Essay

ENGL-

November 4, 2018

Executive Summary

This proposal is written to Rover Operations Office to fix the problem of inconvenient public transit-Rover in Murfreesboro. Including current problems and opportunities, new advices, explanation, methods, budget and conclusion.

Introduction

To fix the problem of inconvenient public transit system-Rover in Murfreesboro, it would be better if Rover could be operated on Saturday for heavy routes, be added opposite direction buses, and develop an app for real-time Rover map. These advices can be realized by means of researching the heaviest routes of Rover and popular places in Murfreesboro, developing a real-time tracking map app for Rover, and increasing bus fee on Saturday, then doing trial operation to see the effect of implementation. The annual budget of Rover will rise, but public transit operating on Saturday meets people’s requirement, Rover could make more profit by performing this proposal.

Statement of the problem and opportunity

The inconvenience of public transit-Rover is shown in the following aspects. Firstly, there is not bus operating at weekends, it is difficult for people who don’t have a car to go out at weekends. Secondly, some Rover routes only have one direction for example the mercury route is a loop, sometimes I need to take a long way around to my destination. Thirdly, there is not bus tracking app for Rover. I can track Rovers’ position on the website, but it would be more convenient and easier for us to track Rovers’ position if Rover has a mobile real-time app, which can be applied on our mobile phone.

I used to solve the problem of Rover inconvenience by taking an Uber to some places with my roommates at weekend. Compare Rover to Uber from the place Alumni Dr. to Walmart, on south Rutherford Blvd, about their available time, time-consuming on some routes and price. I find that in terms of available time and time-consuming on the way, Uber is a better choice than Rover, but for the price Rover is always the better choice. From Alumni Dr. to Walmart, Uber can be taken at any time, but Rover is only available on weekdays from 6 am to 6 pm, and it takes Uber 5 minutes on the way, but 40 minutes for Rover to go a long way around and then back to Walmart because Rover only has one direction on the route. However, the price of Rover is fixed, which is 1 dollar per person. The price of Uber depends on the distant and time, which cannot be below 1 dollar for one person. Thus, my proposal is that it’s better to apply Uber’s advantages to Rover and make public transit in Murfreesboro convenient.

New proposal for Rover

My new proposal is to make public transit-Rover in Murfreesboro more convenient by improving its operating time, buses direction and tracking technic. First, make Rover available at Saturday for some heavy routes. Second, the operating time on Saturday can be a little late, from 10am to 8pm, and reduce two working hours, compare to the working hours on weekdays are 12 hours from 6am to 6pm. Then, add opposite direction buses for some heavy routes on Saturday. Besides, develop an app for real-time Rover position. Apart from that, because Rover’s operating time is added, its cost will increase following the operating time. The Rover bus fares on Saturday can be higher than weekdays, increased by 0.25-0.5 dollars, which is a way to cover the increasing cost and compensate the Rover drivers who sacrifice their Saturday time to work. In these way, we can take public transit to go out in Murfreesboro at weekends and save our time and money.

Explanation

It is inevitable that some new problems will emerge when implement a new proposal. But the advantages of operating Rover on Saturday, adding opposite direction and developing an app for Rover are outweigh the disadvantages of that.

Although it is true that operating Rover on Saturday means adding Rover drivers’ working time at weekends, and adding the opposite direction of some routes might increase the possibility of traffic congestion on Saturday.

The benefits of increasing operating time and direction are great and they can make these problems do not turn up. Above all, if Rover run on Saturday and add opposite direction for some heavy routes, people who don’t have a car will choose to go out by Rover instead of Uber, because Rover is more cost-efficient. With more people choosing Rover to go out on Saturday, Rover can make more profit because of increasing ridership and the higher fares on Saturday. Besides, the working hour at weekends is less than weekdays, and Rover just rides on some heavy routes, so it won’t increase the operating cost on Saturday too much. Moreover, because people can choose to take Rover on Saturday, they can choose not to take an Uber or drive their own cars, the traffic situation in Murfreesboro might be more positive.

Methods

There are four steps to implement my proposal. First, do researches and interview people in Murfreesboro to find out: two or three heaviest routes of Rover, popular places which people usually go to by Rover, and the frequency of going out by Rover. The researches can be done based on Rovers’ historic data, if the data cannot reflect enough information, interviewing people in Murfreesboro will be necessary. The format of the interviews can be sending questionnaires to people at schools, supermarkets and churches. The questionnaires can be 10 questions multiple choice, including the questions of how often do you take Rover? Which route do you often take? Which station do you often go to? Do you agree Rover operating on Saturday? Second, increase bus fares on Saturday to compensate drivers who sacrifice their Saturday time to work, and make up for the cost of operating on Saturday. The price on weekdays can be kept at 1 dollar, and the bus fares on Saturday can be risen to 1.25 or 1.5 dollars. Third, design Rover tracking mobile app. It can be an app making competition between universities in Murfreesboro, gathering students’ ideas, decide which one is the best, and give a prize and certificates to the top three. By this means, the efficiency of app developing can be improved and Rover can save some money for hiring people to make this app. Students who attend this competition can gain experiences and certificates. Finally, my proposal can take a trial operation for a year. In the trial year, Rover Operations Office can pay attention to the profit, ridership and the satisfaction of citizens and decide whether implement this proposal in the future or not. If the ridership increases and annual profit is larger than the previous year, taking out the inflation rate in trial year, the proposal can be implement continually.

Budget

According to the report about annual Rover budget in 2017, the city owns 11 buses and operates with a $1.1 million annual Rover budget with 19 employees, including 15 drivers. The city's operation budget for Rover includes 50 percent of the funding coming from the federal government, 40 percent from the state and 10 percent from the city.[footnoteRef:1] [1: The Daily News Journal, Murfreesboro officials plan to open Rover bus office and hub on West Main Street by 2021, Jan. 5, 2018 ]

In the year of 2017, the operating days of Rover are all the weekdays without holidays[footnoteRef:2]. There are 11 holidays every year, the holiday is roughly 11 days a year. The number of operating buses for every operating day is usually one for each route, sum up to 7 buses a day. Thus, the budget for a bus per day can be calculated in the table below. [2: Public Transit - Rover Bus System official website ]

Current Budget (2017)

Future Budget (Trial Operation Year)

Note:

1. Assume that the budget of a bus per day is constant in the trial operation year.

2. Assume that the budget of opposite direction is the same as the original direction.

3. The number of buses operating on Saturday is 6, for two directions on three heaviest routes.

4. Annual Budget in 2017 is equivalent to the budget of weekdays.

5. The total annual budget is the previous annual budget plus the total budget of Saturdays.

Conclusion

The public transit-Rover in Murfreesboro can be improved to be better and more convenient by operating on Saturday from 10am to 8 pm for some heaviest routes, adding opposite direction of that heaviest routes, and build a tracking app for Rover. I think that you will agree the implementation of my proposal will make Rover more popular and add its profit. Therefore, I hope that Rover can do a trial operation of my proposal for a year and see the effect.

Reference