Text-Only Version Prepared by: TranSystems Corp. Medford, ma and: Planners Collaborative Boston, ma august 24, 2007 contents
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Figure 1.2 - Overall Bus for 2002-2004 Bus Stop Announcements Total by Year (Editor’s note: Data in the table shows the percentage of stop announcements made by year and by quarter of each year. Data is presented in the following order: Year; First Quarter; Second Quarter; Third Quarter; Fourth Quarter) 2002 Partial Year; NA; 65%; 65%; 70%. 2003 Full Year; 67%; 68%; 61%; 58%. 2004 full year; 61%; 61% 77%; 77%. Figure 1.3 - 2004 data for rail 2004 Rail Stop Announcements (Editor’s note: Data in the table shows the percentage of stop announcements made by rail line in 2004. Data is presented in the following order: Line; First Quarter; Second Quarter; Third Quarter; Fourth Quarter) Green: 90%;92%; 11%; 98% Blue; 61%; 100%; 100%; 100% Orange; 99%; 100%; 95%; 100% Red; 990%; 81%; 91%; 73% Commuter; 92%; 78%; N/A; 81%
(Editor’s note: Data in the table shows percentage of stop announcements made in 2004, by quarter, for buses from each garage. Data is presented in the following order: Garage; First Quarter; Second Quarter; Third Quarter; Fourth Quarter) Arborway/Bartlett; 65%; 91%; 91%;85% Bennett; 88%; 57%58%; 69% Cabot; 59%48%; 85%; 90% Charlestown; 58%; 59%; 54%; 62% Lynn; 55%; 59%; 58%; 69% Quincy; 48%; 58%; 59%; 50% Southampton; 88%; 80%; 100%; 88% Contract; 0%; 118%; 20%; 19% The monitoring reports show improvement on buses in making stop announcements since the time of the ADA audit in 2001. However, it is still short of the previously stated goal of 100 percent compliance, and requires a continuing effort on behalf of the MBTA. The MBTA is investing in technology to improve the current situation for making stop announcements, and this should help in the future. As of the second quarter of 2005, 722 buses were equipped with Public Address Variable Message Signs. The MBTA expects 81 percent of the bus fleet to be equipped by July 1, 2006. The improved performance at Cabot, Arborway and Southampton is likely due to those garages having a higher proportion of PAVMS equipped buses. Orange Line cars have been equipped with new PA systems to improve clarity of the announcements. New Blue Line cars will have automated systems like the No. 3 Red Line cars. No. 8 Green Line cars will have systems that automatically adjust to overcome ambient noise Continue the program to install simultaneous PA/VMS systems on all passenger vehicles. Explore and adopt methods of automatically adjusting message volume or timing in response to ambient noise levels. Operators who have been cited for failure to comply with ADA requirements are referred to a mandated Passenger Relations Course. Beginning in the last quarter of 2004, operators on the 3rd or higher disciplinary step for failure to call out stops attend an all-day mandatory ADA retraining course with classroom, hands-on and road instruction. Drivers are also subject to progressive discipline for failure to make stop announcements as follows:
The MBTA provided information on the discipline records their bus operators for part of 2003, 2004 and part of 2005. Table 1.16 shows formal disciplinary actions, which were part of the six-step process detailed above. Additional information about MBTA actions on stop announcement monitoring also was obtained. This included numbers of commendations given, bus operator re-trainings, and instances where a lack of stop announcements was excused. This information is shown in Table 1.17 below. Based on our review of this information, it appears that the MBTA is following through on the established discipline process. Table 1.16 - Bus Operator Disciplinary Actions, 2003-2005 (Editor’s note: Data in the table is presented in the following order: Infraction; Number of Employees Cited; Comment) 1st infraction; 651; Given Infraction Notice 2nd infraction; 266; No comments 3rd infraction; 101; 8 of these were rescinded 4th infraction; 37; 3 of these were rescinded or reduced 5th infraction; 13; 1 of these was reduced 6th infractions; 3; Discharge is mentioned for two of these. Table 1.17 - Other Monitoring Actions and Observations (Editor’s note: Data in the table is presented in the following order: Observation; Number of Employees Cited; Comment) Commendations (of employees previously cited for failure to make stop announcements); 512; No comments Reinstruction; 193; Operators who miss one announcement or achieve 80% compliance on the observed trip are allowed one reinstruction. Excused-no MP3 bus or MP3 Training; 6; These drivers are allowed to use an MP3 due to a speech impediment.
