Prospective bus companies received an invitation Friday to bid on the University’s new bus system, which includes plans for a GPS system, new routes and buses. Gary Graham, Office of Parking, Traffic and Transportation director, said prospective bidders will have until March 31 to submit a bid. Because of Louisiana state law, the University had to prepare an invitation to bid rather than a request for proposal, which gives a company more latitude, for the bus system. “We have to be very specific, and that is what’s taking so long,” Graham said. “We had to make sure all the t’s were crossed and all the i’s were dotted. We couldn’t leave it to interpretation.” The winner will be whichever company provides the lowest bid while meeting the University’s specifications. “If they’re the lowest bid, but they’re not meeting our specifications, then they’ll be disqualified, and we’ll go to the next lowest bidder,” Graham said. Among the University’s specifications are a GPS locator system, new routes and additional buses, all of which would modernize the University’s bus system as well as recognize the results of a survey done in November. “We were really far behind in our advancement of the system. All other schools, even in the SEC, have a far better system,” said Brandon Boyd, Student Government transportation director. “We really took to heart what the students really wanted.” The GPS system would allow students to locate their bus in real time on the Internet, campus monitors and possibly on cell phones, said SG President Colorado Robertson. “There would be monitors in the library, the Union and also potentially the bus hubs,” Robertson said.    Boyd said the University is aiming for a GPS system similar to the one the University of Alabama uses for its bus system, the Crimson Ride. “The software, of course, is up to the winner of the bid,” Boyd said. The specifications also call for new routes going to the Garden District and downtown, but Graham said the routes are not finalized. Additionally, the Greek routes will be renamed to “purple” and “gold” to reflect that the routes are not just for Greeks. “It’s not just a Greek route,” Robertson said. “It’s an intra-campus route, and that’s what we need to highlight. The route will go out to the Greek areas, but it also should be used for intra-campus and getting out to parking lots.” Robertson said there are also outlines to allow student organizations to contract the buses for travel, as well as airport transportation services for students during the holidays. “We’ll now have the capacity to do airport transportation,” Robertson said. Though the new system will be in place this fall, the new and larger buses asked for in the specifications take 10 to 12 months to manufacture, Graham said. The winning bidder would have to supply a temporary fleet of buses to use until the new buses arrive at the University. “We made a commitment when we got elected that there’ll be new routes, better routes and on-time scheduling, and we feel that this contract will make all those things happen and even more,” Robertson said. “It’s going to be fun to see it actually done.”——Contact Brianna Paciorka at [email protected]