A tracking system that may not be installed in HuskieLine buses until next semester will cost the Student Association and NIU $41,090 initially.

Rob Jusino, Student Association director of Mass Transit, said the SA is in the contractual stages with ETA Transit Systems to install GPS devices in all 25 HuskieLine buses. SA and NIU will pay $19,440 annually for the system, an increase of more than $6,000 from the $13,065 they pay currently, according to Marzena Szmydt, Student Involvement and Leadership Development accountant. 

“The system that we have is not the best. … We noticed there were a lot of errors and [a] lot of deficiencies,” Jusino said, according to a Thursday Northern Star article. “It seemed much more simple to get a third-party company that specializes in transit systems.”

Tracking devices will also be installed in five Huskie Safe Line vans, Marzena said. The NIU Police Department will be responsible for 18 percent of the charges.