MIT Solve

Solution overview

Our Solution

Shuttle Alert

Tagline

Right on time, Right on schedule, A ride at your fingertips

Pitch us on your solution

Many University students in Uganda do not reside in halls of residence because of limited accommodation space and University halls remind them of high school dormitories with strict rules and routine checks. Students therefore reside in hostels and rely on hostel shuttles for their daily commute. The inconsistency around shuttle pick up times frustrate students, leading many to walk to and from the university campus. The situation puts their lives in danger especially at night.

Shuttle Alert is a real-time mobile application that provides students with an up to date minute visualization of the hostel shuttle’s location, thereby eliminating the need for guesswork and the frustration that comes with it.

Shuttle Alert will not only save time and lives of most university students in developing countries but redefine the transportation systems by integrating it into the railways gauge system, municipal shuttles and cross country bus systems.

Film your elevator pitch

What is the problem you are solving?

In Uganda 70% of University Students reside in hostels because of limited accommodation space at university halls of residence which also remind them of high school dormitories with strict rules and routine checks. Students therefore prefer the splashy, expensive and in most cases distant hostels in the name of independence and convenience.

Students in hostels rely on the hostel shuttles to make their way to and from campus, but most times they have to wait long for their hostel shuttles to arrive with no clue as to if it will even arrive. The inconsistency around shuttle pick up times and lack of communication from those in-charge frustrate students, leading many to walk to and from the university campus.

The situation puts their lives in danger they risk meeting thugs, con men and all kinds of danger along the way especially at night. This deplorable situation therefore makes it necessary for students to know the real time location and estimated arrival time of their hostel shuttles as well as receive communication about the availability of the shuttles prior to departure times.

Who are you serving?

Shuttle Alert is designed to address the challenges students in University hostels in Uganda face. About 75% of the students in Ugandan Universities reside in hostels out of the campus premises and rely on shuttles to commute to and from campus.

Uganda, a third world country is not able to tackle insecurity in most areas and this leaves the student community as a target by criminal gangs who arrogantly steal, beat up and intimidate students. They mainly target the female students and many have fallen culprits of these unbearable and demeaning acts.

To gather the relevant data that was needed, we administered questionnaires to several University students in hostels, held interview sessions with hostel Custodians and shuttle drivers. We studied the collected data to identify key user and system requirements and designed a real-time mobile application, “Shuttle Alert”, to provide an up to date minute visualization of hostel shuttles for which the student community is strongly participating in the testing process.

Shuttle Alert eliminates time wastage, enables communication by hostel managers about the availability of the shuttles prior to departure and pick up times, ensuring no students are left behind thus cutting short the life threatening situations students go through.

What is your solution?

Shuttle Alert provides students with an up to date minute visualization of the hostel shuttles’ location, thereby eliminating the need for guesswork and the frustration that comes with it. Since smartphones continue to enhance information and communication flow in almost every facet of our lifestyle today, “Shuttle Alert” is important to university students who use hostel shuttle buses as well as shuttle drivers.

The system allows hostel managers to send out timely notifications about shuttle service as well as shuttle interruptions to students. This is a major improvement from putting announcements on a notice board, which most students never read. The system also indicates to the shuttle driver the number of students waiting at each pick up point.

To gather the relevant data that was needed, we administered questionnaires to several Makerere University students in hostels. We also held interview sessions with hostel Custodians and shuttle drivers. We studied the collected data to identify key user and system requirements. We then implemented the native Android application using Android Studio, Java, XML, PHP and MySQL. We are testing “Shuttle Alert” with several users before deployment in order to get constructive feedback. The feedback will allow us to check consistency with the requirements specifications.

Shuttle Alert, uses GPS devices planted in shuttles to track the hostel shuttle’s location in real-time. It provides students with a real time visualization of the shuttle’s location and its estimated time of arrival (ETA). The students are also notified on time in case of any shuttle service interruption. This tremendously reduces on the time that students waste while waiting for their hostel shuttle to arrive at a particular pick up point.

Select only the most relevant.

Support communities in designing and determining solutions around critical services
Create or advance equitable and inclusive economic growth

Where is your solution team headquartered?

Kampala, Uganda

Our solution's stage of development:

Prototype

More about your solution

Select one of the below:

New application of an existing technology

Describe what makes your solution innovative.

