UNI Express : an alternative public transport system for the University of Malta

Abstract

The current public transport system contains many flaws leading to Maltese citizens opting for the use of private cars as their main means of transport. This increase in personal cars is causing a lot of traffic as well as leaving a major effect on the Maltese environment. In this dissertation, the attention will be given to only a small part of the whole public transport system, namely the direct buses operating between the University of Malta and hometowns. This work presents a web-enabled solution by making use of spatial databases and spatial queries. Other technologies such as .NET software and Google Maps are also incorporated. The system provides the University students and staff, the possibility to easily request transportation service through a website. Requests are stored in a database which in turn is used to build a scheduling algorithm. Users need to fill in an application with their personal details. Each user selects the street where they live which is referenced to a pickup point. The pickup points' map locations are set in such a way so as to cater for all users in an equal manner for Such a system needs to have some human expertise. This is why a back-end application is one of the system's components. It helps the administrator to maintain the system by allowing the creation of new data or updating the existing one. The most important function in the back-end application is the schedule formation. Schedules are generated for specific days specified by the administrator and provide details such as pickup points being covered, the date and departure time, the means of transport assigned to the route and the total cost. The roster issued is not the final one as it is the system administrator who makes the final decision whether to approve a route or not. The final schedule is then published on the website for the perusal of the users. The administrator can also generate cost reports per day and time or a service usage report for every user. The developed solution connects various technologies such as ASP.NET· MVC and HTML for the user interface, Google Maps for map representation and Windows Forms for back-end application. For communication between user interface and back-end application, PostgreSQL database server is used together with PostGIS spatial functions and Quantum GIS. Through the integration of these technologies, a system is created which will definitely improve the Maltese citizens' lifestyle. The success of such a system is mainly due to Open Source software which allows developers the possibility to create user friendly and efficient applications.