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Han Seul Choi
Professor Deanna Williams
ESL-099-202H
December 6th 2014
MTD Should Increase the Amount of Buses for Parkland College Students
“Take good care of your customers and they will take care of your business.” this is a
quote from Biju Paulose. Customer satisfaction is the most important ingredients of all business
industries because customers make profits for the business and of course to satisfy the
customer’s needs and expectations the company needs to provide good services and try to reduce
the complaints of customers so that way they can maintain and grow their company. Today, the
transportation plays a big role in every aspect of human society, such as going to work,
socializing with people, school, shopping, and other sorts of important appointments. This is why
customers are in need of good transportation services because currently due to the technology
development people don’t walk they normally ride. Given that, currently MTD (Mass Transit
District) the main public transportation in Urbana Champaign provides a transportation services
to the communities of Urbana Champaign especially the students from Parkland College and
University of Illinois. Unfortunately, Parkland Students aren’t satisfied with the MTD schedule
format because the arrival time gap between the previous bus and the present is too big.
Therefore, MTD should increase more bus routes for Parkland College students because by
doing that, they can gain more customers and Parkland College students would be more satisfied
with their service system.
There are three buses that currently go to Parkland College. In the University of Illinois
website states, “The 9-Brown and 9-A line runs between Parkland and Illinois. The 7-Gray line
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also services Parkland College, but does not go on to Illinois campus it does however, go from
Parkland Illinois Terminal in downtown Champaign, at which point you can get any one of
several buses” (“Parkland Pathway to”). As shown in the quote there are only three buses
available to get to Parkland College but not all of them goes to the U of I campus. Only 9A and
9B goes to U of I campus, but 7E-grey doesn’t although it stops by the Illini terminal in which
people can transfer to another bus when they want to go to the U of I campus. Unlike the U of I
students, Parkland College students do not have free access to the bus. Parkland Students have to
pay $1 per each ride or they could get a monthly pass which costs $15 or an annual pass which
costs $75. However, most Parkland College students prefer annual pass because they ride the bus
to class almost every day. Moreover, with the ride of MTD bus, it takes approximately twenty to
thirty minutes to get to Parkland College from U of I campus. In general, it takes only five to ten
minutes by car to get to Parkland College from U of I campus but the MTD bus have to stop by
every district for the Parkland Students who are in need of a ride. The service starts from 6:16
a.m. until 7:17 p.m. so people who have evening classes are recommended to have their own ride
prepared. Moreover, it takes more than 30 minutes for a new bus to arrive and despite the fact
that it takes an additional 30 minutes for them to take the new bus, it is highly recommended for
the Parkland Students to be at the bus stop five minutes in prior to the given time schedule. As
this shows, Parkland College students are not getting a convenient service by the MTD. The
reason is because once they miss the bus they have to wait another thirty minutes to ride a new
one and also since it takes them about twenty five to thirty minutes to get to Parkland College,
missing the bus once can be a brutal day for Parkland College students because they have to wait
an additional thirty minutes. This is why the MTD should increase more bus routes for Parkland
College students because by doing that, they can gain more customers and Parkland College
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students would be more satisfied with their service system.
Parkland Students will prefer riding buses if MTD increase the amount of buses. The
reason is because if the bus increases students can save more money and time. According to my
classmate Jay, told me that he spends more than $100 per week on gasoline fees, and then he told
me that he would rather take the bus to school if there are more buses to take. This shows that,
some Parkland Students prefer taking the bus rather than driving their own car because
sometimes they want to save money from gasoline and only drive when they really have to. In
addition, The MTD provides an annual pass which only costs $74, considering the fact the
gasoline fees costs $100 per week, this is a huge frugality because car owners spends more than
$100 per week on gasoline when they can pay $74 for a year ride. In addition, parking is
sometimes very difficult at Parkland College because there are not many spaces to park because
spaces are already taken from other drivers. For example, if students have class at 10 a.m. they
will have a hard time finding parking space because of the students who have earlier classes.
Furthermore, this is a big distress for the Parkland students with cars because it wastes their time
and sometimes even leads them to tardiness in class. One of my classmates said that he would
rather take the bus when going to school because he was late a couple of times to class due to
lack of space. Not only that, but getting a driver’s license has gotten much more difficult than
before, there are 100 multiple choice questions, written tests and also pass road test which is a
driving test. On the other hand, we don’t have to do that when riding a bus all we need is money
and it’s much safer than driving. This is why the MTD should increase the amount of buses
because there are more benefits in taking bus for the Parkland Students. They don’t have to
worry about parking, they can also save a lot of money by reducing the expenses on gasoline,
and also they can save their time by doing their homework on the bus. As a result, Parkland
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Students will prefer taking buses if the MTD increase the amount of bus.
Currently, not many people are convenient with the MTD’s service system, but if MTD
improves the service system it would benefit the MTD as well. Initially, many people are
unhappy with waiting for the bus for more than 30 minutes. For example, students who ride the
same bus with me are not satisfied with it, they always complain about the bus coming late and
want the MTD to fix this problem. One of my friends who ride the bus with me is also getting a
new car because of this problem. Additionally, the weather bothers them even more, during the
winter time it’s too cold for them to wait outside and during the summer time it’s too hot also the
UV (ultraviolet rays) is very high during the summer time in Urbana Champaign. However,
Parkland Students have to wait thirty minutes under that circumstance which is a big distress for
the students. Also, students are tired after an intense studying they need the bus to come faster so
