergency button, and route numbers. But what Swarup needed the most was missing-a route map and real-time bus information.

A bus arrived, and Swarup asked the conductor whether its route took it to Kamla Nagar in north Delhi. However, the conductor, busy with other passengers inside the bus - scarcely paid any attention to him. Finally, the 69-year-old, visiting the Capital from Hapur, jumped onto a bus on a fellow commuter's suggestion, hoping it would get him close to his destination....