As new information on inoperable elevators is received by the MCC it is entered into the MBTA’s Maintenance Control & Reporting System (MCRS). The MCC notifies the Public Address (PA) announcer in the OCC. Both the MCC and the OCC are in separate areas of the same room, so communication is oral. At the beginning of the day the MCC notifies the PA announcer of the list of elevators and escalators that are out for the MBTA “Elevator Update Line,” as discussed above. The PA announcer checks the “Update Line” for consistency with the MCC data, and then notifies a contractor from Smart Traveler to update the MBTA web site. The PA announcer makes a public address announcement of elevator status throughout the MBTA system. Each time there is a change in status, the PA announcer repeats the process of updating the “Update Line,” notifying the Smart Traveler web site contractor, and making a PA announcement throughout the system. In addition, the PA announcer makes announcements of out of service elevators at fixed two hour intervals throughout the day. When the PA announcer or Smart Route operator is absent the OCC supervisor is responsible for making the appropriate updates to the hot line and web site and checking the elevator/escalator status line at Extension 2828. OCC depends upon the MCRS report on elevator status at the beginning of the day and reports on status change from the MCC for elevator status information. As discussed earlier, MCC receives information on out of service elevators primarily from the transportation Inspectors. When returned to service by the maintenance contractor, the change in elevator status is recorded in MCRS, but not communicated orally to MCC. Based upon the procedures as described by MBTA supervisors there is no provision for affirming that elevators have returned to service by MCC. Absent such affirmation the status of an elevator can change in the MCRS system without the MCC being aware of it. If MCC is unaware of the change in the status of an elevator, MCC can’t report the status change to the PA announcer. In addition to PA announcements at transit stations on out of service elevators, there is a flip sign next to each elevator to identify out of service elevators. When station Inspectors identify inoperable elevators and take the elevator out of service they use the “flip” sign next to the elevator to notify transit riders that the elevator is out-of-service. Intercoms in the lobby outside of elevators provide a potential means for customers to obtain information on alternative routing or service. MBTA officials indicated that the intercoms outside of elevators are linked to either the police department or the MCC with some also linked to collectors booths. In the future they will be linked to the “Hub” stations attended by customer service agents. There is no specific procedure for informing Inspectors or other station personnel when elevators are returned to service. Station staff is either alerted through the PA announcements or learns of the elevator repair during rechecks of elevators throughout the day. In response to complaints about the accuracy of the elevator “Update Line” and the Web site, the MBTA conducted its own monitoring of the elevator situation. Two months of data were collected for each of the lines which noted the elevators out of service at 10:00AM, compared to the information on the “Update Line” and the web page. This monitoring activity showed that there was a discrepancy between elevators out and what was being reported to the customers. For the Red Line, for example, 12 percent of the out-of-service elevators were not reported on the web site and 13 percent were not reported on the Update Line. An important issue that the Red Line monitoring report shows is that once elevators are back in service, the Elevator Update Line and the Transit Updates Web Page are not updated in a timely way. The impression then is that the MBTA’s performance with respect to elevator maintenance looks worse than it is. For example, in the time period between April 13 and May 18, 2005, when there were 135 observed elevator-day outages, the Web and the phone Update Line reported a number which was around 20 percent higher than actual. This is due to there being 43 fewer elevator-day outages than were being reported. Also, between March 23 and May 18, the public communication at 10:00AM was not accurate on 45 and 47 percent of the days respectively for the phone and the web. There were 3 days when the Web page and the phone update line did not agree, indicating a breakdown in communications between the PA announcer and the SmartRoutes contractor. There are two issues for improving the elevator maintenance communication. The more critical is to insure that accurate information on elevator outages gets to the phone Update Line and the Web pages. The missing information may have occurred because the elevator went out just before the 10:00AM inspection, so that the web and phone line were not updated. Alternatively, there could have been a breakdown in communications some where between the Inspector and the PA Announcer and SmartRoutes employee. To address this problem A possible way of addressing discrepancies between the Elevator Update Line and Web site would be implementation of a procedure