2/17/07 Gross misuse of university funds
It's time to voice my opinion, state the facts and let you decide. This article is in response to Tori Allen's article entitled, "Students may soon be able to track transit with GPS"
Tori Allen's article:
" For many students, the daily wait for Tiger Transit is a necessary evil. But soon, students may be able to know exactly where their bus is on the route. The SGA is preparing to install a tracking system to allow students to view their transit bus’ location online or from their cell phones, helping them know how long they have until the bus arrives. “Once it happens, we’re going to look back and wonder how we survived without it,” SGA President George Stegall said. “It’s going to be like cell phones — how did we live without cell phones?” The system, which is run through the company Trans-Loc, is already being used at North Carolina State University where it was created by two students. “The great thing about this system is you can see it in real time,” said Henley Groves, SGA administrative vice president. “You can see exactly where the bus is and see when it’s stopping and when it’s going.” The goal of the new GPS system is to make riding the Tiger Transit more convenient, punctual and reliable for riders. “You can sleep longer, eat breakfast and you’ll know exactly when to head out,” said Christie Ducote, a junior in biomedical sciences. Ducote recommended the system at the last Tiger Feedback meeting. The tracking system may also help in more ways around campus. “The system would be easier to not only students, but us,” said David George, director of parking and transit. “It’s very accurate, and it’s a great thing for the University. It’s going to make it more efficient,” Groves said. Once the system is in place, Tiger Transit will be able to track its buses in case of breakdowns or slow driving routes. Drivers can be alerted to either slow down or speed up, Stegall said. Students will also be able to log on to the Tiger Transit Web site and click on a specific route to see in real-time where each transit bus is for its exact route. The buses will be shown as a dot in their specific route’s color. Color-blind students can also click on the dot and display the name of the route the bus is representing. Groves and Stegall said the proposed idea will go before the Board of Trustees or President Ed Richardson as early as November, and could be installed as early as the end of the year.
The money for the system, which costs approximately $180,000 a year, could be taken from an increase in student tuition. “If student fees increase at all, it would only be minimal,” Groves said. Stegall said if there was an increase in the tuition, it would be less than 1 percent. “We are in full support of this. SGA will not be purchasing it, Tiger Transit will,” Stegall said. “It will not be coming out of the Student Activities Budget.” Stegall and Groves both said they believe there will be a change in the number of students riding Tiger Transit, and more students will ride and rely on the Tiger Transit system. "
The University installing a bus tracking system is profound and will be a great addition, technology is a beautiful thing, It's just that the decision makers more or less screwed up from lack of information or just plain ignorance when selecting a solutions provider. Allow me to explain. Never once did SGA or the University itself turn to it's own School of Engineering to say, "Could you guys see if it's feasible ?", seems like a natural approach, doesn't it ? We will soon be paying a company $180,000.00 PER year to install and maintain a bus tracking system when it's very own School of Engineering could have done it for literally a fraction of the cost. Now our already inflating tuition will increase and their is no need for it. The University could have had the prestige of creating it's very own solution. I went and spoke with some of the management for TigerTransit. I was told that the contract with Trans-loc was two years in the making and that there was no backing out even if AU engineering could build an equal or possibly superior product.
It is my personal testimony that AU's Engineering could have EASILY built such a system. In fact, working as a Co-oP student for AU, a fellow work associate and I started doing just that. The project was nearly at a stage where we could demo it for the university. It's almost laughable that a few engineering students could have saved the university a substantial amount of money and the only response we get is, "Well, it's too late now, we're already in a contract".
Tori Allen's article:
" For many students, the daily wait for Tiger Transit is a necessary evil. But soon, students may be able to know exactly where their bus is on the route. The SGA is preparing to install a tracking system to allow students to view their transit bus’ location online or from their cell phones, helping them know how long they have until the bus arrives. “Once it happens, we’re going to look back and wonder how we survived without it,” SGA President George Stegall said. “It’s going to be like cell phones — how did we live without cell phones?” The system, which is run through the company Trans-Loc, is already being used at North Carolina State University where it was created by two students. “The great thing about this system is you can see it in real time,” said Henley Groves, SGA administrative vice president. “You can see exactly where the bus is and see when it’s stopping and when it’s going.” The goal of the new GPS system is to make riding the Tiger Transit more convenient, punctual and reliable for riders. “You can sleep longer, eat breakfast and you’ll know exactly when to head out,” said Christie Ducote, a junior in biomedical sciences. Ducote recommended the system at the last Tiger Feedback meeting. The tracking system may also help in more ways around campus. “The system would be easier to not only students, but us,” said David George, director of parking and transit. “It’s very accurate, and it’s a great thing for the University. It’s going to make it more efficient,” Groves said. Once the system is in place, Tiger Transit will be able to track its buses in case of breakdowns or slow driving routes. Drivers can be alerted to either slow down or speed up, Stegall said. Students will also be able to log on to the Tiger Transit Web site and click on a specific route to see in real-time where each transit bus is for its exact route. The buses will be shown as a dot in their specific route’s color. Color-blind students can also click on the dot and display the name of the route the bus is representing. Groves and Stegall said the proposed idea will go before the Board of Trustees or President Ed Richardson as early as November, and could be installed as early as the end of the year.
The money for the system, which costs approximately $180,000 a year, could be taken from an increase in student tuition. “If student fees increase at all, it would only be minimal,” Groves said. Stegall said if there was an increase in the tuition, it would be less than 1 percent. “We are in full support of this. SGA will not be purchasing it, Tiger Transit will,” Stegall said. “It will not be coming out of the Student Activities Budget.” Stegall and Groves both said they believe there will be a change in the number of students riding Tiger Transit, and more students will ride and rely on the Tiger Transit system. "
The University installing a bus tracking system is profound and will be a great addition, technology is a beautiful thing, It's just that the decision makers more or less screwed up from lack of information or just plain ignorance when selecting a solutions provider. Allow me to explain. Never once did SGA or the University itself turn to it's own School of Engineering to say, "Could you guys see if it's feasible ?", seems like a natural approach, doesn't it ? We will soon be paying a company $180,000.00 PER year to install and maintain a bus tracking system when it's very own School of Engineering could have done it for literally a fraction of the cost. Now our already inflating tuition will increase and their is no need for it. The University could have had the prestige of creating it's very own solution. I went and spoke with some of the management for TigerTransit. I was told that the contract with Trans-loc was two years in the making and that there was no backing out even if AU engineering could build an equal or possibly superior product.
It is my personal testimony that AU's Engineering could have EASILY built such a system. In fact, working as a Co-oP student for AU, a fellow work associate and I started doing just that. The project was nearly at a stage where we could demo it for the university. It's almost laughable that a few engineering students could have saved the university a substantial amount of money and the only response we get is, "Well, it's too late now, we're already in a contract".
posted by honkyusa at 11:33 AM
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