Potholes have quickly become the dominant complaint on the newly launched Pearly digital platform, with hundreds of Barbadians logging road defects and tracking the nearest Transport Board bus, according to its developer has told Barbados TODAY.
Touch Star founder and Chief Executive Officer Ramon Dummett disclosed that usage of the app has surged past initial expectations, with hundreds of people actively logging infrastructure issues and utilising its public bus locator. While the software offers a broad array of administrative tools, road conditions have dominated the public reporting portal.
Ramon Drummett, Touch Star founder and chief executive officer. (Contributed photo)
“The biggest thing that people see every day is potholes,” Dummett said. “Because most people use the roads, potholes are one of the biggest things that we see coming in.”
The platform has recorded well over 10 000 downloads to date, representing a major shift towards digital civic engagement, Dummett suggested. Citizens are using the system to report localised defects directly to relevant departments, creating a centralised log of public service priorities.
Addressing expectations regarding complaint resolution, Dummett explained that civil service agencies are currently undergoing rigorous onboarding to meet the influx of public reports. Touch Star is managing the technical implementation, staff training and operational support across various ministries, he said.
“Government is being onboarded [with] great dispatch,” Dummett said. “Like with anything, there are changes, additions to workflow, and new systems and processes being implemented to make sure that these things can move from weeks to days, and in some cases, hours. That is currently a top priority for us, and we are working closely with the government.”
He asked the public for patience as administrative workflows adapt to the technology, predicting that response times will sharpen significantly in the coming months.
“We expect within another month or two everything is going to level out,” Dummett added. “The backlog is going to be cleared first and foremost, and then people are going to see faster resolutions.”
Beyond pothole reporting, Pearly‘s public transport tracking module has quickly become its most heavily used feature, he said. The system allows commuters to monitor public buses in real time in order to reduce unnecessary waiting times at stops.
“People are using it, and we are seeing a lot of usage there. It really underscores that solving a simple problem gives citizens time back, as opposed to waiting at a bus stop for a bus that will never come.”
To refine accuracy, Touch Star is currently upgrading the underlying GPS infrastructure across the Transport Board fleet. The technology utilises a long-range, highly reliable signal network — analogous in transmission style to traditional AM radio — to ensure consistent coverage across the island without signal dropouts.
Dummett emphasised that Pearly should not be viewed merely as a complaint channel, but rather as a comprehensive government operating system. Developed on Touch Star’s proprietary Sunsuite platform, the system is designed to host multiple civic and administrative applications simultaneously, with potential for international export.
“Pearly is a government operating system, and it is built on our platform, the Sunsuite government platform,” Dummett said.
“Barbados is known for Pearly, but as we grow and scale, different countries will white-label it. When you think about an operating system like Windows or Mac, you may have one application like Word or Excel, but the platform it is on is running everything. Pearly behind the scenes has a number of features allowing government and stakeholders to manage requests and make sure they are properly tracked and logged.”
Touch Star is preparing to roll out several new modules on the platform, including real-time emergency advisories, live government broadcast streams and an emergency management mode designed to assist vulnerable populations during national crises.
The team is also finalising Pearly Maps, an intelligent traffic management system that leverages historical transit data to predict road congestion, suggest optimal departure times and provide rerouting options before drivers encounter bottlenecks.
“We have built Pearly Maps using structured data from our Transport Board buses that traverse the island every single day,” Dummett said. “It gives users traffic prediction, suggesting a reroute or suggesting a time to leave home to beat the traffic before you even get into it.”
Integration for Apple CarPlay and Android Auto is currently undergoing live testing, with Touch Star aiming to roll out the navigation features ahead of the upcoming school term.
Reflecting on the system’s overall performance, Dummett expressed confidence in his 40-member engineering team, noting that real-world testing has proven the platform’s resilience and scalability for national service delivery.
(RR)
