Moovit, an app which aims to make travelling by public transport easier, has been officially launched in the West Midlands with a pledge to cut journey times for commuters.

The launch follows a test phase which saw 40,000 people trialling the app throughout the region.

The app covers the region’s bus, train and Metro tram services and is aiming to reduce commuter times - particularly those in Birmingham - which it says are currently the longest in Europe.

Moovit says its research shows the current average commute in Birmingham is 143 minutes to and from work.

The app is a public transport service that provides real time transport information sourced from local transport agencies mixed with data contributed directly from travellers.

Moovit says its users can be made aware of every event on the Midland train and bus network as it happens, and understand how it affects their journey from delays and cancellations down to if a bus or train is clean and there are available seats.

“Birmingham is undergoing a transport transformation at present, with the Midland Metro seeing further developments, as well as the birth of the new Sprint rapid transit bus service,” said Alex Torres, VP of marketing and product, at Moovit.

“As the city’s transport network becomes more complex and better at serving its inhabitants, we will be working with local transport agencies and our very active community of users to reduce travellers’ journey times with a smarter way of getting across the city.”

Globally the app now has 15 million users across 500 cities and is currently adding a city a day to the locations it covers worldwide.