Makerere University ‘Shuttle Alert’ App to Fight University Kidnaps

The Makerere University shuttle alert App won the 2019 World Congress on Undergraduate Research –WCUR award in June.

The innovation outcompeted other 29 research projects submitted from the African countries of Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia in the communications category.

A team of five College of Computing and Information Sciences –CoCIS students are the masterminds of the application.

It is installed like any other mobile app onto a smart phone of a driver and student to inform users the location shuttle  at a particular period of time.

According to its developers; Elijah Gatale, James Okoth, William Mugisha, Jonathan Rukundo and Paul Okiring, the App will help curb the rampant kidnaps of students especially from the campus premises.

 

 

“Out of frustration, students sometimes (when shuttles leave them) opt to walk back to their hostels, a situation that puts their lives in danger,” says Gatale, the team leader.

According to James Okoth the Shuttle Alert eliminates questions like “where is the shuttle?” and “when will it be here” adding that it alerts students once the shuttle is in a radius of 50 meters within their reach.

The App allows students to register using their email address, phone contact and hostel of residence. It also has a provision that allows students to places orders and alerts drivers of specific points, students would wish to be picked. A student receives both a text message and audio alert.