Bloomsburg University students from the Department of Mathematical and Digital Sciences are developing an app to help their fellow students navigate the university bussing schedule.
Colin McIntyre, a sophomore Computer Science major, along with other students are working on the application called BloomBus. This app will allow students to check the current location of a shuttle.
While there is currently a schedule on the BloomU website that displays what time the buses run throughout the day, it provides no way to track exactly where they are.
Senior Computer Science major John Gibson is the “lead developer” of the app, according to McIntyre.
Gibson has been a tremendous help with creating BloomBus, McIntyre says.
He will be graduating this semester and “passing down the project to myself and other students,” he states.
The app is in “good shape,” but there needs to be additional testing before it will be ready to use by students.
As of right now, there is no official release date.
McIntyre and others are working with CGA to come up with the best solution possible for the implementation of the app.
The shuttles arrive approximately every 10-15 minutes on Monday through Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, they arrive around every 20 minutes. However, there is no service from 2:45-3:30 p.m. on the weekends and 6:45-7:30 p.m. on Sundays.
Many students have cars parked at Blue Lot located on upper campus next to Jessica S. Kozloff Apartments. When they come back to Bloomsburg University on Sunday nights around 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., most of the time the buses are not running since the drivers are on their break.
Students may think that the “temporary shortage of drivers” is the problem, but Tom McGuire, BU’s Director of Media Relations and Content Strategy, explains that “the shortage of drivers is not related to lack of effort, [but] rather [a] lack of qualified drivers applying.” A CDL license is mandatory in order to become a driver, and the previous batch of applicants did not possess this type of license.
Kutztown University, Pennsylvania State University, Point Park University, University of Pittsburgh, West Chester University, and York College all have similar apps to track their shuttles.