UCONN Bus System
The UConn bus system has become quite the disaster. This semester, students are struggling to make it to class on time. They are finding that the bus gives inaccurate times, as well as makes pointless stops around campus.
Initial Motivation
When choosing a topic for the this project, I knew a lot of campus applications and systems needed to be updated; a lot are outdated or inaccurate. This school year, the bus routes changed and it negatively impacted the student body. Ever since coming to campus this semester, I personally have been struggling to make the bus system work for my classes. It is difficult enough living in Charter Oak apartments when the majority of my classes are located in South Campus. The bus system makes it all the worse when the only bus that comes to the apartment’s stop doesn’t even take you near the center of campus. After a few weeks, I was finally able to find a bus route, on my own, that got me close enough to my classes. With this being said, the UConn Bus Tracking App needs a serious update.
Process
In order to come up with successful updates for the bus app, we needed some input from the people it would affect the most: the student body. We posted a survey asking what students thought about the current bus application and routes. We then came up with some solutions to the issues of the app and asked what they thought about our ideas. Posting the survey in a large Facebook group containing many Storrs Campus students boosted our responses, receiving over 140.
Not only did we create a survey, but reached out to four random students to find out their more specific opinions and stories about the UConn bus system. We wanted a strong variety in our data and to find out if all UConn students feel the same way about transportation services.
I hypothesized that more than 75% of students held negative opinions on the current bus system at UConn. Our last question on the survey asks on a scale of 1–5 (5 being the best) how satisfied are you with the accuracy of the bus system at UConn. I believed most participants would respond with a 2–3.
Survey/Interview Results
One of the bigger issue our group recognized with the bus tracking app was the inaccuracy of the bus arrival times at each stop. It will inform you the bus will be at the stop in 8 minutes then in less than two seconds jump up to 18 minutes. It’s very confusing and frustrating to deal with and makes it easy to be late to class. In the survey we asked “have you ever been late to class due to the bus system?” We received 110 “yeses.” Out of 140 students that is about 78% of them who have been late to class because of the bus. This issue needs to be resolved through our updated version of the app.
Another large problem students claimed in the survey was that they never actually know or understand why the busses arrive so late. There should be updates and notifications from the app when there is bad traffic or they are switching drivers of the bus (which can always take a little while). It would be beneficial to the student and less frustrating to know the bus isn’t just driving slowly, but that there is a legitimate issue as to why the bus is running so behind. We asked on the survey how the students would feel if the app were to include delay updates, and 90.1% answered that they would really like it. That was another issue our group decided to improve in our version.
Based on my initial hypothesis, I can confirm I had the right idea. Most students had only negative comments about the bus system. On a scale of 1–5, 36.6% of students gave the busses a 2, whereas the rest were scattered among a 1 and 3.
From the interviews, we received a lot of useful information. Surprisingly, two students only had negative things to say, while the other two didn’t really mind the bus issues. One claimed they mainly walk to all their classes, and the other student got to campus extra early to make sure the bus got them to class on time. The first two students claimed the busses give false times, and one said it sometimes disappear off the live tracking app- resulting in the bus never actually making it to the stop. Basically, both students find the app unreliable, confusing, and inaccurate.
Drawing Up a Solution
We took these matters into our own hands and started drawing up sketches for ideas of a new, useful bus tracking app. Not only did we think the University needed an updated app, but it needs more than that. What if each bus stop had a screen with all the bus arrival times on it for that specific stop? This way students wouldn’t have to take their phones out to track the bus while waiting. The times would be up on the screen along with UConn news, the weather, and the time.
We decided to include a “find my route” option in the new app. It is a more personalized and easy way of searching for the perfect route to get to your chosen destination. Rather than trying to figure it out on the maps, you simply plug in your current location and destination, and a few different route options pop up. We believe students will find this extremely beneficial. Our group also added a “my schedule” feature. This feature will allow students to input their class schedule into the app, and it will generate the correct bus routes for you to take every morning. It will notify you when to leave your dorm/house in order to make the bus in time, as well as accounts for all traffic and delays, so you receive accurate timing. The live tracking will stay the same, because we do believe this feature is very useful, however it will notify you when/if there are delays.
Conclusion
To conclude our case study, I feel as though we created new features for the UConn bus system that will ultimately improve the students’ experiences with the service. The app was already so limited with its features, that adding to it could only improve what was already there. By including traffic updates and notifications for when students should leave for the bus, this should overall decrease the number of students running late. The screens at each bus stop will make it so students don’t have to keep checking their phones while waiting. The screen will constantly update bus arrival times, as well as provide the students with useful information such as the time, weather, and UConn News. I found it important for students to know what goes on daily at the university. Not many students tend to read the university’s newspapers or check the website, so I feel this can benefit the study body as a whole and make everyone more up-to-date on what happens on campus.
Our group feels as though these updates can improve not only the bus system, but UConn as a whole. By improving one aspect of Transportation Services, it can improve the entire university. Small changes can go a long way!
