MDLK

=**__FORMAL PROPOSAL__**=

MDLK Cooperation 102 Main Street. Philadelphia, PA 19112 212-555-3322

April 21, 2009

Mr. Scott Douglass Executive Vice President University of Delaware 122 Hullihen Hall Newark, DE 19716

Dear Mr. Douglass.

Thank you for your recent inquiry about student satisfaction with the current transportation system in place at the University of Delaware.

The enclosed proposal outlines how the MDLK Cooperation will evaluate the potential transportation problem. We will give you a time line for our research, costs associated with the consultation, as well as additional information about our company.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions or concerns. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,

Lauren Ellis President of MDLK Consulting Firm

Enclosure

**__Introduction:__**
MDLK Cooperation proposes that the University of Delaware uses our expert advice to determine if there is a problem with the current transportation system.

__**Background**:__
Recently, the University has received complaints from students and parents about transportation on and off campus. MDLK Cooperation will assess the level of satisfaction the students have with their transportation system. This will include student satisfaction with on-campus transportation, accuracy and frequency of the transportation, and the availability of transportation to areas of interest off-campus. 

__Objectives:__
The objective of our firm is to determine if the University of Delaware has a transportation problem. If we find that the University has a transportation problem, our next objective is to provide the University with a number of plausible solutions.

**__Procedure:__**
To assess the problem accordingly, our company will: 1) Deliver student survey to 100 random students throughout a week by using an online survey to find a general consensus of the campus involving the level of satisfaction of the current transportation system. 2) Research other transportation solutions on University campuses of similar sizes and locations, such as University of Connecticut and West Virginia University 3) Randomly test the accuracy of the bus schedules throughout a full school week at multiple bus stops. 4) Give 100 students an online survey to determine the demand for transportation off-campus i.e. bus or train stations, airports, beaches, malls, surrounding cities. 

__**Record of Service:**__
MDLK Cooperation is a highly regarded consulting firm within the Pennsylvania tri-state area. The company's culture strives on high energy, creativity, and camaraderie. Our most notable clients are Comcast of Philadelphia, the Pennsylvania State Government, among others. For additional information about our company, please visit the website: www.mdlkconsult.com.

__**Budget:**__
The price that we normally charge for a consultation is $800 per day. We have estimated that we will spend approximately 10 full days working on your project. Therefore, the cost of the initial consultation will be $8000. If it is decided that you would like Team MDLK to do further research, other charges will be assessed.

__**Schedule:**__
It is imperative that we set a definite timetable for the project. We have approximately five weeks to complete the project.

Week of April 20, 2009: Consult with Scott Douglass, Executive VP, he is in charge of deveolpment of the university and makes all big decisions for university programs, such as transportation. Has a plan to to update transportation system. Week of April 27: Survey students on and off campus about transportation concerns Week of May 4: Retrieve transportation information from universities in the United States that are of similar size Week of May 11: Prepare the presentation. If needed, find plausible solutions. We will also present our finding to the University during this week. Week of May 18: Review our findings with the University and see if there are any additional questions or concerns

**__FORMAL REPORT__**


=__Cover Letter__= Corporate Efficiency Office MDLK Cooperation 102 Main Street. Philadelphia, PA 19112 212-555-3322
 * TITLE Page**

May 12, 2009

Mr. Scott Douglass Executive Vice President University of Delaware 122 Hullihen Hall Newark, DE 19716

Dear Mr. Douglass,

We would like to thank you for choosing us at the MDLK Cooperation. We have enclosed our report evaluating the University of Delaware's transportation system. We tested the efficiency and overall student satisfaction.

These two factors were derived by analyzing the on-campus and off-campus systems, as well as other researching other similar sized campus' transportation systems.

I hope that the information in this report will help you to come to a decision on what you will do with the current transportation system. If you have any questions about the information in the report, feel free to call my office at (215) 555- 3322.

