Public Transport Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Public Transport - Assignment Example Increase of commuting is a desirable goal and has policy support (Bailey, 2007). Apart from this reasons like congestion on the roads, savings in commuting time would be seen as the chief reasons for a commuter to prefer public transport over using own cars. Typically a product or a service that gives enhanced value for a customer would what make a customer to switch to a service or a product. There is a big opportunity here for bus operators to create this critical additional value through use of ICT to induce commuters to switch over in a big way to using public transport like buses. This proposal is about creating a viable and profitable business model built through 2 products, the "Bus Catcher" and the "Bus bug" and software, all of which will provide an enhanced service offering to commuters. Bailey (2004) estimates that for an US population of 7.2 million non-drivers, 50% 0f which is people above the age of 654, public transportation is the only alternative, when they are going somewhere outside their immediate neighborhood. She also observes most U.S. residents still do not have the option of using public transportation to get places. Basing her observation on the American Housing survey of 2001, she says that just half - 49 percent - of all Americans reported that they have no public transportation service. ... Till very recently she says that a quarter of rural counties had below average public transportation service, and 41 percent had none at all. The gap between the need and what is available is high. The demand for public transport is however growing at a tremendous pace since the mid-nineties. Reasons like surging oil price, congestion, commuting time are the reasons. Pucher (2002 says that ridership is up 25.1percent since 1995, because of the awareness among the users that use of public transport saves money. Reducing commuting is seen to be the chief consideration for people to switching over to public transport. Another study indicates that demand will come further as people move away further and further away from their work place. (Howlett, 2008). This report says that people are willing to commute for over 90 minutes each way and an estimated 3.4 million Americans already are doing this and their numbers will be growing. Americans took 10.3 billion trips on public transportation in 2007, the highest level in 50 years, representing a 2.1% increase over the previous year, according to data released by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA). It is estimated to have grown by 32% since 1995. (Green Car Congress, 2008). Though bus service, at 1% was lower than the overall increase, it had a much bigger growth in places with population less than 100,000 and more than 5% in select urban areas. Even though the budget estimated to improve public transport is 50% of what would be needed, Federal funding has been increasing annually at the rate of 2.1 % since 2001(Bailey 2007) Increasing access to employment for the urban poor would mean their need to commute to suburbs and this will have to be an important policy decision of

Information Technology Enhanced Management of Schools Dissertation

Information Technology Enhanced Management of Schools - Dissertation Example What is necessary to overcome the aforementioned obstacle may be roundtable discussions at many of the nation’s schools, where committee members meet to identify and discuss the issues at hand. Among things to consider is what is and what is not doable at the hands of a particular school, a definition of what it means to be productive in an academic sense, and a definition of how information technology may enhance that definition (Massy and Zemsky, 2008). â€Å"First, the demand for IT-based teaching and learning programs will grow substantially, probably exponentially, over the next decade. In an economy that is itself increasingly knowledge-based, the new information technologies offer an economical means of providing the continuous education the U.S. now requires as well as a more readily accessible form of post-secondary education and credentialing. Second, IT will change teaching and learning profoundly, no matter what the response of traditional higher education institutions. Just as the development of the printing press forever changed the teaching enterprise, IT represents a fundamental change in the basic technology of teaching and learning† (Massy and Zemsky, 2008, pg. 1). Information technology itself offers a large amount of potential, but it requires a fundamental shift in the way institutions operate. It is essential, then, that those who wish to implement information technology within an institution understand what changes must take place on levels that are practical to that institution. The first step is to take a look at the pros and cons of the integration of information technology into a school, including both administrative and teaching processes. Then, any barriers the school may face when integrating that technology must be considered on both an internal and external level (Massy and Zemsky, 2008; Armstrong, 2007; and Estabrooks, 1995). Schools across the nation are encountering many difficulties when they attempt to adopt a variety of new technologies. First of all, should information technology comprise the primary means of teaching students in today's elementary schools Second, should entire school systems be technologically enhanced Third, how is all of this going to be paid for (Kumpulainen and Wray, 2002 and Olson, Malone,

Political Science Questions and Answers Assignment

Political Science Questions and Answers - Assignment Example Using the concepts of competition and socialization to anchor your analysis, explain what Waltz means when he writes that a structure â€Å"may designate a compensating device that works to produce a uniformity of outcomes despite the variety of inputs.† The implication by Waltz is that structure within the global system always focuses on maintaining their outcomes within constricted margins no matter the inputs to them. This is possible due to socialization factors and competition. Socialization results from differences in societies that arise from informal and impulsive techniques applied in the definition of conduct norms. Consequently, the resulting norms control the group members and this discharges diversity and heartens homogeneity. Conversely, competition defines organization where the outcomes facilitate the selection of behavior, where the least successful conducts leave the global system and the triumphant institutes set the pace imitated by others. Q.3. what are th e core assumptions of realism, according to Gilpin? How and WHY do Mearshimer’s assumptions differ? Guzzini reveals Gilpin’s five assumptions: the global system is stable provided no nations attempt changing it; states challenge the system where the benefits arising outdo the expenses incurred; nations seek to system change through economic, politica, and territorial growth up to the point of equilibrium or excess on marginal costs of continued change compared to marginal benefits; the attainment of equilibrium between benefits and costs resulting from additional change and growth causes faster increment in econiomic cost to sustain the status compared to the financial ability to support th status; and failure to resolve unequity causes system changes settles for a novel equity reflection .While Gilpin’s assumptions focus on the system systematic, and interaction changes within the global system, Mearshimer’s assumptions focus on factors contributing to the endless competition for security amongst nations. Additionally, Mearsheimer argues that given that power ful states operate anarchic environment, they feat and distrust each other leaving each to worry about the objectives of the other on security. Q4. Compare how Lebow and Waltz explain the nature of order and its relevance to the behavior of states on the world stage