LITERATURE REVIEW
Transportation
According to Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.), transportation can be defined as “the movement of people or goods from one place to another” or “a vehicle or system of vehicles, such as buses, trains, etc. for getting from one place to another”. In Oxford Dictionary (n.d.), “the action of transporting someone or something or the process of being transported” or “the action of practice of transporting convicts to a penal colony” is the meaning of transportation. Based on Mathew and Krishna Rao (2007), “travel requirement of people and transport requirement of goods”. In our opinion, transportation means a vehicle that is required in order to move from one point to another point.
“Transportation is a non separable part of any society. It exhibits a very close relation to the style of life, the range and location of activities and the goods and services which will be available for consumption” (Mathew & Krishna Rao, 2007). There a few types of transportations such as land, air and water transportation but in this research, we are focusing on land especially the public transportation.
Based on Oxford Dictionary (n.d.), public transportation means “buses, trains, subways, and other forms of transportation that charge set fares, run on fixed routes, and are available to the public”. Meanwhile, the Cambridge Dictionary (n.d.), says that “a system of vehicles such as buses and trains that operate at regular times on fixed routes and are used by the public”. From Newman (2011), “public transportation many mobility, safety and economic benefit to people and businesses. Beyond those key benefits, it also offers significant environmental advantages that contribute to a better quality of life”. By looking at these definitions, we can opine that public transportation is a vehicle that helps to reduce cost, time and pollution as it can transport a huge number of people at a time.
2.2 Mobile Apps
According to Priya (2016), “mobile applications or mobile apps are applications developed for small handheld devices such as mobile phones, smartphones, PDAs and so on. Mobile apps can come preloaded on the handheld device as well as can be downloaded by users from app stores or the Internet”.
The advantages of mobile apps are that they save time and energy, as for example, we can just order food via the mobile apps without troubling to go the stores. Priya also said that “since native apps work with the device’s built-in features, they are easier to work with and also perform faster on the device”. Other than that, app technology allows you to demonstrate products and services more creatively, connect with clients, provide more in-depth information and give users a better customer experience.
The disadvantages of mobile apps according to Priya, “The cost of app maintenance and app updating is also higher for native apps, especially if this app supports more than one mobile platform”. From our point of view, mobile apps drained the phone’s battery and use up resources but mobile apps developers are facing difficulties and still looking for a solution to create a mobile application to work without draining the batteries. Lastly, use of personal information can seem quite invasive as even some gaming apps often require a certain amount of personal information from the user before allowing the download and install onto the user’s device.
2.3 Mobile Apps and Transportation
Most of the Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN) students rely on bus as the main vehicle to move from one place to another place especially for students who stay in UNITEN’s accommodation such as Harmoni, Bestari and Ilmiah. These students often face many problems in reaching their destination on time because the bus does not come at the right time and there are not enough seats on the bus as it is so crowded. The bus usually tends to be either too late or too early.
In this case, we thought that mobile application could help these students to make it easier for them in tracking the bus. According to Morrison (2011), “a mobile application is in the works that will allow students to track bus locations, time of arrival and the number of passengers on-board”.
In using this mobile application, it will pinpoint the exact location of your bus in real-time, set up arrival alerts, quickly access route maps and find bus stops near you using your phone’s geolocation feature. Students will no longer have to rely on the bus schedule and wait for the bus if the bus runs late as they can know “where the busses actually are at any particular time” (Morrison, 2011).
This mobile app is equipped with few characteristic to improve the efficiency of bus services and to help students. It is a complete set of real time tracking, emergency management, admin app, RFID integration, line CCTV surveillance, speed limit alerts and customises reports. The easiest part is that this application can be downloaded from your mobile phones. UNITEN administration should take a look in this matter as they can use “mobile application that uses technology to make riding the bus more efficient” (Morrison, 2011).
2.4 Mobile Apps and Transportation in Other Universities
The usage of mobile apps for transportation have been noticed from inventors around the world. Uber and Grab are the examples of mobile apps that are used for transportation. In fact, some universities have taken a step towards linking the mobile apps with transportation.
In some universities, mobile apps are common when coming towards transportation. For instance, University of Louisiana at Lafayette has “launched a mobile app for students who ride University buses” (University of Louisiana Lafayette, 2017). The launched of this mobile app has made the life of their students easier when it comes to transportation as students “can view real-time shuttle locations via GPS tracking” (University of Louisiana Lafayette, 2017).
Furthermore, the apps can show “updates on schedule changes or notifications about events that could affect parking” (University of Louisiana Lafayette, 2017). Hence, students can estimate the time arrival of the bus if the bus is out of schedule. Students can no longer give excuses if the bus comes late as they already know the estimate time arrival of the bus through the apps.
According to the University of Louisiana Lafayette (2017), “Mobile phone users can download the Ride Systems app to an Android or iPhone”. Thus, students can easily download and used the apps as the majority of students nowadays own at least one mobile phone. UNITEN administration should take the University of Louisiana at Lafayette as an example for a better future for both lecturers and especially students.