Chartr - Tickets, Bus & Metro

Review by eFreeware

If you travel around Delhi by bus or metro, or by some mix of the two, Chartr is built for exactly that routine. It handles the three jobs that come up most often on a daily commute: buying tickets without standing in a queue, seeing where a bus actually is, and working out how to get from one place to another. The app is free, carries no ads and has no in-app purchases, which is unusual for a tool used this frequently.

The developer is a private company rather than a government body, and the app says so plainly. What matters more is that Delhi's Transport Department has cleared it for digital ticketing, and that its live bus information, fares and routes come from official sources: the Delhi Open Transit Data Platform for bus positions, government integration channels for ticketing, and DTC and DMRC material for routes and fares. For a transit app, that sourcing is the part I would weigh most heavily.

It has been installed more than a million times and holds a 3.6 average from over 36,000 ratings. That is a middling score rather than a glowing one, and I would read it as a sign that the app does its core jobs but has not delighted everyone. The app was released in September 2020 and was still being updated in September 2026, so it is an active project rather than something left to sit.

Tickets without the queue

The ticketing side is the most concrete thing Chartr does. For buses, the flow is short by design: you scan a QR code, enter your destination, pay, and the ticket appears on your phone. There is no printed pass and no window to visit, which is the whole point of moving this process into an app.

What I like about that sequence is how little it asks of you. Scanning a code removes the need to search for a route or a stop number, and typing a destination is the one piece of information the system genuinely needs from you. If you have ever missed a bus while queueing for a paper ticket, the appeal is obvious.

Chartr also covers metro e-tickets, so the same app serves both halves of a journey that uses rail and road. Since nothing in the app costs money to use, the only thing you are spending on tickets is the fare itself.

Watching your bus approach

Live bus tracking is the second pillar. Chartr shows buses moving in real time and gives estimated arrival times drawn from a Public Information System, and it includes the bus type, so you can tell an AC service from a non-AC one before it pulls up. That last detail matters more than it sounds: on a hot afternoon, knowing whether the next bus is air-conditioned changes whether you wait or start walking.

The bus positions come from the Delhi Open Transit Data Platform, which is the city's own open data source rather than something the developer assembles independently. Estimated arrivals are only ever as good as the feed behind them, so this is the right place to look for them.

A recent update added Raipur to bus tracking, which extends the same live-bus view beyond Delhi. It is a modest addition, but it suggests the app is not standing still, and travelers who split their time between the two cities get something out of it.

Planning a route that mixes bus and metro

The journey planner takes an origin and a destination and proposes options. You can ask it for buses only, metro only, or a combination of the two, which is the setting I would expect to use most in a city where the fastest route often involves a metro leg and a short bus ride at either end.

Route and fare information is published by DTC and DMRC, so the suggestions rest on the operators' own data. The developer has also reworked the journey planner interface in a recent update, which is the kind of change that tends to matter when you are standing on a street corner trying to read a screen quickly.

The value here is having the three modes of planning in one place instead of checking a bus option, then a metro option, then trying to stitch them together yourself. Entering two points and comparing what comes back is a much shorter loop.

What you need before your first trip

The app is free to download and free to use, with no ads and no in-app purchases, so there is no paywall between you and any of the features described.

The setup story is short, and I would expect the first ticket to be a matter of following the on-screen sequence rather than configuring anything.

Who gets the most from Chartr

The clearest fit is someone living in or regularly visiting Delhi who uses public transport often enough that buying tickets is a recurring chore. If buses are part of your week, the combination of live tracking and digital ticketing in a single app saves you from juggling two tools and a queue.

It also suits people whose routes cross between modes. The planner's ability to combine bus and metro legs is aimed at journeys where neither mode covers the whole distance, and that is a common shape for Delhi trips. Someone who only ever rides the metro, or only ever drives, will find less here to justify keeping it installed.

The 3.6 rating suggests a mixed reception rather than universal praise, so I would go in expecting a functional tool rather than a polished one. For a free app with no ads, that is a reasonable trade, and the official data sources are the strongest argument in its favor.

A practical pick for Delhi commuters

Chartr does three things and does them in one place: it issues digital bus and metro tickets, it shows where buses are and when they will arrive, and it plans journeys across both modes. It is free, it carries no ads, and it takes no cut through in-app purchases. The data behind it comes from Delhi's own transit sources and from DTC and DMRC, which is the foundation I would want under an app I counted on to catch a bus.

The caveats are worth stating plainly. It is a private app, not a government publication, and it works within the framework the Transport Department of Delhi authorizes rather than replacing it.

If you commute by bus or metro in Delhi and want ticketing, live arrivals and route planning in a single free app, this is worth installing. If your travel rarely touches Delhi's public transport, there is little here for you.

What's new in version 1.20

Added Raipur for bus tracking. Improved journey planner UI. Other UI improvements.