No train ETA? No problem—he made one.

At 9 AM on a regular weekday, nearly 900 users quietly open the same commuter app on their phones—not made by a government agency, but by a 24-year-old PLM graduate who once just wanted to know when was the next train arriving. 

Joshua Bumanlag didn’t set out to launch a national commuting tool. He simply couldn’t stop thinking about why something so ordinary—waiting for a train—had to feel so uncertain.

Bumanlag, a Class of 2024 Magna Cum Laude graduate of Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila’s BS Computer Science program and former lead of PLM’s Google Developer Student Clubs (GDSC), was also awarded the Most Outstanding Student of the College of Information Systems and Technology Management (CISTM). He is the mind behind Rush PH, a lightweight, mobile-first web application that provides real-time, crowdsourced arrival estimates for LRT-1, LRT-2, and MRT-3 trains—its accuracy rate growing from 77 to 81 percent since launch, thanks to consistent user reporting and commuter input.

“It’s not more of a frustration but more like a comparison,” Bumanlag shared, recalling a recent trip to Singapore where public transport systems displayed real-time updates. After experiencing its seamless efficiency, he began to reflect on Metro Manila’s own transit gaps. “In Singapore, you know exactly when the train or bus is arriving. I asked myself, ‘Do we have that here?’ Google Maps tries to provide estimates, but it’s not always accurate or available at every station. Not everyone knows how to navigate it, either.”

This comparison became the seed that grew into Rush PH—now accessible via rush-ph.netlify.app—which uses user-submitted reports to calculate train arrival estimates. What sets the app apart is its community-driven model and intentionally minimalist design, built with low-spec smartphones and ordinary commuters in mind.

More than just a tech solution, Rush PH was built with purpose—a response to the daily struggles of underrepresented commuters navigating Metro Manila’s unreliable train systems. One early encounter that affirmed its impact came from a senior citizen Bumanlag met during a commute. After learning about the app and seeing how it worked, she found it so helpful she immediately shared the link with her entire Zumba group.

Bumanlag’s development journey wasn’t backed by a tech incubator or startup funding. Instead, it began on a Friday evening and continued into the weekend—code stitched together during his downtime as a full-time iOS engineer at ING Hubs Philippines. “I started by validating the problem,” he shared. “I asked friends, posted polls on Instagram, and even interviewed strangers while commuting—senior citizens, employees, students. I realized the problem was real.”

Fueled by AI tools and years of hackathon experience, he built the MVP (minimum viable product) of Rush PH in just four days. “The understanding still had to come from me,” he said. 

When it came time to share his work, Bumanlag started small, posting on LinkedIn and in the Facebook group Commuters of the Philippines. “It took two weeks for my post to get approved,” he laughed, “but when it did, it just boomed.” Soon after, the app caught the attention of Rappler and ABS-CBN, which published stories amplifying its impact.

Though many apps in today’s market come loaded with features, Bumanlag made a conscious decision to focus on just one pain point: arrival uncertainty, guided by a lesson from his hackathon days—“go with the problem, not the solution, and solve one specific thing well instead of trying to do everything at once.”

Bumanlag also sees Rush PH as just the beginning. “I hope it eventually becomes a data hub—something other developers can use and build on to improve the commuting experience even further,” he shared, emphasizing the lack of reliable data on local train systems as a gap he hopes to help fill. True to the app’s purpose-driven roots, he added that he built it not for profit, but to help. “I believe in delayed gratification. If I can fund it myself, I will. But if things go south, I might place ads, only to cover costs.” 

Rush PH currently supports train arrival reports across Metro Manila’s three main rail lines. But Bumanlag has plans to expand to EDSA Carousel buses, provincial transport routes, and eventually Philippine National Railways (PNR). The vision: to ease the burden of public transport not just for Manila’s commuters, but for all Filipinos.

As a PLM alumnus, Bumanlag stands as a testament to what purpose-driven innovation can look like—skilled, grounded, and committed to service. Drawing from his own journey, he offers a piece of advice to aspiring developers that’s as bold as it is simple: “Start. Don’t overanalyze. Don’t just dream—build. And solve a problem that’s close to your heart. If you experience it, you’ll care more about fixing it.”

And for thousands of train riders now checking their screens to see how far their next ride is, Rush PH feels like the plot twist we’ve all been waiting for—a reminder that in a country where commuters are often left hanging, it only takes one tech-savvy Filipino to flip the script and prove that yes, we can build better for ourselves.