Zone-ulator - A zone calculator for the NJ-T Bus system.

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  Calculated fare alert box that displays the number of zones, and the trip fare based on the number of zones

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  Empty application box that asks for Route Number, Origin Stop, Destination Stop, and Direction

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  Filled in application box with Route 815, Origin at Woodbridge Center Mall, Destination at Rt. 18 and Tices Ln in Inbound Direction

Inspiration

Reese and I (Kevin) are two highly experienced NJ-T bus passengers, but have learned the tricks of the trade to figure out how to ride the bus without underbuying or overbuying "zones." We shared a bond over the confusion that occurs when the average New Jerseyan is trying to read a route schedule and determine how many zones they are passing through.

What it does

We came up with the idea to develop an application to take the hassle out of "Zone Calculation" and simply tell the user how zones they need to purchase. Zone-ulator asks the user to enter the route number, direction, origin, and destination in order to then return the zone calculation.

How we built it

We built it using Java and JavaFX. Java is primarily responsible for creating a HashMap of stops along a route with an associated boolean for whether it is a zone boundary or not. It also uses functions to calculate how many zones are "passed." JavaFX is responsible for deploying an intuitive UI for the end-user.

Challenges we ran into

Dealing with the NJ Transit data set. The data set was given to us in an unorganized manner and needed alterations in order to be processed in Java such as converting the .xlsx to .csv and determining the stop numbers along a route.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Proud of Arjun, but most importantly proud of the fact that the application works in testing. Actually, though it did teach us a lot about .csv integrations with Java and allowed us to powered through errors that came our ways with all of our respective knowledge.

What we learned

We learned a lot about the NJ-Transit Bus system, but all learned individually life-long skills that'll help us in our CS pathways from here on out. We learned things such as how to import .csv into Java and also learned how to integrate a JavaFX application into our project.

What's next for Zone-ulator - A zone calculator for the NJ-T Bus system.

Zone-ulator 2. We want to make it more than a proof of concept, with larger datasets and key integration in the NJ Transit app or its counterparts.

Built With

• csv
• fxml
• java