Sincerely,

Kristopher R. Redding Analysis Assistant

List of Tables and Figures**
 * Table of Contents


 * Executive Summary**

The objective of this report is gauge the satisfaction level of students in regards to the transportation system in place at University of Delaware. We conducted research using several different methods. We distributed two surveys polling 100 students each. The first survey centered around how frequently students use the current transportation system, student demand for off-campus transportation, and if there were any changes they would suggest. Our results displays that 45% of students surveyed were neutral towards the current transportation system alotting room for improvement. The second survey measured student satisfaction with the current transportation system. The survey showed that 67% of students are unsatisfied with their ability to get off-campus.

We researched the accuracy of the on-campus bus system in order to determine if it is a viable mode of transportation. We were also concerned if the buses were able to accommodate student demand. Through our research, we concluded that the buses are on-schedule, yet cannot handle student volume during peak hours (10:00 A.M. - 2:00 P.M.). Another component of this report includes analyzing comparable universities' transportation systems. We primarily focused on the University of Connecticut and West Virginia University due to their satisfactory off-campus transportation systems, such as shuttle buses to and from local train stations and airports. Lastly, our cooperation interviewed Mr. Scott Douglass, the Executive Vice President of the University, and his team in order to discuss future plans for the UD transportation system. Ultimately, we developed three recommendations. The University should create an off-campus bus system, primarily for weekend use. Another recommendation is to increase the number of buses on-campus; this will provide convenience to students as well as accommadate the rapidly growing student population. Also, we suggest that the Travel Center in the basement of Trabant be re-opened because of strong student demand.


 * Introduction and Objectives**

Recently, the University of Delaware has been receiving complaints from both students and parents concerning the reliability and volume of the buses that run on-campus. Another problem that has surfaced is the ability of students to travel off-campus. The University of Delaware asked us to research the students satisfaction with the current transportation system and to make any recommendations that we found necessary. Several weeks ago, we devised a plan to fully evaluate the University's transportation system and proposed it to the University. The University accepted our plan, and the results of our research are presented in this report.

 The MDLK Cooperation researched the current transportation system at the University of Delaware. To begin, we learned about the system the University currently has in place. We achieved this by researching transportation options made available to students. The main form of transportation at UD is the University's bus system. To determine if this was exceeding the needs of the students, we developed two surveys to gauge students’ satisfaction and see how accessible the transportation is. In addition, we checked the accuracy of the bus system and compared the UD transportation system to that of universities equal in size. Finally, we met with Mr. Scott Douglass to discuss the current system and the University's plan for the future.
 * Procedure**

We conducted two surveys using the online website, SurveyMonkey. Each survey had a website link that was distributed via Facebook and emailed to 100 students at random. The first survey's questions centered around how students use the transportation system and changes they would want to see, if any (Appendix A). There were eight questions on this survey that retrieved information like the year of the student, major, where they live (on/off campus), what types of transportation they use, and a comment box for suggestions. This allowed us to gain insight into students' recommendations. The second online survey conducted displayed level of satisfaction students have with the system that the University of Delaware has in place (Appendix B). This discussed bus promptness, everyday convenience, the removal of the travel center, and the overall ranking of the system.

We found it extremely important to check the accuracy of the buses on campus. We wanted to find out if there were enough buses to accommodate the students, as well as if the buses were prompt. To do this, we monitored the shuttle buses, express buses, and evening routes on three separate occasions. The Smith Overpass was chosen for the location due to the fact that this is the only location that all buses pass through. The first day, Monday, April 27, we looked at the express bus system from 11am-1:30pm, approximately viewing 11 buses. We checked the UD Shuttle Bus on Wednesday, April 29, from 9am-11am, this allowed us to see approximately three buses. The final day the buses we observed was Friday May1, from 7pm-10pm, where we viewed six buses. During this time, the weather was dreary and drizzling in comparison to our two previous observations.

After surveying UD students and becoming familiar with the current transportation system, we decided to look into what types of transportation other universities offer their students. We visited the College Board website to find universities with student populations of similar size. Both the University of Connecticut and West Virginia University was chosen. In comparison to the 16,400 students at the University of Delaware, UConn consists of 16,700 and West Virginia has 21,000 (UD Facts and Figures)(College Board:WVU)(College Board:UConn). Their websites displayed information about their transportation system throughout the campus as well as modes of transportation to local cities, train stations, and airports.

