UT at Chattanooga students put on their thinking caps to help the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority
The students spent the 2024-25 academic year coming up with ideas and working with CARTA to address issues in Chattanooga’s public transit system.
Students in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s (UTC) Innovations in Honors program are changing the city’s transportation game.
As part of Dr. Jordan King’s Innovation Lab, housed in the UTC Honors College, students have spent the 2024-25 academic year coming up with ideas and working with the Chattanooga Area Regional Transportation Authority (CARTA) to address issues in Chattanooga’s public transit system. Among the initiatives were increasing awareness and accessibility of CARTA’s free downtown shuttle service and improving transportation access for Chattanooga’s Hispanic community.
Earlier in the school year, students met with CARTA representatives and leadership to discuss potential ideas. CARTA personnel then visited the Innovation Lab classroom to hear their proposals.
To cap off the experience, the students will soon share their ideas at Chattanooga’s City Hall.
“The students have gone from feeling like they’re students at the beginning of the year to now feeling like they’re consultants, partners, and collaborators with CARTA,” King said, explaining that each student group contributes differently—with some focusing on gathering data, others testing solutions and some implementing ideas like social media campaigns to strengthen connections between UTC and CARTA.
“The idea is that every group does something that at least helps make something possible in the future,” he said.
Scott Wilson, CARTA’s Chief of Staff, commended the students for their creativity—as well as their strong focus on practical solutions.
“We were particularly surprised by the creative approaches to integrating technology with traditional transit solutions—especially the ideas around personalized mobile experiences that would make transit more intuitive for first-time riders,” he said.
Wilson, along with Chief Administrative Officer Veronica Peebles and Communications Specialist Savannah Ward were the three CARTA representatives who visited the Innovation Lab to provide feedback on the students’ presentations. The three of them also happen to be UTC alums.
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