Maria Altamirano, Ekaterina Arslanbaeva, Niesha Holmes, Iqra Qumar

Double Trouble

April 2, 2019

Is It Worth Your Buck?

Improving CCNY Shuttle Buses

Introduction

Time. There is a limited amount of time. We spend most of our time waiting. Waiting for what? Waiting to go from one place to another. Lateness. We are often late because of waiting so long for transportation. The City College Shuttle Bus embodies this perfectly. We are never on time because the bus arrives infrequently and the chance of getting on that bus is slim due to the large crowd that forms while waiting. There is a huge problem with these buses and something needs to be done. There is an app that all City College students know about. Does it work? Do we use it? Two very important questions, but the answer is no. It does not work properly and, therefore, we do not use it. This needs to be changed. We cannot be expected to wait for long periods of time just to get to class. There needs to be a set schedule as well as more shuttle buses running in order to minimize the lateness that we face.

There are various reason to implement changes to the bus system. One is due to student’s tuition going into maintaining and keeping the buses running. Since part of their tuition goes to this service, it is up to CCNY to ensure that they are providing it effectively. Also, these changes will help improve student life. According to Ali Shafahi’s research SpeedRoute: Fast, efficient solutions for school bus routing problems, “the primary objective of designing a school bus transportation system, from the operator’s perspective, is safely transporting all students with minimum cost while satisfying constraints such as maximum ride time, vehicle capacity, and time window” (473). The shuttle bus schedule and maintenance impacts the routine of students greatly because CCNY is a commuter school. The purpose of these buses is to be convenient and provide safety for students. The limitations for students using the bus is not knowing when the buses will arrive in the designated station therefore, leading to ineffective planning when commuting to school.

To prove this, we conducted a survey with fifty-three respondents. This survey covered basic functions provided by the bus. The results show about 37% of participants use the shuttle bus 1-2 times a week. Also, about 40% of the time students spend waiting for the bus is between 5 and 10 minutes. Due to the wait times of the shuttle buses, 36% of respondents claimed they were late to class 1-2 times. When the proposal to incorporate more buses into the CCNY shuttle buses to the schedule was presented to the respondents, about 80% agreed or strongly agreed that this project would improve the service.

Action Plan

1. Remove the app and use money to maintain buses.
2. Increase the budget by 5%
3. Put screens in every building to tell the arrival or departure of the bus. ( At 125 & 145 put schedule’s. )
4. Station a bus at each stop. (There should be four buses running when the school is at its busiest).

Cost/Benefits

The numbers from the table are additional expenses for the college to use on the shuttle buses to the existing ones based on our offer.

Table 1. This shows the costs and benefits of our offer.

The Cost (per month)	The Benefits
Buy a Bus	+$7,000 (one payment only)	Uninterrupted service
Maintenance	+$8,000	Uninterrupted service
Diesel	+$7,000	Uninterrupted service
Driver salary	+$7,667	Uninterrupted service
NextBus	-$2,917	Opportunity to save money
Total	$19,750+$7,000 (one payment only)	More CCNY-choosing students due to convenient transportation

Currently, City College has four working buses. We propose to buy another used bus in good condition for unexpected breakdowns and the possibility to replace the broken bus as soon as possible. We also offer to hire two more drivers to be able to replace each other during the working day.

The cost of buying and servicing school buses that CCNY uses to transport its students is quite high. The average cost of a used bus of this type varies from three to seven thousand dollars, as you will have to pay over fifty thousand for a new one. Thus, we suggest buying a used bus that is in good condition since it will cost only seven thousand dollars.

The average cost of servicing one bus per month is about four thousand. This amount varies from the year the bus was produced and its condition. Since two extra buses will be working, we need eight thousand dollars a month.

About three and a half thousand dollars is the average cost of diesel for one school bus per month. This amount varies greatly depending on the traffic on the road. For extra two buses, CCNY will spend around seven thousand a month.

The second item of cost is the driver’s salary. The salary of the driver in the area of New York is in the framework of $33,000 per year to $46,000 per year. A school bus driver’s salary is about $46,000 a year. Table 1 has monthly salary for two drivers.

The total additional cost per month is about $23,000. The amount looks significant, but only 54 additional students per year who will pay about six and a half thousand per year will fully cover the monthly expenses for buses along with the purchase of a bus.

City College uses service of Cubic Corporation which includes the NextBus service. This service includes a website, application and a full service for all their components: security and customer support. Since this is a very large company, the prices for their services are quite high. Since we were unable to get accurate information about the payment of this service by City College, we took the average cost of maintaining the site and applications per year. The cost is about three thousand per month.

After the deduction of the NextBus payment, the cost of our proposal is about twenty thousand per month and seven thousand for the purchase of a bus. In this situation, it will take thirty-seven additional new students each year to close these costs. Since continuous transportation will improve, the number of students who will choose City College for their education will increase, which is the main benefit of this proposal.

Experience

Maria Altamirano: Maria has experience with coding languages such as Python and Javascript. She has also interned at Citi Ventures for CitiGroup where there was a large focus on creating a product that was not only effective but beneficial for the company to invest in. She continues to strive for success by being a part of new projects and learning from those around her.

Ekaterina Arslanbaeva: Ekaterina Arslanbaeva was a math tutor at the Office for Students with Disabilities at LaGuardia Community College and she was a teacher assistant in a coding class at Middle College High School. Ekaterina enjoyed both jobs and regards this work experience as her first step on the way to becoming a software engineer.

Niesha Holmes: Niesha has communication skills and great problem solving skills. She also has years of community service. Niesha has little experience specific to this project but is hardworking and willing to put in the extra time to balance from where she lacks.

Iqra Qumar: Iqra has experience in low level programming languages such as C#, HTML and C++. She has created over a dozen projects that has helped her knowledge of coding grow. These skills have been useful in keeping her mind sharp and focused so she is able to work on projects thoroughly.

Conclusion

Based on the information presented in our action plan and in Table 1, we hope we have been able to clearly present our proposal. If we are able to add two more buses, having a total of four, then we will be able to provide a smooth rotation to and from CCNY. This will stop the large crowding that occurs and will minimize the waiting time by a portion. In addition, we will attract more people once promoting the new system of the shuttle buses, which will then take care of the extra costs needed to go through with our proposal. Always remember, if it is wasting your time then is it worth your buck?

References

1. Ali Shafahia, et al.(September 2018). SpeedRoute: Fast, efficient solutions for school bus routing problems
2. G. (n.d.). Bus Driver Salary in New York, NY (March 2019). Retrieved from https://www.glassdoor.com/Salaries/new-york-city-bus-driver-salary-SRCH_IL.0,13_IM615_KO14,24.htm
3. Home. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://nextbus.cubic.com/
4. School Bus Fleet. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.schoolbusfleet.com/

Appendix