New phone app helps students track buses

It has been 30 minutes. The activist at the Sample Gates won’t go away. The rain begins to pour.

And still no bus.

Because of a collaborative effort between IU Student Association, University Information Technology Services, the Informatics Department and Campus Bus Service, this situation can now be avoided.

Students can view the location of campus buses in real time through the Campus Bus Service website and DoubleMap Bus Tracker. Additionally, students with iPhones can access the live view via the IUMobile application.

The idea for the project began with IUSA, who worked with Campus Bus Service to make it happen.

“We’ve had this type of system, the Automatic Vehicle Locator, for years,” said Perry Maull, operations manager for Campus Bus Service. “But we’ve only used it internally until now. It was never designed for the public.”

Maull said Campus Bus gave IUSA access to the buses to install their system, making it accessible to the public.

The old Automatic Vehicle Locator system was based off tracking via radio waves, Maull said. The new system uses GPS systems, making the program more accurate.
“Now, there’s a cell phone in every bus with GPS capability, so the system tracks 27 cell phones, one in each of the buses,” Maull said.

The testing process for this system began in the spring, and this fall is the first time that the system is available for public use. Campus Bus and IUSA will continue to improve the system based on feedback from students.

“We’re really looking forward to it, because you never know how traffic and weather will influence the buses,” Maull said. “If you’re standing behind the Kelley School, you can’t see around the corner, but you can check your iPhone and see that there’s a bus on its way.”

Many students who were unaware of the new system have expressed interest in the idea, although the downside is that it is only readily accessible to people with iPhones.

Nicholas Matthews, a first year Ph.D. student in telecommunications, agreed that the system offers limited accessibility.

“I don’t have a smartphone, but for people that do, I think this system would be valuable. I can’t really see anyone pulling out their laptop at the bus stop.”

Maull said work to build similar applications for Blackberries and Droids to alleviate this accessibility issue is in progress.

Thus far, reception for the project has been positive. The free IUMobile iPhone application can be found on iTunes by searching IU Mobile. To view the tracker, visit http://iub.doublemap.com/map/. If you have problems with the service, contact Ilya@doublemap.com.

“I normally don’t know what’s going on at all with the buses,” said sophomore Stephanie Smekens. “I think this sounds really useful.”