4A – Forming An Opportunity Belief

I believe there is an unmet need in regard to a reliable RTS app that tells you when the buses in Gainesville will arrive at your stop. Anyone who takes the RTS buses in Gainesville has this need. The vast majority being college students heading to and from campus, or people who work on campus and don’t have a car. The need for reliable buses has always existed. Unreliable buses have always been around, that’s why they came up with the RTS app, to try and help people know when the buses are coming and how close or far they are from your stop. However, the app is unreliable and doesn’t take into account stops, drivers shifts being over and new drivers taking their places, bathroom breaks, and routine stops. From personal experiences, the RTS app will say the bus will be arriving in 10 min. I would then leave to walk to the bus stop, to check back and see that the bus is still 10 min away, or has “no prediction”, or is “Out of Service”. I’m maybe… 75% sure this opportunity exists. My prototypical customer would be college students, employees who work on campus, and anyone who takes the RTS buses on a regular basis.

#1: Young Female who is a student at UF.  

• How often do you take the RTS bus to class, work, or just to get around Gainesville?

o   “Every Monday – Friday.”

•   Do you use the RTS bus app to help assist you in catching a bus?

o   “Yes, everyday!”

•  If so, have you run into any problems or issues with the app? Or does it work well and predicts the correct timing the buses arrive?

o   “Yes, I have run into plenty of issues with the app and it being unreliable.”

•  Have you ever been late to class or work because of the unreliable RTS app and buses? If so, when did you first experience a problem with the app and tell me what happened?

o   “Yes, I have. The first time I was late was last fall, of 2017. I woke up and used the app like I had been doing for a few months and headed to the bus stop when it said the bus would arrive in 7 minutes. It takes me about 4 minutes to get to the stop, but I like to be a few minutes early, just in case. I got to the bus stop and was waiting for about 5 minutes so I decided to check the app again to see what was taking so long, and it read “no prediction.” I started to freak out because the next bus was 30 min away and I would be late to class by then. I waited 10 more min, just in case something was wrong with the app and the bus was in fact on its way. However, it never showed up and I ended up running to another bus stop to take a different bus and was 30 min late to a 50 min class…..”

•   About how many times would you say you’ve had problems with buses being late, or the app being unreliable?

o   “About twice a week.”

•  What do you currently do to make sure you catch the bus and aren’t late to class or work?

o   “Every morning, I wake up extra early to make sure I give myself time for the unreliable busses. I normally give myself 30 extra minutes than I used to, because I never want to have the stress of not having a bus and being late ever again.”

•  How satisfied are you with your solution to making sure you arrive to class or work on time?

o   “Honestly, I hate having to wake up 30 minutes earlier than I should because of the unreliable busses and the app. Us college students need all the sleep we can get and it just sucks having to worry about being on time to class.”

REFLECTION: While talking to this young female, it was clear that this problem does exist. It was surprising to hear someone else with a very similar story to mine. I also couldn’t believe that she wakes up and gets her day started 30 minutes earlier than she used to, all because of the unreliable buses and app. If the buses happen to be running on time she probably gets to class 30 + min early.

#2: 21-year-old male who works on campus at the helpdesk and is a student.

• How often do you take the RTS bus to class, work, or just to get around Gainesville?

o   “About 4 to 5 times a week.”

• Do you use the RTS bus app to help assist you in catching a bus?

o   “Yes.”

• If so, have you run into any problems or issues with the app? Or does it work well and predicts the correct timing the buses arrive?

o   “Yes, I have run into issues.”

• Have you ever been late to class or work because of the unreliable RTS app and buses? If so, when did you first experience a problem with the app and tell me what happened?

o   “Yes, I have been late and it happens a lot. My first time was sometime during Freshman year of college, and I am now a Senior. My problem with the app is that sometimes when you switch from Wi-Fi to LTE, the bus times don’t update. They only update when you close the app and reload it. So, the bus will continue saying its 15 minutes away, when in reality you have already missed the bus and will now be late.”