In the technology age, our lives evolve around the internet, in our society, University students stand at pathways and college pickup points waiting and trying to figure out when the next shuttle will be available; spending hours waiting for shuttles that never seem to arrive unaware of its availability nor its current location; isn’t that precious time wasted?

The current system causes frustration among the users because they are always unaware of the availability of the shuttle, its location, time of arrival and any other interruptions that could have occurred. The only form of communication used is pinning notices on the notice board, a method that does not yield the required or acceptable results.

Shuttle Alert eliminates the above inconveniences by providing an interactive platform with up to date visualizations of the shuttles’ location, alerts to system users and a management system for shuttle operators. The software instantly picks real time GPS coordinates from a real time cloud database providing real time visualization of shuttles to the users eliminating frustration, time wastage and most importantly curbing down some of the life threatening situations the student community faces in our country.

Shuttle alert provides an effective and efficient way of communication between our student community and shuttle operators, enabling flawless service provision to the student community thus a safer and enjoyable commuting experience.

Describe the core technology that your solution utilizes.

Shuttle Alert is an Android and IOS mobile application software developed to take advantage of the already existing technology of messaging and the Global Positioning System(GPS) to provide up to date real time visualization of shuttles to both the university community and shuttle operators to smoothen service delivery, eliminate frustration and bring joy to commuting within the student community.

Shuttle Alert uses Google’s real time cloud database firebase from which it constantly picks the GPS coordinates fed by the device installed in the shuttles to provide real time shuttle visualization to the users.

Shuttle Alert comes along with a Web based Management System that allows management to monitor shuttle movements in real time, broadcast messages to application users about shuttle availability and any unforeseen interruptions as well make administrative decisions on shuttle routes because the system allows management to see how many users are waiting at a specific place based on the number of geographically placed notifications received.

With a well-designed and UX tested user interface and functionalities, shuttle Alert is a software that avails excitement to the student community in Uganda and is destined to bring joy and improve the transportation system in the nation as a whole.

Please select the technologies currently used in your solution:

Internet of Things
Social Networks

Why do you expect your solution to address the problem?

Shuttle Alert was born out of the existing frustration among the university community in Uganda. The need to create awareness, transparent communication and smooth commuting in the community all in an attempt to curb the rampant crimes committed towards the leaders of tomorrow.

The response recorded from the student community from the multiple interview sessions gave rise for the need of a problem solving application like shuttle alert. The major problems highlighted by the students included;

Lack of communication about service availability and interruptions
Unawareness of shuttles location.
Inconsistency in arrival and departure times including the estimated time of arrival
Continuous robberies, rape and murder of female students who get left behind due to the shuttles’ inconsistency.

Shuttle Alert eliminates the above queries providing a transparent and effective communication as well as the much needed awareness to the student community.

Select the key characteristics of the population your solution serves.

Women & Girls
Children and Adolescents
Urban Residents
Low-Income
Middle-Income
Persons with Disabilities

In which countries do you currently operate?

Uganda

In which countries will you be operating within the next year?

Uganda

How many people are you currently serving with your solution? How many will you be serving in one year? How about in five years?

Shuttle Alert is currently under the testing phase with its launch date scheduled for August, 2019. Upon launch, it shall serve approximately 30 thousand university community users.

By 2020 shuttle Alert is expected to be used in most universities in the country, thus covering about 90 thousand users requiring major management and system upgrades.

We are also looking at integrating shuttle alert in the major transport system such as the Municipal buses, school shuttles and the newly born Railway gauge system, if successfully implemented, it will serve millions of users daily.

What are your goals within the next year and within the next five years?

Our short term target is to provide a transparent and fun experience to the university commuting community in Uganda, helping reduce and eventually eliminate the life threatening situations caused by frustration and shuttle inconsistency and the current absolute lack of communication from operators.

Upon achieving the above objective, our goal is to integrate shuttle alert into the country’s transportation system, modernizing and bringing about a whole new experience in the following categories of transportation;

Municipal Buses,
Trains
Private shuttles

Bus Companies are a good target as they carry a large number of commuters reliant on these services because of their affordability and ability therein of being a cheap alternative to taxis.

