Students worried about missing the bus may get a little help from the computer science department in the near future.
The Student Government Association and computer science department are working on a GPS based Blacksburg Transit bus-tracking device to make transportation more efficient.
The program would connect the GPS devices to Twitter. A mobile version for cell phones and iPods would help students determine where the bus is and when it would arrive at the various stops.
The total estimated cost for the project is $34,800, including delivery costs to Web and mobile applications such as Twitter, iPhone, mobile and browser clients, and the work crew to install the GPS units.
The SGA is funding the project.
Project managers had to receive grants and look into all possible ways to make sure that the GPS systems would be a feasible solution for transportation problems at Virginia Tech.
Additionally, over the past two years, SGA president Brandon Carroll has been working closely with the computer science department, mainly Travis Webb, one of the directors of the project, to seek ways to make transportation on campus more reliable and efficient.
When Tech students were asked in an SGA survey last school year what change they wanted to see in the university, a majority had an answer related to transportation.
Carroll said many students’ main complaints were not parking, but rather transportation. He was inspired to install a GPS system in BT buses after hearing student comments.
“The university is not really addressing the transportation issue at Tech simply by building the parking garage,” he said. “There are two ways to approach the transportation problem at Tech: Either increase supply of parking, or decrease demand. One way to decrease demand is to make an alternative better.”
Carroll said he wants to transform the BT into “a reliable, viable option for students.”
Students who take the bus to go off campus or to the Math Emporium, such as freshman Kathleen Felter, would directly benefit from the addition of the GPS units.
“The bus systems have been unreliable,” Felter said. “They are inconvenient because they do not come at the scheduled time.”
Felter said she supported the proposed GPS system.
“Then I can see exactly where the buses are and (it) will always be reliable,” she said.
The project recently made progress as the Commission on Student Affairs supported the placement of the GPS systems on all of the BT buses.
The project will go forward through the summer. Carroll said it is his goal to have it completed and the GPS units installed by the fall semester.
“Making the Blacksburg Transit more reliable will help all students and faculty with their means of transportation,” he said.
Plans for the BT tracker can be accessed at www.bt-tracker.com, which provides a working model for the tracking program software.