When I lived in France, I lived right next to a bus stop. The very bus I needed to get to my teaching gig about three miles away. I relied on the route’s brochure and constantly leaning over the window rail from my third floor apartment to see when the next bus would come. It was low-tech but effective.

Now, bus tracking companies like NextBus can update you when your bus will arrive. You can do it either on their website or from your phone. You can see my instructional video at the bottom to learn how to use it.

Another cool feature shows your bus traveling along on a Google map. Director of business development, Larry Rosenshein, says that the bus sends their system a signal every 30 to 60 seconds. Below is a screenshot from Georgia Tech’s red line.

The little red flag moves each time the position is updated, which is a pretty nifty sight to see.

Rosenshein says that this is perfect for bus systems that have a lot of “headway,” which is the fancy schmancy way of saying “a lot of time between stops.” It can alert riders to route changes, bus breakdowns, or whatever else. These messages can be viewed on the live Google map or messages can be scrolled on tickers installed at bus stops.

A disadvantage I ran into is learning how to navigate the cell phone protocol and prompts. During the filming of my instructional video, I encountered several error messages when trying to track San Francisco’s Muni route from Fisherman’s Warf. Depending on the complexity of a city, riders would need to be educated on how to use the text service -- what the abbreviations are, how to reply to texts sent from NextBus, etc. Given that a majority of commuters are lower-income and barely have access to a computer, better instructions sent to your phone would be helpful. (Recently, a study found that minorities use mobile technologies more than the alternative).

Rosenshein said he’s approached the RTC of Southern Nevada about using NextBus but hadn’t really pursued further than a couple of phone calls. Public information officer Tracy Bower told me that they are planning on their already installed GPS software to track buses. No word though on which company they prefer. Rosenshein did say that to set up their system, which takes around three months, would cost less than a brand new bus. In 2005, according to the APTA, a new 40 foot bus cost $354,000.

How would you use NextBus around campus? What’s been your experience with similar systems?

Instructional Video

Several universities in the U.S. charge students a nominal fee per semester or year for a free ride on public transportation.

U.C. Berkeley’s fee is $59 per semester to ride the bus and train in and around the university area. Students can take the AC Transit line and the BART to San Francisco, Fremont and Stanford. With what they call the “Class Pass” students also get discounts on other public transportation services in the Bay Area.

According to a Fall 2005 survey, almost 90 percent of students chose to get the Class Pass (which is free but not automatically handed out). Of those surveyed, 31 percent took public transit with a majority walking to campus. But it’s not because they live on campus – more than half of students surveyed lived off-campus.

What’s more, a little less than half have a car that they use primarily for shopping and recreation. Which means that students are actually choosing to use alternative modes – walking, biking, and busing.

Although there aren’t any specific figures, an April 2009 publication from the parking and transportation department at the university estimated that over 90 percent of students and 50 percent of faculty and staff took alternative transport.

The Class Pass program was established in 1998 and was voted on in 2006 to continue for another seven years.

UNLV can take notes from Berkeley on how to, first of all, conduct a survey (the research department offers cash prizes for respondents) and go about implementing a program to promote sustainable transit.

I’d also note that what people say versus what they’d actually  do can be worlds apart. When you ask a student, “Would you take the bus if it were free?” they may say no, but once you actually give them that choice, they’ll start thinking economically. Read “Nudge” by Thaler and Sunstein to learn about the glorious contradictions within each of us and how we can be nudged to do the right thing.

The subsidized fee for students is one of many options that UNLV has at its disposal to encourage students, faculty and staff to start taking alternative transit. What other ways can you think of?

Publications Cited
UC Berkeley Fall 2005 Student Transportation Survey (external PDF)
UC Berkeley Current and Future Sustainability Programs