hakobus: Real-Time Bus Tracking for İzmir
I built hakobus out of frustration with the official ESHOT app constantly crashing and showing wrong bus locations. It shows live bus positions on a map, saves your recent stops, and version 2 is on its way.
If you live in İzmir and rely on public transport, you've almost certainly been there: you open the ESHOT app to check where your bus is, and the app either crashes, shows a bus that stopped moving five minutes ago, or just gives you no live data at all.
I got fed up with it. So I built hakobus.
The Problem: ESHOT's App Is Unreliable
The official ESHOT mobile app has a recurring issue — it frequently breaks down and fails to show accurate real-time bus locations. You end up standing at a stop with no idea whether your bus is two minutes away or already gone.
This isn't a minor inconvenience. When you're commuting every day, unreliable transit information genuinely wastes your time. I needed something that actually worked.
What hakobus Does Differently
hakobus is a web app built by Hakan Güzelgülgen as a direct complement to ESHOT — it does what the official app should do, but doesn't:
Live Bus Locations on a Map
The core feature: buses displayed in real time on an interactive map. You can see exactly where each bus on a given route is at this moment. Not a static schedule. Not an estimate. The actual live position.
This makes it easy to decide whether to start walking, wait at the stop, or grab a coffee first.
Recent Stops Are Saved
Every stop you search for is remembered. Next time you open the app, your frequently used stops are right there — no need to type them in again. Small detail, big quality-of-life difference when you're in a hurry.
No App Store, No Install
hakobus runs directly in the browser. No downloading, no account, no setup. Open the link, search your stop, see your buses.
Why Build This Instead of Fixing the Official App?
The ESHOT data is publicly accessible. The problem isn't the underlying data — it's the app that consumes it. hakobus taps into the same data source and presents it in a way that's fast, reliable, and actually renders the live positions correctly.
Version 2 Is Coming
The current version does its job well, but I'm working on hakobus v2 which will bring significant upgrades:
- Favorite Stops — save your most-used stops and access them instantly
- Faster Performance — rebuilt internals for snappier load times and quicker data refresh
- Smoother UI — animations and transitions that feel native, not web-clunky
- IZBAN Train Tracking — real-time schedule and timing for İzmir's suburban rail network
- Location-Based Features — automatically surface the nearest stops and approaching buses based on where you are
If you commute in İzmir and want a bus tracker that doesn't let you down, give hakobus a try. It's free, works in any browser, and v2 is just around the corner.