T-Bank has rolled out a new real-time fuel availability map showing where drivers in Russia can likely find gasoline right now. The map analyzes millions of anonymous transactions at more than 20,000 gas stations, updating every 15 minutes. It aims to end the old driver’s lottery of calling stations, guessing on the road, and hoping fuel will be available.
The interactive fuel availability map is freely accessible at toplivo.tbank.ru. Bank customers can also access it via the mobile app by searching for ”gasoline.” Additionally, the service integrates into the homepage of Auto.ru’s app – a car-focused platform where users expect practical driving tools, not just news.
For each gas station, T-Bank displays the time of the latest recorded fuel purchase and a freshness indicator for the data. This helps users gauge not just whether fuel might be in stock, but if the station itself is operational. Users can also contribute by marking locations with fuel availability, queues, or shortages.
Services like 2GIS and Yandex Maps have long listed gas station addresses, reviews, and sometimes prices. But a real-time fuel availability map is rare. T-Bank leverages its extensive payment processing data to spot recent fuel transactions, indirectly revealing which stations recently served customers. While it can’t guarantee specific fuel types are in stock, the map is a handy tool for regional travel and busy driving seasons – offering more actionable insight than a standard station directory.
With Russia’s tens of thousands of gas stations, T-Bank’s coverage of 20,000 locations is among the broadest consumer-facing fuel tools in the country. The challenge ahead will be accuracy: can the map filter out stations that technically have fuel but are out of certain fuel grades? The answer will become clear soon, as the long-distance travel season is just heating up.