Milwaukee School of Engineering - Assignment Example

The casual analysis of the use of bus passes in MSOE is a research directed to the MSOE administration, the student welfare authority wing dealing with travel and transportation. It reviews the transport situation in the campus and the various views students have on the better and effective forms of travel, the source of data is the internet through various online interviews and various comments posted on social sites. This report contains a detailed analysis of the transport situation in MSOE, the benefits of the bus pass, the forms of implementation and the challenges faced in the application of bus pass culture. The situation of travel in the campus is wanting especially for students. There are many benefits of the bus passes but the two that stand out are; cost effectiveness and convenience for the staff and the students. It is also worthwhile noting that to promote the bus pass culture; MSOE can adopt the U-Pass culture and also include the cost for bus pass in tuition to avoid instant payment of bus pass fee which might be seen costly in the short term. On the extreme end they can offer free bus pass as an incentive for students. However the challenges faced include security issues at pick-up points, non 24 hour operation and the costs incurred by the campus. It is thus noticed that bus pass culture is a better culture by weighing the pros and cons and thus it is recommended that the adoption of the U-Pass or any other discounted or free bus pass is necessary for learning in MSOE Data section Introduction This is a report on the casual analysis of the transportation situation in Milwaukee School of Engineering with specific regard to the use of bus passes by students. This university commonly referred to as MSOE is a private university situated in the parts downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is a nonprofit making entity that offers degrees in Engineering, Nursing, Mathematics, Business, Technical communication among others. Over the years the school has had a great insurgent of graduate and undergraduate students. By 2011 the tally of students was estimated at more than 2500 students partaking both graduate and undergraduate courses. Due to the rise in the number of students, transportation to the issue has been a challenging issue and debate about the safest, most convenient and most economical form of travel students should use has been on the rising. Students, citizens and various stakeholders have put interest in the issue and have offered various suggestions on the best travel mode for students. This university is among the country top ranked and therefore should provide the best form of travel for students for their convenience. There are campus shuttle services that offer transportation for student but they are normally closed for the day and thus students turn to buses for their travel needs. This has necessitated the issue of providing free or discounted bus passes that will form the topic of study. A bus pass is a ticket that permits a passenger of a bus service to take a definite number of pre purchased or unlimited trips within a certain stated duration of time. This report is directed towards the MSOE administration that has the full authority to administer bus passes. It is specifically directed towards the student welfare authority dealing with student travels. The report is meant to make an informed decision on the benefits of offering bus passes. There were numerous methods of research and inquiry that were employed in the study to make the report a success. Student interviews carried out over internet sources were a vital source of information and the various important visuals related to the subject matter. Students’ posts on social sites with their suggestions to the use of bus passes were also a reliable source of information. Due to the proximity to the college, one on one oral interviews and questionnaires could not be conducted and therefore there was reliance on the journal and other useful sources form the internet during the research. The report will be basically provided into three parts; the first part will discuss the current transportation state, the second part will discuss the benefits of bus passes and how there use can be implementation, the challenge faced and the last part will provide a well described conclusion with the necessary suggested recommendations. Current Transport Condition at MSOE Student polls conducted on the various transportation issues clearly outline the situation in MSOE with 6% of students from 17 responses claiming that transport provided by the campus is totally non-existence while 6% claim that there is difficulty in the utilization of the pick-up times and the scarce pick-up points available. 41% of the students who responded feel that the pick-up times are parallel to class hours and thus it is difficult to catch the shuttles. The remaining 47% have no issue with the transportation and feel that it is convenient and accessible and makes frequent reliable runs. In general there 53% of the students feel discounted with the shuttle services at the campus. The rating of the best mode of transportation from the school to home shows that most students prefer the use of passenger bus since at the hours of need the bus shuttle services would already have closed down. Some student own cars but the research shows that cars are pointless since they need parking in the limited spaces. In addition it is more convenient to walk or take a bus to town and save hugely on the cost of fuel. It is evident also that MSOE used to offer 2 free bus passes on a weekly basis but now students can only get two bus passes that are discounted weekly at around a dollar. There is a student outcry however for the issue of monthly or yearly bus passes. Bus Services in Milwaukee Town Milwaukee is one of the cities with the most widespread bus system. By bus one can get anywhere in parts of town at convenient and affordable rates. It is easiest to navigate the city in a bus. This has been the hard work of the Milwaukee County Bus System which provides pick up points and alternative route of moving from one point to another in their website and in Google maps. The students of MSOE could utilize such efficient bus services in their movement and commuting between the town, their homes and the school. Figure 1 Buses at Parking in Milwaukee Benefits of a Bus Pass Many students in MSOE use cars to commute between school and home. The costs of car driving every time can add up quickly. There are gas prices to be taken care of; maintenance needs to be done on the car regularly and parking spaces and/or charges to be considered. Students thus spend a lot using their cars commuting and also time is wasted in case of city traffics. Offering bus passes for students alleviates all these problems whether free or discounted. There is no likelihood of any extra costs to be incurred as in the case of using cars and this also eases traffic caused by the small cars in major lanes of the city. Students thus save on cost and time and can move between home, town and school conveniently. Figure 2 Bus in transit in Milwaukee There is safety involved in the use of bus passes by students. There are likely security issues for student cycling, walking or driving their own cars especially at night. Bus services are safe and convenient since they use designated