• About how many times would you say you’ve had problems with buses being late, or the app being unreliable?

o   “About once a week.”

• What do you currently do to make sure you catch the bus and aren’t late to class or work?

o   “I show up to the bus stop 15 min before I think I need to and I continuously quit the app and reopen, to make sure it has refreshed.”

• How satisfied are you with your solution to making sure you arrive to class or work on time?

o   “Not very satisfied. I should be able to rely on the buses and the app to get me where I need to be on time.”

REFLECTION: After interviewing this man, I realized that there are definitely problems with the app, that most people experience, and it needs to be fixed. People are going out of their way to catch the buses so they are on time for work and class.

#3: Freshman male student who has no car in Gainesville and takes the RTS buses everywhere he goes. He states that he takes a bus to the mall, to archer road when craving his favorite food, and around campus because it’s so big.

• How often do you take the RTS bus to class, work, or just to get around Gainesville?

o   “5 to 6 times a week.”

• Do you use the RTS bus app to help assist you in catching a bus?

o   “Sometimes, but not always.”

• If so, have you run into any problems or issues with the app? Or does it work well and predicts the correct timing the buses arrive?

o   “I’ve run into a few little problems”

• Have you ever been late to class or work because of the unreliable RTS app and buses? If so, when did you first experience a problem with the app and tell me what happened?

o   “No, living on campus I normally walk to all of my classes and I don’t have a job so I don’t use the buses or app for that. When I take a bus to go to the gym on campus, I don’t run into any problems either because there are always so many buses running that rout and they run consistently. Most of the time, I just show up to the bus stop and a bus arrives within 5 to 7 minutes. Although most of the time the buses are reliable for me, I have run into problems with the app while I’m trying to get around Gainesville. The app will tell me a bus is 10 min away from my stop, but when I check again when I am at the bus stop, the bus has “no prediction” on when it will be here. Since I’m only using the buses to get around Gainesville, I’m not on that strict of a time frame, so it doesn’t bother me as much. It just gets annoying.”

• About how many times would you say you’ve had problems with buses being late, or the app being unreliable?

o   “Just a few times.”

• What do you currently do to make sure you catch the bus to where ever you are headed?

o   “I don’t really do anything. I just check the app and head to the bus stop.”

• How satisfied are you with your solution to making sure you get on your desired place?

o   “I would say that I’m pretty satisfied. Like I said I normally use the buses and the app for things that don’t have a start time, so if the bus is running late or if I wait awhile, it’s not the end of the world. It is annoying, but it won’t really effect my day.”

REFLECTION: This interview, was the most surprising out of the three. I learned that prototypical customers probably do not include individuals who take the bus for “un-important” things, like to get food, go to the mall, or anything that doesn’t have a start time that they could be late for. A better app and more reliable buses isn’t an issue or a need for them.

SUMMARY:

After talking and interviewing these 3 people, I think that the opportunity is still there for sure. However, I don’t think the unreliable buses and the app effects as many people as I once thought. So, the customer base is smaller than I had thought.

After interviewing a few people about the buses and the app, I realized that my new opportunity is more accurate than when I started this assignment. Many students, workers, and people trying to get around Gainesville have just accepted the fact that sometimes the buses and the app are unreliable and they have their own plan in place to make sure they aren’t late. I have also realized, that not everyone experiences problems with the RTS app and the buses depending on what time of day they are taking the bus, their Wi-Fi or LTE connection, where their bus is taking them, and how busy of a route their bus is on.

Overall, I believe that entrepreneurs should ALWAYS ‘adapt’ their opportunities based on customer feedback. An entrepreneur is trying to satisfy customers unmet needs. If they refuse to adapt, they will never actually meet their needs. Listening and adapting to customers’ needs is so important in creating a product that is reliable, that people want, and most importantly that people actually need and will use.