Written by Parking & Transportation’s Sustainable Transportation Coordinator, Becca Gilberg
New Danforth Shuttle Operations and Shuttle App
WeDriveU, one of the country’s leading shuttle providers, is now managing the Danforth shuttle operations, resulting in enhanced reliability and efficiency. The current vehicles are temporary while Parking & Transportation works to launch the new fleet.
Along with the new shuttle operations comes a shuttle app, TripShot, that provides a suite of powerful tools to make using shuttles more convenient. TripShot can also be used on a computer or smartphone browser. Some of the TripShot highlights include live shuttle location tracking, real-time shuttle updates and arrival times, ability to set custom notifications for arrivals and delays, trip planning and more. For example, passengers can set an alert in TripShot to notify them five minutes before their shuttle arrives so they can better plan when they need to leave a building to catch a ride.
To further enhance operations, all WashU shuttle drivers log into TripShot at the beginning of each shift to ensure they follow precise arrival and departure windows. This also enables the Parking & Transportation team to track rider data in order to fine-tune operations, address potential issues in real-time and plan for future enhancements.
WashU Commuter Platform
WashU Rides provides our campus community members from both Danforth and School of Medicine a suite of transportation tools, like rideshare matching based on your schedule, routes to campus/home and preferences. You can use WashU Rides to search for and connect with others interested in cycling, taking transit/shuttles, walking or carpooling together.
Students can also use the RideBoard to post and search for others to carpool home with or to the airport over breaks. However, we need more students with vehicles posting to the RideBoard. So, please help your fellow students by offering them the opportunity to ride with you and spread the word!
A couple other great features of WashU Rides are the trip logging feature that lets you track the impact of your sustainable commute as well as the ability to participate in commuter challenges. Parking & Transportation and the Office of Sustainability host Active Transportation Month every April and October, which includes free events and a commuter challenge that provides the opportunity to win a variety of prizes.