American University, chartered in 1893, is nestled in Northwest Washington, D.C., surrounded by various transportation and mobility options. It’s also the first and largest urban institution of higher education in the United States to achieve carbon neutrality.
The Challenge
AU wanted to educate students, faculty, and staff about all of the transportation options they had available to them on campus, and increase the number of people riding the university shuttle. Following an annual transportation services survey, it became clear that a big information gap existed, and better communication was needed.
“That was the beginning: Find a way to display this information [transportation options and arrival times] in areas that are easy to access for everyone,” explained Carl Amritt, Special Projects Coordinator at American University. Carl’s team also needed to work with stakeholders across the university to get buy-in and approval. “We didn’t have a budget to purchase new monitors, so we had to think of innovative ways to push TransitScreen out to buildings across campus by using screens we already had in place.” The AU community quickly realized the value Actionfigure provided the campus after the real-time transportation information was made available.
The Result
By making it easier for the campus community to use the shuttle, American University was able to increase ridership, which in turn increased their return on investment on the campus shuttle. Another positive? Students were able to wait for the bus and shuttle indoors, where it’s warm and well lit, and understand exactly when and where they needed to be to catch their next ride instead of guessing and hoping for the best.
Actionfigure Screen can be found on the Main Campus, at The Washington College of Law, and in the Spring Valley
Building. Actionfigure’s products have helped to chisel away at the information gap that once existed between the
transportation program’s services and the campus community.
