MIAMI UNIVERSITY BUS SYSTEM IMPROVEMENT PLAN

What’s the problem? ●A current Miami student pays $66 per semester for transit fees that goes towards the bus system. ●Yet we find it troubling that a good amount of the students do not utilize this service. ●In fact, 92% of the students who took our survey either say they never use the bus or they only use it 1-3 times a semester.

Why don’t the students use the bus system? According to our survey the majority of the people do not to use the bus system, because they do not know the routes.

What!? Why? Not only do the people not know the bus routes, they find the bus routes hard to find. Based on our survey, we have 45% of the people disagreeing or strongly disagreeing with the statement “I find it is easy to find the bus routes/schedule.”

Other Methods ●Bus vs. Walking Race ●BCRTA Interview ●Bus Stop Observation

Other Conclusions ●Riding the Bus is faster than walking for most routes ●The BCRTA has little oversight from the University ●A significantly low proportion of students rode the bus during peak hours (less than 60 students for routes between 12:00pm-1:00pm)

Alternatives

Change the routes ●The cheapest option would be to change the layout from a loop system to a “there and back” system. This being because there would be nothing added. ● There would still be the same amount of buses, most likely the same amount of stops, and the only thing changed would be the order of the stops.

Bus Signs ●According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, an average roadside sign installation cost ~ $200. Miami University currently have 43 bus stops all across campus. ●Therefore it will cost approximately $8,600 to install bus route signs across campus at every stop. ● If we split the cost evenly among the active students, this will on cost fifty-five cents per student.

Add more routes ●The most costly option would be to add more routes.. As shown in the figure below, transit buses have the second lowest gas mileage of all the major vehicle categories. ●Therefore, the addition of two more bus routes would require the cost of 4 buses, the salaries of the drivers (plus benefits), and the fuel that would need to be replenished daily.

Evaluation Change RoutesImprove SignageAdd more Routes Cost123 Ease of Implementation 213 Desirability213 Addresses Problem212

Evaluation Score (Low Score Wins) Improve Signage5 Change Routes7 Add more Routes11

Conclusion ●The Miami student population are not using and are with the system. ●There are various ways of solving this issue that are feasible based upon different budget and time constraints. ●Improving the bus stop signage is the most feasible alternative to increase ridership