Stony Brook students will no longer have to wait for extended periods of time for campus buses.
The Center of Wireless and Information Technology is introducing a new system, SBU Smart Transit, which will allow students to track campus buses online and on smartphones.
SBU Smart Transit uses global positioning satellite (GPS) devices to show how many students are on a given bus, where the bus is in its route and its estimated time of arrival at the next stop.
The GPS systems were recently installed on the buses, and bus drivers use an Android tablet to state if the vehicle is in or out of service. An infrared camera installed on top of bus entrances looks for the tops of riders’ heads and shoulders and provides a count of how many people are on the bus. Students have to completely move through a physical field in order to be counted as a passenger.
Students can also use the online SBU Smart Transit system to give feedback for transportation services, such as requests for a new stop or to report a bus that is not running on time.
The system is currently in its pilot phase and is projected to have all aspects of the program up and running by 2013.
The project for creating a GPS system for campus buses came about last spring, when students made a request for a smart system to track vehicles. This way, they would not need to wait as long for buses in cold or inclement weather.
The Facilities and Services department decided to work with CEWIT and use SBU undergraduates and graduates in effort to reduce the price of the project. Students formed teams to maintain the SBU Smart Transit services for mobile devices and website.
“It keeps the fees for everybody low,” said Jennifer Wong, an associate professor of computer science and the member of the CEWIT faculty who coordinated the entire effort. “It gives an educational task and it gives them a real-world experience of building a real-world system with the issues and iterations that come with that. So we decided to team up together to make that happen.”
CEWIT works in conjunction with various academic departments such as biology and computer science. Its mission is to become a forefront in emerging technological research throughout the information age, make public note of the lack of skilled technology workers and foster new business development, according to CEWIT’s website.
Students can track the buses online at stonybrook.edu/sbusmarttransit. Mobile applications are expected to be implemented this summer.
“Sometimes people wait outside hoping the bus will come,” freshman biochemistry major Steve Pyun said. “It could be an app on a phone saying the bus is at the corner on Circle Road. Just telling where the bus is would be good; the passenger thing isn’t so important unless it’s a busy day.”