Students will soon be able to track the Tufts shuttle - which is run by Joseph's Transportation and known affectionately as the "Joey" - via global positioning system (GPS), if current test efforts proceed as planned.
The idea of bringing GPS tracking to the Joey was proposed nearly two years ago. Initially derailed due to cost concerns, it will most likely become a reality in the near future - thanks to student ingenuity.
Senior Ed Kalafarski and freshman Matt Shapanka used their computer programming skills to create a system that transmits the Joey's position - as assessed by a simple GPS cell phone - to a Web site where students can observe its location and determine whether they should wait or walk.
The site also estimates what time the shuttle bus will be arriving at the campus center and Davis Square.
"All that has to happen is the phone has to sit on the Joey all day," Shapanka said.
The Web site has been functional throughout tests over the past weeks, but has not yet been made public to the Tufts community.
"The best aspect of it is that we're doing it all ourselves," Shapanka said. That "all" included coordinating computer programming, creating the Web site and securing approval from Tufts Department of Public Safety.
"Even though it's very basic, we did it did ourselves," Shapanka said. "It's really great."
Tests throughout the week have hit some minor roadblocks, but have proved encouraging overall. The initial version of the software showed an updated position for the bus every minute.
"It worked," Kalafarski said. "The icon moved every minute like it was supposed to. It functioned beautifully for a while, but later that afternoon, we lost the signal."
New software recently incorporated in the system will note a change in the Joey's position every 10 seconds.
"This will make things very precise," Kalafarski said.
Tests on Tuesday and Wednesday of last week were successful. Tests were not conducted yesterday, however, because the blue Joey broke down and the telephone was taken back to Joseph's headquarters with the broken bus.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to publicize this before the end of the semester," Shapanka said of the GPS initiative. "I want it to be fully functional before the fall."
Kalafarski and Shapanka met with Captain Mark Keith of the Tufts University Police Department last week to
discuss the success of the initial tests and to develop plans for when and how to go public.
At that meeting, Keith expressed a desire to see a week's worth of successful tests before going public with the system.
The system has one huge advantage: "It's very, very cheap," Shapanka said.
Initial estimates for such a system ran on the order of $30,000 - the kind of figure charged by large companies that provide the service for companies running many buses simultaneously.
"We have no more than two [buses] at any given time, [so it] would have been fiscally irresponsible to do it," Shapanka said.
MIT's shuttle system includes a student-run Web site with standard GPS device, which costs approximately $1000, Shapanka said. The MIT system uses a data feed to the Web site. While the team looked into this alternative, it would still require a relatively expensive GPS unit and a monthly service charge.
Then Shapanka came across a free java software called Mologogo that allowed for GPS exchange between a cell phone and a Web site.
The team purchased three inexpensive pre-paid wireless phones with the capacity to run Java software at $49.99 apiece.
"There's no contract, and since we won't be making phone calls on them, we don't have to buy airtime minutes, either," Shapanka said.
The total cost for the Web service for all three telephones totals only 60 cents per day, and the Web site is free through the existing TCU senate Web site.
Plans are under way to also make the GPS information about the Joey's location available on students' cell phones.