routes whose security is guaranteed. By issuing bus passes a week students put their lives at safety. Students who have no cars often feel frustrated due to the lack of discounted bus passes. They end up using expensive cabs when no campus shuttles are available. The issue of free or discounted bus passes would ease their concerns. Some students also feel the need to tour and see the attractions in Milwaukee especially during weekends and this would only be easy and cheap if they would use bus passes if a student doesn’t own a car. Bus passes are a luxurious trend and have been adopted by other campuses in Milwaukee for instance Marquette. Bus passes are beneficial especially around winter when its snowy and students cannot ride or walk for 2-3 miles at temperatures of about 5 degrees. Health concerns are an issue around January mostly. The use of bus passes would save the university huge sums of money spent on building and maintaining parking facilities for the students’ cars (Madden, pp112-178). Stanford University, a university in the US, estimated that the cost that would have been incurred to build and maintain parking facilities for individual cars was at around 100 US Dollars. This clearly shows the relief the bus passes would bring in MSOE if they decide to adopt discounted bus passes as a culture. The epitome of it all is the cost incurred while using bus passes comparative to when using cars or just regular bus prices. One student, Grogan, approximates the cost of buses per month at around 64 US Dollars. She compares this with the cost she incurs monthly to commute via other means and she estimates them to be way more than the cost of bus passes. It is thus cheap and a relief for students to use bus services in their movements to and from campus. It is estimated that a weekly bus pass in Milwaukee is less than $15 and permits unlimited number of rides. The cost a month is less than $60 which just proves that using bus passes is just the most convenient way of travel for students. Figure 3 MSOE parking Ways of Persuading Students to Use Bus Passes In order to promote the bus pass culture there must be ways of first persuading students out of the luxury of their cars. This is a way of promoting sustainable transportation and reduces driving on the major roads in and out of campus. One of the strategies employed is to provide students with free or subsidized bus fares or bus passes often referred to as the ‘U-Pass’ around many colleges in the US. Making transport free (free bus pass) for anyone is the ultimate step to promoting the use of bus passes. This was evident in Chapel Hill in the period of 1997 to 2000 when after making transport free for all there was a rise in the number of students using the bus passes by almost triple the percentage ,from 21% to 53%. This however is a costly process for the campus. The campus can adopt the U-Pass systems adopted by most universities around Milwaukee under the MCTS (Milwaukee County Transit System). They should include the cost of the pass for a semester in the university tuition fee and thus making it a culture without the need of incurring extra charges to be borne by the campus (Madden, pp112-178). They should replace the pass they offer of two tickets weekly for a subsidized rate of $1 every week and $1.75 for extra tickets. This offer is not attractive to students and is one of the major reasons why bus passes are not frequently used in MSOE. Figure 4 Luxury buses of Milwaukee Challenges Facing the Use of Bus Passes in MSOE Despite the fact that bus passes are a great and convenient means of travel for students it is worthwhile noting that it has its challenges that inhibit its universal adoption. The MCTS has a well-framed schedule that ensures that buses hit their specific pick up points on time in comparison to other travel systems like the Chicago Bus system. However there occasionally arise minor delays due to few factors (Madden, pp112-178). These include traffic hold ups, emergency maintenance problems, heavy ridership and the difficulty in handling users with special needs like the people on wheel chairs. This may result into buses failing to show up on time at the pick-up points for students and thus delays their arrival to the scheduled places. The MCTS is not a 24 hour operational system and thus special planning should be done to serve students with late night travels. The types of routes followed by the buses also pose a challenge. Less frequently used routes stop their operations earlier than other busier routes and thus inconvenience students plying these routes. They end up spending more on the cabs when it’s past the operation hours of their buses. To sum up the challenges are facing the use of bus passes is the various elements the students are exposed to as they await the buses. They are exposed to extreme weather conditions especially during winter and this may necessitate the carrying of umbrellas or clothes that are weather proof. There is also likelihood of attack from muggers or thugs at the pick-up points while awaiting buses. It is also expensive for the campus to offer reduced or discounted bus passes. Summary and Recommendations Summary It is clear that the use of bus passes in MSOE has not been effectively utilized as it has in the other universities in Milwaukee and in the US in general. Various sources in the data section have suggested that most students use cars while a larger number are crying foul on the cost of transit to school and suggest the inclusion of free or discounted bus passes in the school budget. It was also discovered that Milwaukee town has one of the best and well-scheduled bus systems controlled by MCTS and thus it would be beneficial for MOSE to adopt the use of the U-Pass offered by MCTS at reasonable prices. The benefits of bus pass are way numerous ranging from; security of students and staff, cost effectiveness on the part of students, cost effectiveness on the school administration in terms of parking facilities, ease traffic jams and generally leads to sustainable transportation in the prevention of pollution caused by many cars. We also discovered that in order to induce students to using bus passes there should be well subsidized or free passes. Despite the benefits there were few challenges in the adoption of the bus pass culture. These include; security reasons in the pick-up points, traffic hold ups causing long waiting hours, extreme weather conditions at the pick-up points and the expense of adopting it to the university administration. Recommendations I recommend the adoption of the U-Pass system of the MCTS adopted by other universities and the incorporated of the charges incurred for bus passes to the tuition fees. Work Cited Ilgunas, Ken. Walden on Wheels: On the Open Road from Debt to Freedom. , 2013. Print. Blackburn, James A. Modern Instrumentation for Scientists and Engineers. New York, NY [u.a.: Springer, 2001. Print. Madden, Patrick. Quotidiana. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2010. Internet resource. Hansford, Beverley. With Rucksack and Bus Pass. Leicester: Matador, 2011. Print. Gardner, Nicky, and Susanne Kries. Bus-pass Britain: 50 Great British Bus Routes : Favourite Journeys Described by Locals. Chalfont St. Peter: Bradt Travel Guides, 2011. Print. Gardner, Nicky, and Susanne Kries. Bus-pass Britain Rides Again: More of the Nations Favourite Bus Journeys. , 2013. Print. Read More