Trains are a cheaper alternative to a lot of commuters, affording transport that makes sense; they break down often and commuters are left stranded. Furthermore, a lot resort to buses/taxis because of uncertainty regarding routes taken – the app will address these key shortfalls

Versatile shuttle companies that provide private and mass commuting will use this service to afford its clients piece of mind in planning ahead of every trip because there is always a fine line between missing the shuttle and making it in time – the updates are critical because, as they say, time is money

What are the barriers that currently exist for you to accomplish your goals for the next year and for the next five years?

The major barrier our team is facing is the financial challenge, the team requires funds for operational costs, acquisition of the necessary hardware, consultation expenses, research funds, commercial expenses among others. At prototype level the team lacks the financial capability to effectively run and manage the project.

With only a limited number of team members as we are constrained by our financial disadvantage, there is inadequate technical skills required to speed up the development process.

Another major barrier is the lack of proper internet infrastructure to provide the level of internet to support a robust and rapid development of the project

Shuttle alert is not a fully tested system and this makes it hard to get sponsors and partners to invest in the project.

How are you planning to overcome these barriers?

We are seeking grants, soliciting funds from organizations that fund innovation as well as taking part in Global challenge competitions to fund the project and realize its immerse potential.

The team has support from volunteers working around the clock to run the project, solicit funds and also find investors and partners to become part of this innovative idea to revolutionize the transport system and bring transparency and awareness in commuting.

If your solution has a website, provide a link here:

https://shuttlealert.com

If your solution proposes an app that is available, provide a link to your app online or in an app store here:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.shuttlealert

If you have additional video, provide a YouTube or Vimeo link to your video here:

About your team

Select an option below:

Not registered as any organization

If you selected Other for the organization question, please explain here.

Shuttle Alert is currently not registered as an organization but the team is in the process of registration.

How many people work on your solution team?

Our team currently consists of five full time time team members lead by Gatale Elijah. The team consists of three developers and two gentleman in-charge of operations.

Our team also consists of 15 part-time staff, who are volunteers and help the interview sessions, data collections and assistance during testing sessions.

Shuttle alert has no contractors at the moment.

For how many years have you been working on your solution?

1

Why are you and your team best-placed to deliver this solution?

Our team consists of enthusiastic, young, talented, creative and innovative Computer Science Graduates from East Africa's prestigious Makerere University in Uganda who have come together to solve a problem our friends and community faces in their day to day lives.

The team consists of technically gifted individuals in the fields of Android and IOS application development, web application development with great analytical skills and capacity to learn.

The team is supervised and mentored by very influential individuals in the field of Computer Science at makerere University college of Computing and Informatics Technology; Dr. Marriette Katarahweire and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Engineer Bainomugisha who together with the team are determined to see the project succeed.

With what organizations are you currently partnering, if any? How are you working with them?

Shuttle Alert is currently striking a partnership with Makerere University to take part in the development and distribution of shuttle alert.

Your business model & funding

Partnership potential

Why are you applying to Solve?

We are applying to solve seeking;

funding to realize the potential of shuttle alert.
connections to investors and granters to solicit funds to support the operations of the team.
advise and mentor-ship from the experienced persons in the field of Computer Science and service delivery.

We believe solve will provide us with required platform to pitch our idea and acquire the necessary tools like funds, mentor-ship, advice and provide ideas which can improve shuttle alert even further.

What types of connections and partnerships would be most catalytic for your solution?

Technology
Distribution
Media and speaking opportunities

If you selected Other, please explain here.

N/A

With what organizations would you like to partner, and how would you like to partner with them?

We would like to partner;

Academic institutions, the project was initially started to curb down the problems the student community faces in Uganda. We seek partnerships with institutions like Makerere University, Kyambogo University, Makerere University Business school etc.as these possess over 80,000 students among them. This category also includes kindergarten schools.
Private shuttle Organizations, private shuttles companies can make use of the system to provide better service to their clients.
Government Organs that own shuttles which drop and pick employees like the Ministry of Public Service Uganda. Telecom Companies MTN, Airtel and Africel/orange, to promote the use of applications and its distribution.

If you would like to apply for the AI Innovations Prize, describe how you and your team will utilize the prize to advance your solution. If you are not already using AI in your solution, explain why it is necessary for your solution to be successful and how you plan to incorporate it.

The prize would tremendously provide the team with the necessary funds to carry out intensive research and data analysis required to improve shuttle alert making it a giant in service delivery enhancement in our community.

Grant shuttle alert the pushing required to be able to integrate it into the different transport sectors where it would make tremendous efficiency and effectiveness.