We also held an interview with Mr. Scott Douglass, Executive Vice President of the University. He discussed the fact that the “safe ride” program was halted in an effort to have students utilize the bus system; these cutbacks were made because the Public Safety's safe ride program was being abused, while the bus system was lacking riders (Douglass). He says that his team is aware of the fact that students have complaints, and their efforts are focused on increasing the number of riders and creating a more efficient system. They are currently researching on a tracking system with digital screens at bus stops displaying how far the various buses are that would be installed throughout the campus. This project is included in the current renovation plan for the University (Douglass).


 * Results/Analysis**

After gathering the results of our surveys, observing buses at numerous stops, and researching several universities' transportation systems, we determined an analysis of the University's dilemma. From the first survey containing 100 random students (Appendix A), we discovered the students overall feelings toward the transportation system. While 46% of the students polled had a neutral feeling towards the transportation system, we feel that the students should at least be satisfied with their University's transportation system. We also received comments such as "I think it would be helpful if they advertised places you could get to off campus with UD Transportation", " We need more bus stops ", and "They need more buses to the West Side of campus. They need one that goes to Wilmington bus station at least 1 every 2 hours. They need one to go to Philly airport at least once a day." When we analyzed the overall additional comments of the 100 students, we found that 48% of the students made comments about needing more buses or more bus routes.

The second 100 student survey we conducted (Appendix B) allowed us to realize that there is student dissatisfaction with off-campus transportation and the availability of information about transportation on campus. The University removed their Travel Center in the basement of Trabant. The Travel Center was an excellent source of information regarding student transportation provided the campus with schedules for the University Bus, AMTRAK, SEPTA, and DART bus. There was also the opportunity to purchase train and airplane tickets at student discounted prices. In our survey we asked the question "Should the University of Delaware bring back the travel center?" and the majority of students agreed it would be beneficial (87.5%). =Insert Graph=

We also asked students "Are you happy with your ability to get to a train station or airport using the University's transportation?". As displayed in the graph below, many students are dissatisfied with their ability to get off-campus. Furthermore, we discovered from our second survery (Appendix B) that 52% of the students would be willing to pay a fee in order to use UD transportation to get off-campus. =Insert Graph= The results of our observation of the timeliness of the bus system is shown on the bus schedule below. Most of the buses were on schedule. According the the bus schedule below, bus times highlighted in green were on time and times highlighted in yellow were late. However, we did find that no bus was late to it's stop by more than five minutes.


 * 27-Apr ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Express Bus Smith ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Scheduled Time || 10:57 || 11:10 || 11:23 || 11:36 || 11:49 || 12:02 ||  ||
 * Actual Time (am-pm) || 10:57 || 11:10 || 11:23 || 11:39 || 11:49 || 12:02 ||  ||
 * Scheduled Time || 12:15 || 12:28 || 12:41 || 12:54 || 1:07 || 1:20 || 1:33 ||
 * Actual Time || 12:15 || 11:31 || 12:41 || 12:25 || 1:00 || 1:20 || 1:33 ||
 * 29-Apr ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Shuttle Bus Smith Overpass ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Scheduled Time (am) || 9:14 || 9:59 || 10:44 || 11:29 ||  ||   ||   ||
 * Actual Time || 9:14 || 9:59 || 10:44 || 11:29 ||  ||   ||   ||
 * 1-May ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Weekend Bus Dickinson ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * Scheduled Time (pm) || 7:15 || 7:55 || 8:35 || 9:15 || 9:55 ||  ||   ||
 * Actual Time || 7:15 || 7:55 || 8:40 || 9:18 || 9:55 ||  ||   ||
 * Actual Time || 7:15 || 7:55 || 8:40 || 9:18 || 9:55 ||  ||   ||

Another type of research we conducted was investigating comparable schools' transportation systems. The first school we analyzed was West Virginia University. Through the information of the school's website, we found that West Virginia University runs a bus to the Pittsburgh International Airport and the Pittsburgh Greyhound Station, but students must make a reservation online to reserve a seat (West Virginia University). We also found that the bus runs daily Sunday through Monday. The schedule the website displays shows that the bus leaves the University at 10:00 A.M. and arrives at the Pittsburgh Greyhound Station at 12:00 noon and the Pittsburgh International Airport at 12:30 P.M., while the return bus leaves the Pittsburgh Greyhound Station at 1:30 P.M., picks up at the Airport at 2:00 P.M., and arrives back at the University at 4:00 P.M.. The cost of this service to students is a fee of $20 for the Greyhound station and $25 for the Airport (West Virginia University).