requiring the PA announcer to review the Web site and, the Web site person to review the Elevator Update Line, to assure that the elevator information is consistent. Institute a quality control procedure to assure that information on elevator status is consistently reported on both the elevator hot line and the MBTA web site. The second issue is for the MBTA to establish a procedure to update the phone Update line and the Web site when an elevator is repaired. The MBTA is planning to implement a revised program to notify customers of out of service elevators. The OCC proposes to have the PA Announcer review the MCRS every half-hour during the service day to check for changes in the status of elevators and incorporate those changes into elevator PA announcements, hot line lists and websites as is currently done. Other possible options for confirming current elevator status in MCRS are: adding a routine in MCRS requiring the status change to alert MCC of the change with a screen pop-up and a requirement for MCC to accept or acknowledge the change; or requiring the contractor to notify MCC by phone when an elevator is taken off or placed back on line. The MBTA plan is to notify field personnel and customers by updating the “flip” signs currently located next to each elevator and providing lists of out of service elevators at each fare collection area. The flip signs currently notify customers when elevators are out of service. The MBTA proposes to add information on alternate routes to the sign and provide a phone number for customer assistance. The out-of-service elevator list would be printed at “Hub” stations and distributed from there to all subway stations. The list would include a number to call for customer assistance. The lists would be updated, printed and distributed 3 times a day. Lists would be posted so they can be read by customers before they pass through turn styles and exposure to vandalism and weather is minimized. An automated version of this system using VMS with audio prompts at station entrances would result in more current information and less labor effort from field staff. The MBTA is installing coordinated PAVMS at the “Hub” stations. This will permit both auditory and visual communication of service messages. 1.5. Fixed Route Service Monitoring Plan The last task performed as part of the accessible fixed route service evaluation was the development of a detailed Monitoring Plan. The full plan is contained in Technical Memorandum #6, which was delivered to the MBTA in August of 2006. This section provides a summary of the major recommendations contained in the plan. Recommendations on organizational issues are first presented. Recommendations from the plan for each operational mode and area are then provided. As noted in the “Introduction” section of this report, the MBTA negotiated a settlement agreement with plaintiffs in response to a lawsuit against the MBTA pertaining to transit accessibility. The settlement agreement is expected to address some of the same issues that are addressed in this monitoring plan. Accordingly, the service monitoring plan implemented by the MBTA may vary from the recommendations of this plan depending upon the actual implementation of the terms of the settlement agreement. Throughout this section, paragraph numbers are included in parentheses (e.g., paragraph 54) if discussions or recommendations relate to certain parts of the proposed settlement agreement. These paragraph numbers refer to paragraphs in the settlement agreement that are related to the discussions and recommendations. Current Monitoring Program - Organizational Context Service monitoring programs generally are developed to measure performance in achieving the objectives of an organization and to identify areas in which objectives are not being met so that corrective actions can be identified and implemented. To be effective the service monitoring program must be tailored to the MBTA organization structure and management responsibilities within that structure. The MBTA is governed by a nine member Board of Directors chaired by the Secretary of the state’s Executive Office of Transportation and Construction. The Board appoints a General Manager, who is the MBTA’s chief executive officer. Figure 1.5 shows the MBTA’s organizational structure as of July 2005. There are two positions in the first tier of the chain of command with the most direct responsibility for provision of accessible fixed route services, the Chief Operating Officer and the Assistant General Manger of Design and Construction. The Chief Operating Officer is responsible for operation of all modes of transportation service, design and maintenance of equipment and maintenance of facilities including passenger stations. The Assistant General Manger of Design and Construction is responsible for design and construction of all facilities including passenger stations. Figure 1.5 MBTA Organization Chart (Editors note: this figure shows an Organizational Chart of the MBTA. The following staff positions and lines of authority are shown:) The MBTA is overseen by The Secretary and MBTA Chairman and Directors of the Board The General Manager reports to the Board of Directors The following 16 staff report to the General Manager; Deputy Chief of Staff; Press