4A – Forming An Opportunity Belief

• I believe that the buses are overcrowded during the rush hours and when it rains heavily. Therefore, I believe that during these situations, more buses should run at shorter time intervals (ie: a usually 15 minute wait in between buses would then be 5 minutes).
• The need came from a personal experience of mine when I was turned down access to a bus I needed to go on because it was filled to the max with people. This has happened a few times already being here for the first 3 weeks. This affects many students on and off campus who rely on the bus to be their main source of transportation. However, there are many students going on and off the buses especially during rush hours of the early morning and of the evening when classes end. People are meeting this need by changing the time they ride the bus, using SNAPS, asking friends for rides, walking, biking, or even using ride services like UBER and Lyft. At this point, the percentage of this opportunity existing is relatively low; I would estimate anywhere from 1% to 5% max.
• Students, regardless of year, who do not have cars or bikes and rely heavily on the bus system.
• Customer 1: “ I am aware of this need when I ride the bus at times there are many people. However it doesn’t bother me that much because I can just ride the next one. The 15 minute wait might seem long, but if I’m on my phone, I can’t tell that time even passed. I only experienced this 3 times while being here. I’m a sophomore and I ride the bus everyday. If there was a way to increase the number of buses during times when people most ride buses, that would be great; but if there isn’t, I don’t really mind.”
• Customer 2: “I’m a freshman and I only ride the bus. After being denied on the bus several times because it was full, I made a schedule for myself on when I ride the bus. Now every time I ride the bus, I always sit because there are just so many seats! I just kinda wish there were more buses when it rains because I don’t want to get wet walking home.”
• Customer 3: “I wish there was something like this! I would use it pretty often because I have morning classes and there are just so many people. I never got denied to go on a bus because I’m usually on it before it gets crowded, but when it gets crowded, I feel really stuffy and it gets even more humid in the bus because of everyone’s body heat.”
• I learned through this opportunity that few people are dealing with this issue and that the opportunity for this is really low. While 2 out of 3 of the people I interviewed got denied on getting on a bus because it was full on multiple occasions, it did not affect them because they did not feel rushed every time and would just simply wait for the next bus to come. One found it to be a helpful tool, but did not feel urgent about it. While I thought that waiting for the next bus would affect students’ schedules, the interviewees did not find my issue to be such a big issue.
• The percentage of my original opportunity is still very low. I think that with more interviews and more perspectives, I will be able to get a more accurate idea of the opportunity percentage. Maybe I should change some factors of my opportunity. But in all, I think that entrepreneurs should stick to their opportunities and work on it, but not be closed off to the feedback of customers. There needs to be a good balance between staying firm and trading-off, but as difficult as it sounds, it takes constant work and trials to find that balance.