University of Wisconsin-Madison students could see screens that show real-time bus arrival times in university housing and dining locations as early as next semester, according to Associated Students of Madison Legislative Affairs Committee member Ryan Prestil.
Prestil said the project, which is a collaboration between ASM’s Legislative Affairs and University Affairs committees and UW Transportation Services, is an attempt to increase safety as well as convenience by allowing students to wait for buses indoors.
The project began when Prestil looked into SAFEcab, a free campus nighttime cab service for students that was discontinued at the end of last year.
Prestil said he found that SAFEcab was “not a sustainable service” and thought campus transportation could be improved by increasing students’ knowledge of services that are already available, such as bus schedules.
The technology to track bus arrivals in real time is already available, according to Prestil, and is used on the Madison Metro and UW-Madison mobile applications.
Prestil said Transportation Services is already working on developing prototypes of the screens, which he hopes will be finished by the end of the semester.
In the future, Prestil said he would also like to see screens in the unions, campus libraries and any building that has sufficient equipment, with emphasis on locations where students will be staying late at night.
Funding for the screens will come from Transportation Services in collaboration with ASM, according to Prestil.
Prestil said he pursued the screens “to find something that could benefit a lot of people without needing a lot of background and preparation.”
