MIT to Use NextBus Technology to Improve Student Transit Operations

Filed Under AVL Systems, Real-time Passenger Information Systems, Transportation Trends, University Transit

Many universities with brilliant students benefit from technology that they developed for the benefit of the community. So it is with MIT where a student designed system helped run their University shuttle. The downside of student developed technology is that when the designers graduate, it can become very difficult to maintain and upgrade that technology.

So it is with MIT. For many years they had used the student written ShuttleTrack. Originally installed in 2003, it offered a real-time map of shuttle locations across campus. Unfortunately, the students who had developed it graduated. In addition, the system had limited capabilities which prevented programming of new routes and could monitor only one vehicle per route.

MIT’s newspaper, the tech, quoted Lawrence Brutti, operations manager at the University parking and transportation office, commented on the problem, “ShuttleTrack being down was one of our chief complaints. We knew we needed to get stable tracking up.” In explaining the choice of NextBus, Brutti said, “it is state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line. We feel like we’ll have a nice stable system, which ShuttleTrack was not.”

The new NextBus system is expected to be rolled out in July 2008 and will provide the advanced real-time tracking needed to optimize their transit operations and to ensure student safety.

To read the full article about the choice of NextBus in Tech, click here.

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