A WEB BASED APPLICATION FOR BOOKING TRANSPORT TICKET FOR CUSTECH STAFFS

ABSTRACT In recent years, digital transformation has become essential for improving operational efficiency within institutions of higher learning. Among the critical areas requiring technological intervention is transport coordination, especially for academic and administrative staff who engage in frequent inter-campus or official movement. Manual transport booking systems, which remain common in many Nigerian universities, are fraught with inefficiencies such as overbooking, poor record- keeping, lack of trip traceability, and absence of route optimization. This project, titled "A Web- Based Application for Booking Transport Tickets for CUSTECH Staff," seeks to address these gaps by developing an intuitive, responsive, and secure digital platform for automating the ticket booking process. The system was developed using web technologies including HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, and MySQL, and follows a client-server architecture. It allows CUSTECH staff to create secure accounts, select travel routes, view availability, and book seats in advance. The system confirms bookings in real-time, stores booking history, and allows staff to cancel or reschedule their trips based on administrative approval. On the backend, transport administrators can create and update available routes, manage shuttle allocation, monitor real-time bookings, and generate summary reports. The inclusion of user roles ensures that permissions are controlled, and that only authorized users can manage bookings or schedules. The application architecture supports scalability, allowing for future inclusion of payment gateways, GPS bus tracking, and mobile app integration. The system was developed following the Agile Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), which allowed iterative progress with constant stakeholder feedback. Each development sprint involved requirements gathering, design, implementation, and testing. Usability testing involved feedback from selected staff and transport officers at CUSTECH. Results showed significant improvements in time efficiency, data traceability, and user satisfaction. Compared to traditional pen-and-paper methods or verbal booking systems, the web-based platform demonstrated higher reliability and administrative convenience. The staff appreciated features such as route filtering, trip rescheduling, and email confirmations, which were unavailable in manual processes.