Tuesday, October 7, 2008
KU on Wheels has a new alert system that contacts bus riders by text message, phone call or e-mail if the buses on their routes are delayed, are taking a detour, have missed stops or aren’t running because of snow days.
Students can sign up for the alert system for free through MV Transportation, the company that operates KU buses. MV Transportation implemented the alert system in the middle of September.
Mike Sweeten, division manager for MV Transportation, said the company had been developing the software since late 2007 and started testing it this past summer. MV Transportation worked with the Transit Commission, the governing body for KU on Wheels, throughout the software’s development. Sweeten said he didn’t know the exact cost of the alert system because it had been developed in stages and only recently was completed.
Sweeten said the system used GPS to track the performance of all bus routes by transmitting signals through timing points located on all the routes.
“The system allows us, operationally, to see what’s happening,” Sweeten said.
Sweeten said the GPS system was developed and installed using local service providers, such as Nextel’s GPS technology. He said MV Transportation provided the system as part of its contract with KU on Wheels at no extra cost to the University.
Although students have three alert options, Sweeten said that the text message alert was the most popular and that students chose to receive a text at a ratio of eight to one over phone and e-mail alerts.
Sweeten said that MV Transportation sent alerts two to three times a week and that they had been used about 15 times since the alert system became available.
Derek Meier, Independence sophomore and transportation coordinator, said the system enabled better communication between riders and the service provider.
“It gives students a way to know if they will have major problems that could affect their travel plans,” Meier said.
Charlie Flanders, Shawnee freshman, lives in McCollum Hall and rides the bus to every class. He said the buses were often a few minutes late and sometimes he was late to class. He said he never considered walking to class.
“I trust the bus to get me to class at least within a couple minutes of class,” Flanders said.
Flanders said he hadn’t signed up for the alert system but planned to do so.
— — Edited by Lauren Keith
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