Another university we researched on the school's website was the University of Connecticut. The University runs a shuttle for students that goes to and from Bradley Airport and Union Station (the local bus and train station)(University of Connecticut). Their online reservation system states that the students must make a reservation by phone no less than one week before their trip. The shuttle costs $50 one-way or $100 round trip, and the departure time is based on the needs of the individual students.

During our interview with Mr. Douglass, he discussed the fact that the “safe ride” program was halted in an effort to have students utilize the bus system; these cutbacks were made because the Public Safety's safe ride program was being abused, while the bus system was lacking riders (Douglass). He says that his team is aware of the fact that students have complaints, and their efforts are focused on increasing the number of riders and creating a more efficient system. They are currently researching on a tracking system with digital screens at bus stops displaying how far the various buses are that would be installed throughout the campus. This project is included in the current renovation plan for the University (Douglass).


 * Conclusion and Recommendations**

The results we discovered can dramatically help the University with their transportation system. A majority of the students agreed that they felt neutral to the bus system on-campus, while many students complained about the difficulties of finding transportation from the campus to bus stations, train stations, and airports. This could be a potential concern for the University as the school continues to grow and many students reside in neighboring states. The many different aspects of our research allowed us to reach three potential recommendations. We believe it would be beneficial for the University of Delaware to add additional buses to the on-campus system, develop an off-campus bus system for students to use during weekends, and reopen the Travel Center in the basement of Trabant.

When surveying the 200 students, many complained about the overcrowded buses on-campus during peak class times. According to our first survey (Appendix A), over 60% of the students use the buses to get to class or travel around campus. It is extremely difficult to maintain a strong and satisfying bus system when the buses are constantly overcrowded and students have to stand while carrying textbooks and other supplies. This is also a major safety concern. The University would benefit dramatically if they used the nonactive buses during these peak hours, from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M., to visit overcrowded bus stops, such as the Smith Overpass.

Another recommendation is to develop an off-campus bus system that will take students to bus stations, train stations, and airports throughout the weekends. West Virginia University, University of Connecticut, and many other schools provide their students with the necessary transportation. Due to the fact that 61% of the undergraduates at the University are from out-of-state, this can be extremely beneficial for the students, as well as an excellent feature the University offers (UD Facts and Figures). The program could follow a similar framework to that of University of Connecticut. As we previously stated, the students had to reserve a seat. This can be of little cost to the University by using one nonactive bus to take the students to the specific locations and charging students for the transportation.

A final recommendation is to reinstate the Travel Center in the basement of Trabant. The University closed the Travel Center because many students were not using this resource, and we believe this is because the students did not know about the plethora of information the center offered. The University of Delaware can reopen the center without any dramatic costs because the office space is still available and all of their office supplies remain unused. The Travel Center needs advertising throughout campus to raise awareness with students, which was a suggestion that several students made in the first survey (Appendix A). The Travel Center would also be beneficial because the school could use the employees to operate the off-campus bus system, if installed.

The University of Delaware has a transportation system that is average in relation to many of the universities we researched. Although they do not have to change the current system, they could improve student satisfaction dramatically if they did. The three recommendations the MDLK Cooperation offered are of little cost to the University, yet they can improve their system and become a strong feature offered to potential students in the future. The University of Delaware is always on the cutting edge with academics, technology, and the campus environment; it would be a great addition for the University to move forward and improve their current transportation system.

=Insert Appendix A= =Insert Appendix B= = =

=Work Cited= Douglass, Scott. "UD Transportation Plans." Personal interview. 22 Apr. 2009.

"UD Facts and Figures." __University of Delaware__. [].

"University of Connecticut." College Board. . "University of Connecticut. __ "University of Connecticut __. []. "West Virginia University." College Board. . "West Virginia University." __ West Virginia University __. [].