A Bus en route to Denver passes CU journalism sophomore Zack Shapiro. Shapiro created an iPhone application for bus schedules. (CU Independent/ Danielle Alberti)
Students’ rides on the RTD buses could be a little easier, thanks to a CU student’s class project.
“Overall I’m pretty excited”, said Zack Shapiro, 19, a sophomore journalism major.
Shapiro, the media outreach coordinator for the CUindependent, said that at about 4:30 p.m. Friday Apple had approved his new iPhone application “RTD Mobile Bus Times.” The application allows Boulder residents to follow bus schedules and routes from Boulder to Denver as well as to the Denver International Airport.
Shapiro created the foundation for the application as part of a computer science class project. The process to create the application, involving outsourcing materials to freelance iPhone developers, was bought by Apple.
“There’s a little bit of a delay from when I get the email to when it gets in the store,” Shapiro said, adding that the application will be available “hopefully by midnight.”
The application will be available from Apple for $1.99.
Amanda Wilson, a sophomore studio arts major from Seattle, was skeptical about the new application’s use for her personally. “I usually take the Hop or the Buff Bus,” Wilson said, with her iPhone in hand, “I’d most likely buy the application if it gave those routes and schedules.”
“Yes,” said Breanna Stroh, 20, a junior architecture major when asked if she had trouble getting to the bus on time. “It’s easy [looking up the schedule], it just depends on if I’m going to get there on time.”
Stroh said that if she had an iPhone she would want to buy the application.
Tiffany Angell, a marketing representative for the Regional Transportation District, felt that the application would make a tremendous contribution to their transportation system as well.
“We are currently building a mobile Web site that would be useful to smart phone users,” Angell said. “People with iPhones, BlackBerrys and PSPs are usually the ones browsing the internet and would benefit from the new system.”
Shapiro said that he is working on expanding the application to cover several more bus routes, such as the Hop and Skip buses, to make it easier for CU students. “It’s for CU students,” Shapiro said. “So any updates will be for them.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sushupta Srinidhi at sushupta.srinidhi@colorado.edu.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sam Dieter at samuel.dieter@colorado.edu.
