Smart[phone] integration of town/gown transit

A UGA app developed to make travel easier between campus and surrounding greater Athens now includes real time information on city bus routes:

Since its initial launch in 2013, the UGA mobile app's most popular feature for students has been a bus tracker for Campus Transit. Now, Athens Transit buses are included in the app, which tracks buses and displays schedules of when buses are expected to arrive at each stop.

The UGA mobile app also includes a map of campus with the ability to select points of interest, such as computer labs, parking decks, bike repair stations and print kiosks. It also features daily menus at UGA dining commons, recreational sports schedules, live streaming of WUOG radio, access to the university's learning management system and more. The UGA mobile app is free to download and is available in the App Store for Apple devices and Google Play for Android devices.

That's a substantial amount of information made available for the mini-city that has become the UGA campus. Virtually without boundaries, the barriers between travel around town/across campus are being further erased with this new tool. Importantly, and with little fanfare, the implicit application of technology designed to the enhance car-less transit shines as one of the chief benefits of our current epoch. A liberating element, the app is a good reminder of how we can arrange our utilization of technology to enhance daily life. Now you can know you'll get to the bus on time; and with plenty of time to walk, don't forget to look up from your phone, see the sights, smell the flowers.

Image: Winter flowers on campus, by Paul Efland, UGA Photographic services.