Opportunity Belief

1) I believe that we have the oppurtunity to greatly improve the state of our bus transit system. So many underclassmen come to UF without a car or a scooter and are forced to rely on a mediocre bussing service to get them to class.
2) The unmet need is quality transportation to help kids get to class on time. UF just became the number 7 Public University in the nation yet we have a transportation service that constantly makes kids wait longer for the busses because the app glitches up or they miss the bus and have to walk in 90 degree heat.
3-a) The first person that I interviewed for this oppurtunity belief was a UF freshman, Patrick Bateman. Patrick is new to UF, of course he's a freshman, and relies on the bus system to get to class. Patrick lives in Springs Complex, so he has about a 15 minute walk to the Hub if he doesn't make the bus. He said to me that often times the busses will sync up so that two busses are going past the same stop within minutes of each other, leaving a 20 minute wait time for them to come all the way back around instead of 5-10 minutes for the next bus. Patrick said that he hates walking in this Florida heat but if he misses the bus then he sometimes has to since he doesn't want to be late.
3-b) The next person I interviewed was a sophomore named Susan Collins. Susan said that last year she had a terrible experiece with the bussing system, finding herself often tardy when going to class. She said that to solve her problem she got a scooter as her means of transportation. Since she's gotten her scooter she said that life has been way easier. She doesn't have to put 20 minutes of planning ahead of time to make it to class, instead she just hops on her scooter and gets there with minimal problems.
3-c) The last person I interviewed for this was a current senior at UF, Casey Martin. Casey said that during her three years at this university she's never seen a big improvement with the way the busses are run. She said that sometimes they run well and other times they run terribly and that's just the way it goes. Casey said that while she's been at UF she's always had a scooter and so was never super reliant on the system, but regardless said she's heard of bad experiences from her friends and such. Casey is extremely happy of the fact that she's always had a scooter for herself.
4) I learned that there is an overall dislike for the UF bussing system. While the complaints are not resoundingly negative, the little things that RTS continues to not do well with builds up and creates a generally negative view of the bus services. I learned that having a scooter on campus is the most convenient method of transportation for a college student. I think that our school needs to address these issues but at the same time I do not think that they are going to.
5) Overall, the bus system needs to update and imporve their phone app to make it more accurate instead of causing kids to wait for 5-10 minutes at a time. Another thing that needs to be done is time management. Drivers need to be better at taking their breaks so that they don't mess up the whole system just because they want a smoke break. I think that my oppurtunity is still there, I don't think it will go away until someone does something about it. I think that my oppurtuity was a little understated originally and is actually bigger than it seems. I think its important to take feedback into consideration as consumers are the ones providing money and services and they need to be satisified.