NASHVILLE, Tenn. - In the next 25 years, another million people have been expected to move to Middle Tennessee, and with Nashville the biggest destination, current growth has been adding to the city’s slow-moving cars and gridlock.
But Vanderbilt researchers from the College of Engineering have been working on an app called T-Hub.
“These are actually live buses,” research scientist Abhishek Dubey said pointing to a screen showing bus icons flashing and moving across a map.
He said the app showed people why they should turn to mass transit and buses and skip the solo car ride.
“It’s not just that we are saying take public transport because we say so,” he said, “what are the benefits of it and then you can be your own judge.”
It helps you map a route, setting start or end times. And it shows you how to get there by bus and walking. The app sends you a reminder when it’s time to head to the bus, it counts the calories you'll lose and the gas money you'll save.
“[This is] taking that smart city approach, that integrated technology approach,” said MTA Scheduling Manager Dan Freudberg.
The Metro Transit Authority has been behind the app 100 percent, even installing $5.6 million dollars- worth of sensors to every bus so the app can track them in real time.
“Every additional person that we can get to use the bus is potentially one less vehicle we have on the street,” Freudberg said.
Not enough of a reason for you? The app also gives out "Impact Points" based on your trips and calories burned.
“You effectively accumulate these points and you can share that with Facebook or whatever is your favorite social media,” Dubey said.
The app has essentially combined technologies like what people have been familiar with, such as Google maps, fit bit, gas calculators, calendars and GPS trackers, and has made a localized version.
It’s aiming to drive more people to transit in order to lighten the load on the roads.
The app will be free for the public to download in December.
Vanderbilt received a $200,000 National Science Foundation grant to build the app.
MTA received $3.4 million federal dollars toward the sensors.
For more information on T-Hub, click here.
