English peoject

This approval request is for the proposal of a Bike Sharing System at The Pennsylvania State University - University Park Campus. The transportation needs of the 46,000 undergraduate students attending a campus that stretches over 8,600 acres are not being met. The transportation of students on and around campus is inefficient. Our reliance on the CATA bus system to timely deliver students to their destinations is the main problem, as CATA fails to support the UP students by itself. Hence, the proposal to implement a bike sharing system is necessary to accommodate for students’ on-campus transportation needs, and the request for approval of such a proposal is essential.

On-Campus Transportation: an Unsatisfactory Service

Students of Penn State are lacking a transportation system that is efficient and convenient. Aside from walking everywhere, the majority of students rely on the CATA bus to fulfill their transportation needs. Unfortunately, CATA fails to render the type of services students need, especially at times of high demand. Amongst its failures are the hours of its operation. CATA does not provide buses all hours of the day, so students cannot solely rely on a bus if their personal schedule is outside the hours of operation. Furthermore, the CATA bus has its own schedule which students must adjust to, but even then it is a common occurrence for the buses to run late. So, even abiding by the bus schedule isn’t enough. If you wish to catch the bus, you must plan a buffer time in your personal schedule to utilize when the bus is running late. You should also plan for backup travel arrangements to your final destination. Students frequently find that they are unable to even ride their planned bus, because it is filled at maximum capacity and in effect can not stop to pick up any more passengers.

Now for the students who don’t even bother to deal with CATA: the bicyclists. The bicyclists on campus are well known for their aggressive biking tactics, but most people don’t understand where they’re coming from. Bikers are often faced with the challenge of riding through a campus that isn’t designed for cyclists. Bicycles outnumber bike racks, so you find the creative students tieing up their precious bikes to lamp posts or parking signs. Even bicycle lanes are scarce. Most of the time bikers are seen fighting for a spot to ride on the busy streets, thus initially disrupting the flow of traffic.

A New Flow for Transportation: Bike Sharing

A bike sharing system would dissolve the issues resulting from the sole dependence of the CATA bus system to provide on-campus transportation needs to students. Bike sharing would allow bicyclists to thrive. The bike sharing system would be set up in an easy to join manner. It would consist of a fleet of specially designed bikes that are all a part of a network of bike docking stations sited throughout the campus. The system would be reliable, as its services would be available 24 hours a day, all year round, and would remain unchanged in its multiple pickup and drop-off locations. It would be an additional transportation option for students to elect to participate in. The bike sharing system is likely to attract students who do not own bikes or have a bike to use on campus. It also serves as motivation for more students to begin biking to aid in their on-campus transportation needs.

Qualifications

I have attended The Pennsylvania State University - University Park Campus for two years, and have just began my third year. Over the past two years I have seen and dealt with the various problems of on-campus transportation. I have also participated in the solution - bike sharing - in other cities. Essentially, I’ve experienced the process of the bike sharing system from a customer standpoint, and have this insight available for my use when creating the proposal from a business standpoint. As a current PSU student, I know how the bike sharing systems I’ve observed can be tweaked to best fit our students. My research skills and experiences will help me create a complete proposal for a bike sharing system that can bring benefits to many Penn State Students, and solve the problem of on-campus transportation.

Research Plans

This bike sharing system will be designed for the student population at Penn State. I will begin by reaching out to the Penn State Department of Transportation Services, to gather any input or direction they may have for my intended proposal. Depending on the information I’ve gathered through them, I will then continue to seek out professionals who will be able to best guide me with their knowledge and experience in this field. I will also be setting up meetings with the appropriate personnel. Concurrently, I will examine the bike sharing systems that are already in place throughout the nation, to gather information for a framework for a PSU bike sharing system. If I’m able to recruit any processes already present in other systems, I will give them credit where needed.

While constructing a base plan, I will conduct a short survey to form a general idea on the population of students interested in the system proposed. Afterwards, I will start estimations on expenses related to the project. Simultaneously, I’ll contact necessary parties on price quotes of resources needed for the project or quotes on outsourcing the job to a professional company, whichever I find best suitable. If it is least costly to outsource the job to a third party, I’ll search for the qualified personnel or company to perform to job. Then I’ll prepare and launch another more detailed survey on bike sharing including variables of interest, such as popular locations for bike docks. Based on my estimated total expenditures, I will compute estimated annual costs and general one time expenses. While doing so, I’ll monitor my latest survey to see if it’s gathering responses. If it isn’t, I’ll relaunch the survey elsewhere. Once my survey is producing high results, I’ll analyze trends and review other miscellaneous feedback to then report my survey findings to appropriate sources.

I can then debrief my sources on project expenses, and discuss the implementation timeline of the new bike sharing system. Following that, I can create procedures for third party players (if necessary) to confirm a launch date in accordance to our semesterly academic calendar. To wrap up, I’ll create cost charts for the project, make adjustments to the project as needed, and draft a progress report. Lastly, I’ll conclude by making any final edits to the progress report and presentation, resolving any lingering issues, and finally preparing for my upcoming meeting to present my research analysis.

Schedule

Week 1: 09/14 - 09/18

· Draft memo requesting permission to pursue topic

Week 2: 09/21 - 09/25

· Contact Penn State Department of Transportation Services to discuss setting up a meeting to go over proposal and reaching out to other professionals

· Reviewing plans of Citibike and other bike sharing systems in the U.S.

Week 3: 09/28 - 10/02

· Have meeting with staff members in Transportation Dept. to talk over proposal

· Enter any data or information collected on google spreadsheet

· Prepare and launch short survey for current students’ interest on bike sharing via google surveys

Week 4: 10/05 - 10/09

· Calculate average costs in excel to generate an estimation of total expenses

· Contact necessary parties on price quotes of resources needed for the project or outsourcing the job to a professional company

· Prepare and launch another more detailed survey on bike sharing including variables of interest

Week 5: 10/12 - 10/16

· Create estimated annual costs of bike sharing based on figures from excel

· Create estimated start up fees for the new bike system

· Monitor survey and relaunch elsewhere - if necessary

Week 6: 10/19 - 10/23

· Review survey results and other miscellaneous feedback

· Report survey findings to appropriate sources

Week 7: 10/26 - 10/30

· Debrief sources on expenses of project

· Discuss implementation timeline of new bike sharing system

Week 8: 11/02 - 11/06

· Create procedures for third party players (if necessary)

· Confirm launch date in accordance to semesterly academic calendar

· Create cost charts for project

Week 9: 11/09 - 11/13

· Make adjustments to project as needed

· Draft progress report

Week 10: 11/16 - 11/20

· Make final edits to progress report and presentation

· Resolve any lingering issues

· Prepare for upcoming meeting to present research analysis

Conclusion

The on-campus transportation problem resulting mainly from the unsatisfactory CATA bus system I’ve discussed above, can easily be resolved by the introduction of a bike sharing system. For this reason, I advise you to accept my approval request for the proposal. I will then be able to research further on this proposal. Through that I will be able to present findings in support of a bike sharing system that will primarily benefit students who have chosen the option to participate in this solution, but also benefit students affected through the chain reaction. A fast and easy system of transportation on the large University Park campus is what’s needed for the students, and a bike sharing system can satisfy just that.