Senior Associate Vice President for Operations Eric Heath announced last month that the University is partnering with the Citymapper app to help the community find the best transportation options by implementing live University-run shuttle tracking with city transit.
Citymapper—a general-purpose navigation app designed by the same team as Via—offers users live tracking of UGo shuttles in tandem with city transportation options, including Metra, CTA, Pace, Lime, and Divvy. Previously, Citymapper served as a general-purpose navigation app, but the integration of UGo shuttles makes the app more relevant for UChicago students.
The partnership was formed in response to feedback from last year’s transportation survey, which indicated that users of the Passio GO! app, an app designed by the University to track its UGo shuttles, were dissatisfied with its features and lack of real-time information.
“[T]he University has expanded ways for members of our community to access real-time transportation information,” a University spokesperson wrote in an email to the Maroon. “Feedback from users has been positive.”
Evan White, a first-year student who serves on the University’s Student Transportation and Security Advisory Board, said that the advisory board received a demo of Citymapper prior to its official University-wide release. “They gave a walkthrough of how the platform works.… We even got to help with troubleshooting,” White said. “They’ve been very open and collaborative with making things better for the student.”
White, who is in the UChicago Transit Enthusiasts & Explorers RSO, also noted that Citymapper’s interface is a major improvement over Passio GO! “I’ve personally had difficulties using Passio GO!; [Citymapper] is much better. It’s very cognizant of different transportation modes that you can take,” he said.
