ane Doe, a professor at UW$,$ lives in the community of Rock River, a community of approximately $45,000$ residents

$($this population is a made up number$)$; twenty$-$five miles from school. She had been thinking about her commute to

work for some time now; gas was over $$4$ a gallon and her car was approaching the $100,000$ mile mark. After

discussions with several friends who make the same commute, she and her friends were wondering if a commuter bus

would be an option that might benefit both the people who make the drive and simultaneously be profitable to the

university.

Jane met with Ben Cook, Dean of the MBA program, to see if UW would consider purchasing a bus for this purpose.

She opined there were quite a few people who live in Rock River who drive to the university and that they would

gladly pay a fare to cover the bus costs. Benefits would include a reduced $$carbon footprint$$ and significantly fewer

miles being driven on the cars used by these people.

Ben met with his staff and the president of the university to consider this service. After the meeting he met with Jane

to explain the university$$s position. While everyone liked the thought of providing the bus service, he explained, the

university just isn$$t in the business of providing transportation to its employees. UW doesn't have the facilities or staff

to maintain the equipment and there is risk that this would lose money and cost the university financially. He said,

$$Try explaining to the students why their tuition is going toward a commuter bus to Rock River!$$

Ben then offered an alternative; that university officials would meet with MARTS, Made$-$Up Authority Regional

Transit Services. Perhaps they would add a dedicated bus line to UW$.$ MARTS is a public transportation system for

the urbanized Rock River Area, which travels about $1\mathrm{.}5$ million miles per year. Over $2,700$ people ride MARTS buses

each day to work, doctor visits, shopping or school. People pay a minimal fare $($$$1\mathrm{.}25$ per fixed route$),$ with MARTS

being subsidized through a combination of tax dollars and other public funds A week later Ben and Jane met with

George Kekel; controller for MARTS. Jane explained that such a service would be out of MARTS regional

jurisdiction, and as such it cannot be subsidized through any public funding. In effect, the service would have to be

paid for entirely by user fares, and would be operated on a $$for profit$$ basis. Ben said the university would still be

interested, and asked Jane if a proposal could be put together, culminating in the fare that would be charged commuter

bus users. Jane agreed and added that because this would be a separate service operated for a profit, they would

purchase a bus $($or busses$)$ for this service rather than use buses from the existing fleet.

Questions for I would have for an analysis:

$1.$ How many people will use the commuter bus service?

$2.$ What times during the day will the service make the commute? How many miles will be driven each

day?

$3.$ What will be anticipated daily demand for each of bus trip during the day?

$4.$ What types of busses are available? What is the cost of theses busses? What is the life of these

busses?

$5.$ Given the scheduled demand in #$3$ and the type of bus selected, how many busses are needed?

$6.$ What is maintenance cost expected to be$?$

$7.$ What is fuel cost expected to be$?$

$8.$ What happens if the bus breaks down, what will be used as backup and what will this cost?

$9.$ What will be done if more people want to ride than the bus can handle? What will the cost be$?$

$10.$ How will the bus be staffed? What will be employee cost?

$11.$ What will the route be$?$

$12.$ How many days a week will the service be in operation?

$13.$ How many weeks will the bus service be in operation?

$14.$ What should the profit$/$return be for MARTS?

$15.$ For what period of time should the analyses be performed?

Answers to those questions:

$1.$ UW$$s department of institutional research revealed that $116$ faculty and staff as well as $464$ students

lived in Rock River. These people were surveyed and an analysis of the results lead to a projection that

approximately $200$ would use the commuter service.

$2.$ The bus schedule for Monday $$ Thursday will be: $7$:$20$am $$ Rock River to UW then back to Rock River;