Student invents shuttle bus app, no more late arrivals

By Alexa Low

Senior Conner Kelty turned his childhood dream into a reality.

“I’ve always wanted to bring an app to Quincy,” Kelty stated.

Through his capstone project, Kelty was able to create an app that will send notifications to students when the Quincy University shuttle bus has arrived.

QU runs two shuttle buses to and from North Campus for those students who need a ride to class. A very helpful gesture by the University, however the buses have been notorious for making students late to class.

Kelty had a friend pitch the shuttle bus app to him, giving him an idea for his capstone project.

“It started with just an idea of being able to track the shuttles going from North Campus to Main Campus and see when they’re going to be there, where they’re at exactly that way you can plan, especially when it’s cold out you don’t have to sit out there and wait, you can see when exactly the shuttle is going to be there,” Kelty said.

There is a shuttle bus schedule in the student planner but it seems the buses do not adhere to the schedule.

When walking to and from class, you’ll see multiple students waiting for the bus to come and others running out of the bus in an attempt to make it to class on time.

“I was ten minutes late to class just now because of it,” Henry Haughton said.

The shuttle system is owned and operated by Quincy Transit. The schedule is made for the buses to run every fifteen minutes, not when classes start and end.

Kelty’s app is still in testing, however once finished it should make the life of the shuttle bus users much easier.

“It would be helpful, instead of sitting there guessing for twenty minutes ‘is it going to be come,’ alright I got ten minutes I might be able to eat at the caf,” Haughton said.

The app can be made for any IOS or android device and is easy to use.

“The driver can log in using the app, the user can get into the app and it immediately displays a map. If the driver has activated their route, the users will be able to see them on the map and see where the bus is at, implementing notification to your phone directly,” Kelty explains.

The app is expected to be completely finished around next February or March.

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