After months of delays, students who commute to campus on RTS buses can finally check the location of their buses online thanks to newly installed Global Positioning System units.
The Gator Locator bus tracking system, which has been in the works for about a year, launched Monday.
The GPS units are installed on 50 buses that run on a total of about 30 routes, said Bob Miller, UF's associate vice president of business affairs.
The routes primarily go from on-campus to off-campus locations.
Buses that stay on campus were not equipped with GPS units because they circulate so frequently, Miller said in a phone interview.
Students can view the location of their buses at www.ufl.transloc-inc.com. Links to the Web site are also posted on the UF Transportation and Parking Services Web site and the Regional Transit System Web site.
The plan to put GPS units on RTS buses began more than a year ago when former Student Body President Ryan Moseley assumed office, according to Student Body President Kevin Reilly.
"This is Ryan's pet project," Reilly said.
The bus tracking system, sponsored by UF and RTS, was delayed for several months by electrical problems, said Dominique Bischof, co-founder and vice president of product development at TransLoc, the company providing the GPS service for the buses.
TransLoc also provides bus-tracking services at six other universities, including Auburn University, the University of Alabama, Harvard University and Yale University.
This is the first time TransLoc has ever provided the service for a fleet of buses that is operated by the city and not the university, Bischof said.
UF Transportation and Parking traffic court reserves, funded by parking citations, will cover the $204,000 cost of the system for the first year.
The UF transportation access fee, paid by students, will fund $110,000 of the $143,000 yearly cost after that.
RTS will cover the remaining $33,000 with money from a Florida Department of Transportation grant.
While waiting for his bus on Monday, Steven Schulz, a UF packaging science senior, said he thinks the bus tracking system is a win-win situation for students because it is convenient and makes routes more efficient.
But Andrea Leeth, also a UF senior, said she will probably not use the system.
"The bus comes every fifteen minutes," Leeth said. "So I just know to be out here."