Secretary; Deputy General Manager / Chief Financial Officer; General Counsel; Assistant General Manager for Human Resources and Chief of Staff; Assistant General Manager of Design and Construction; Assistant General Manager for Safety; Chief Operating Officer; Chief of Police: Assistant General Manager; Inter Govt. Affair and Public Relations; Assistant General Manager; Planning, Real Estate; and Environmental Affairs; Assistant General Manager for Silver Line Comm. and Commum. Development; Assistant General Manager for Strategic Planning; Director of Marketing And Comm.; Assistant General Manager Diversity and Civil Rights; Assistant General Manager for Labor Relations and Operational Health Services zSeven people are under the Deputy General Manager / Chief Financial Officer; Director of Materials; Director of Financial Planning; Director of Budget; Treasure/Controller; Director of Revenue; Director of Internal Audit; an Director of IT/Chief Info Officer One person reports to the Assistant General Manager for Human Resources and Chief of Staff; Director of Human Resources One person reports to Assistant General Manager of Design and Construction; Chief of Engineering and Construction Five people report to Chief of Engineering and Construction; Director of Design; Director of Construction; Directors of Construction Greenbush; Director of Contract Administration, Director Design and Construction Silver Line One person reports to Assistant General Manager for Safety, Director of Safety One person reports to the Chief Operating Officer; Deputy Chief Operating Officer Seven people report to the Deputy Chief Operating Officer; Director of Subway Operations and Rail Veh Eng; Director of Operations Support; Director of Bus Operations and Engineering; Director of Systemwide Mtc and Improvements; Director of Railroad Operations; Director of Operations, Planning and Schedules; Projest Director of Operations One person reports to Assistant General Manager; Inter Govt. Affair and Public Relations; Director of Legislative Affairs Four people report to Assistant General Manager; Planning, Real Estate; and Environmental Affairs; Director of Planning; Director of Real Estate; Director of Environmental Affairs; Director of Environmental Compliance One person reports to Assistant General Manager for Labor Relations and Operational Health Services; Director of Occupational Health Services/WC In large organizations, such as the MBTA, the elements, or inputs necessary to effectively achieve performance objectives (or output) must be carefully identified. Each input must in turn be assigned to the manager within the organization who has the greatest control over successfully achieving the objective for that input. For example, to achieve the goal of on-time performance, the transportation manager has the greatest control over managing the operators to perform on time. For the transportation manager to be successful he/she must have adequate reliable vehicles to operate service on time. The person with greatest control over vehicles (an input to transportation operations) is the vehicle maintenance manager. For independent measurement of service performance it is also desirable to have an organizational separation of responsibility for performance and performance measurement. A typical example is the audit function in most organizations. As an oversight function auditors often report to the governing body, such as the Board of Directors, or to a different department than the departments being audited. In most complex organizations, including the MBTA, there is a tug of war between two competing organizational structures. In line organizations, managers have broad responsibility for achieving organizational goals within a defined area of the operation. As an example of a line organization, in the July 2005 MBTA organization, Subway Operations included transportation, maintenance, and control center functions—all the necessary functions to provide excellent service for the subway and extensions. Following are the line organizations of concern:
In functional organizations, managers have responsibility across all areas of operation for performance in areas of professional discipline such as facilities engineering, equipment engineering and operations. Within the MBTA an example of a functional organization is the Office for Transportation Access which is responsible for accessible transportation services over all of the modes. Most organizations are structured to have elements of both the line and functional models. The relative strength of the different models says something about the priority assigned to the function being represented. As relates to achieving goals for accessible fixed route transit service there are four primary functional areas of responsibility:
Transportation operations include three major activities or functions of importance to performance measurement:
Personnel in Transportation Operations make up the largest group of employees at the MBTA, as these people bring the service to the customers. Backgrounds vary, since the major responsibility is to be able to drive a bus or train, and/or to be able to open train doors and ensure passenger safety. All of Transportation Operations falls under the Chief Operating Officer. |