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How many buses does the system require for the whole system for a day? It is very impressive and appears to be easily expandable as the campus footprint grows. It is starting off as a free service and I hope it can continue as such.

Oh, it's going to be paid for, rest assured.

If not at the point of use, then definitely in tuition/fees.

they need to make sure only people with valid UAB ID's ride the bus. if not they will be filled with homeless people when its cold, raining, or really hot. they should also set up a route to UAB football games. Let people pay to park at UAB and then ride the bus to the game. Might help with the "scared to park at legion" crowd and getting UAB fans to tailgate on campus would be nice.

(12-24-2013 04:16 PM)bladhmadh Wrote:  they need to make sure only people with valid UAB ID's ride the bus. if not they will be filled with homeless people when its cold, raining, or really hot. they should also set up a route to UAB football games. Let people pay to park at UAB and then ride the bus to the game. Might help with the "scared to park at legion" crowd and getting UAB fans to tailgate on campus would be nice.

Is there a magnetic strip on the present UAB student/staff IDs? If so, they can put a "reader" at the door. There must be a cost savings to make such measures practical.

How much of a problem is the presence of the "homeless" on the UAB campus footprint today? Like hanging out in classroom buildings to stay warm and such.

(12-25-2013 02:24 PM)BAMANBLAZERFAN Wrote:  

(12-24-2013 04:16 PM)bladhmadh Wrote:  they need to make sure only people with valid UAB ID's ride the bus. if not they will be filled with homeless people when its cold, raining, or really hot. they should also set up a route to UAB football games. Let people pay to park at UAB and then ride the bus to the game. Might help with the "scared to park at legion" crowd and getting UAB fans to tailgate on campus would be nice.

Is there a magnetic strip on the present UAB student/staff IDs? If so, they can put a "reader" at the door. There must be a cost savings to make such measures practical.

How much of a problem is the presence of the "homeless" on the UAB campus footprint today? Like hanging out in classroom buildings to stay warm and such.

there are a good number on south side and they are not stupid. I go to Chattanooga a lot in the winter and if its really cold the local homeless ride the free bus to stay warm. for the most part they are harmless but if you offer free bus transportation they will use it to stay warm. showing a student ID would fix that problem. all it takes is one incident to generate bad PR

There is also an app, TransLoc, that you can get that will show you the current location of all the buses based on GPS in the buses. The app was connected a few months ago and worked on the single bus route they currently had, so I'm excited to see it all up and running.

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You'll have to use your UAB ID to ride the bus. There's no charge for people who are eligible to ride.

Ive seen lots of really slick looking buses on campus over the past couple of months. I presume those and perhaps more like them will be what makes up the equipment for the system.

UAB has what they call a Onecard system, if I understand how it works for students it covers everything for them from food etc, for students/faculty/employees so if the buses have a scanner sytem mounted, yes it'll only be UAB people on them.

BD yes those new UAB buses are the ones. Only thing I hate about them is that they have GA plates or a 3mo expired temp tag & don't have the AL state vehicle tags on them as I assume they'd fall under UAB/state umbrella in that aspect ???

So the homeless can take a 1 hour continuing education class and drop it before the class meets and not have to pay a fee. That way they can keep their ID active.

(12-25-2013 11:05 PM)blazerwkr Wrote:  UAB has what they call a Onecard system, if I understand how it works for students it covers everything for them from food etc, for students/faculty/employees so if the buses have a scanner sytem mounted, yes it'll only be UAB people on them.

BD yes those new UAB buses are the ones. Only thing I hate about them is that they have GA plates or a 3mo expired temp tag & don't have the AL state vehicle tags on them as I assume they'd fall under UAB/state umbrella in that aspect ???

It's run by a 3rd party contractor. UAB doesn't own the buses.

(12-26-2013 12:02 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  So the homeless can take a 1 hour continuing education class and drop it before the class meets and not have to pay a fee. That way they can keep their ID active.

Except that's not how the IDs work these days. You drop classes before the drop date and your status as a student in all the various databases is dropped as well. They're not laminated pictures with a sticker on them anymore.

Thanks I wasn't sure if it was a 3rd party doing it

(12-26-2013 06:50 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(12-25-2013 11:05 PM)blazerwkr Wrote:  UAB has what they call a Onecard system, if I understand how it works for students it covers everything for them from food etc, for students/faculty/employees so if the buses have a scanner sytem mounted, yes it'll only be UAB people on them.

BD yes those new UAB buses are the ones. Only thing I hate about them is that they have GA plates or a 3mo expired temp tag & don't have the AL state vehicle tags on them as I assume they'd fall under UAB/state umbrella in that aspect ???

It's run by a 3rd party contractor. UAB doesn't own the buses.

(12-26-2013 12:02 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  So the homeless can take a 1 hour continuing education class and drop it before the class meets and not have to pay a fee. That way they can keep their ID active.

Except that's not how the IDs work these days. You drop classes before the drop date and your status as a student in all the various databases is dropped as well. They're not laminated pictures with a sticker on them anymore.

Except that is not how they work either. The ID is new and there is a database, but if the year is current and the face matches the ID, the ticket taker let's you in. I went back to UAB to get a Masters degree in 2010-12. I used my ID to get in. My ID was never scanned.

(12-26-2013 10:03 PM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  

(12-26-2013 06:50 PM)mixduptransistor Wrote:  

(12-25-2013 11:05 PM)blazerwkr Wrote:  UAB has what they call a Onecard system, if I understand how it works for students it covers everything for them from food etc, for students/faculty/employees so if the buses have a scanner sytem mounted, yes it'll only be UAB people on them.

BD yes those new UAB buses are the ones. Only thing I hate about them is that they have GA plates or a 3mo expired temp tag & don't have the AL state vehicle tags on them as I assume they'd fall under UAB/state umbrella in that aspect ???

It's run by a 3rd party contractor. UAB doesn't own the buses.

(12-26-2013 12:02 AM)BlazerPhil Wrote:  So the homeless can take a 1 hour continuing education class and drop it before the class meets and not have to pay a fee. That way they can keep their ID active.

Except that's not how the IDs work these days. You drop classes before the drop date and your status as a student in all the various databases is dropped as well. They're not laminated pictures with a sticker on them anymore.

Except that is not how they work either. The ID is new and there is a database, but if the year is current and the face matches the ID, the ticket taker let's you in. I went back to UAB to get a Masters degree in 2010-12. I used my ID to get in. My ID was never scanned.

There is no year on the IDs. I don't know how the buses are going to work, but I bet there's going to be a scanner, given that the buses are going to be connected to a network.

At any rate, it'd be a lot of work to get an ID like that to game the system, considering how relatively small of an area it covers.