Washington State Transit Association
Operations Committee Meeting
October 24-26, 2007,
Hawthorn Inn and Suites
928 Olsen Street
Pullman, Washington 99163
Attendees:
Skip Algard, Everett Transit
Patty Alvord, WSDOT
Colleen Baumann, Community Transit
George Baxter, Everett Transit
Geoff Beaumont, Whatcom Trans. Authority
Steve Blaska, Spokane Transit
Sheldon Breaux, Kitsap Transit
Diane Brown, Pierce Transit
Dennis Digges, Skagit Transit
Timothy Dunn, Sound Transit
Phil Early , Intercity Transit
Earl Fowlkes, Pierce Transit
Jack Freer, Kitsap Transit
John Garner, Whatcom Trans. Authority
Yvonne Greenwood, King County Metro
Tom Hanson, WSDOT
Barbara Hays, Ben Franklin Transit
Randy Hendrickson, Pierce Transit
Ken Johnston, King County Metro
John Koschnick, Jefferson Transit
Lennie Laramore, Pierce Transit
Rich Lyons, Yakima Transit
Robert Medcraft, C-TRAN
Jim Merrill, Intercity Transit
Chris Mitchell, Pullman Transit
Dan Morrissey, Grant Transit Authority
Amanda Nightingale, Seattle Monorail Services
Michelle Parvinen, WSTA
Mike Pollack, Jefferson Transit
Frank Poulsen, Clallam Transit System
Janet Stowe, Spokane Transit
Sandy Stutey, Mason Transit
Kristina Umbright, Pullman Transit
Frank Vande Werfhorst, Island Transit
Nancy Vivolo, Clallam Transit System
Jeff Wamsley, King County Metro
Thursday Session
Steve Dolittle, Spokane Transit
Cliff Schlienger, Spokane Transit
Mike Toole, Spokane Transit
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
Meeting brought to order at 1:30 by President Jeff Wamsley
Welcome-Rod Thornton (Manager-Pullman Transit)
Chris Mitchell (Host-Pullman Transit)
1:45 Digital Video Recording system Procurement presentation-Jim Merril (Intercity
Transit)
Information booklet provided
3:00 PM Property Updates
Island Transit Report-Frank Vande Werfhorst
1. We now have 46 operators on Whidbey, 10 are e-board. On Camano we
have 16 operators, 3 of which are e-board. We also have 6 operators in training. Two
employees moved up to support supervisors. One in charge of Para transit and one in IT.
2. We are seriously looking at ANL and MDT’s.
3. We received funding for 14 cutaway buses; seven (7) of which will be
strictly Para transit. Mechanics have requested no more Fords so they are getting serious
about Chevrolets. We have 8 new 29 foot Internationals. We hear too many complaints from
riders about the rough “truck like” ride. Also the shorter drivers have problems
with a comfortable ride. We received 5 40 foot Gilligs and are working out the bugs,
mostly electrical.
4. We will be doing some route restructuring in January 2008. More Para
transit buses and less route deviations.
5. We will be over 1 million passengers this year, first time.
6. We had full disaster drill on October 15, 2007, very successful.
7. Moving into our new facility on Camano next week; Whidbey’s is
still on hold due to lack of funding.
8. This will probably be my last meeting as I turned the reigns over to
Shawn Harris last Monday; I will stay on board as a support manager.
Thanks to everyone here for the help that I have received from you.
(Frank: We will miss you. Have a happy retirement.)
Tom Hansen DOT
1. Reorganization is in the works and there will opening soon.
2. The Walla Walla to Tri-cities Service, "The Grapeline" has
been awarded.
3. Last legislative session RCW47.46B.3 was passed giving ACCT the
responsibility to deal with guidelines for ADA compliance.
Everett – George Baxter
Fixed Route Bus Fleet
1. ET is scheduled to take delivery of four 40-foot, low floor Gillig
buses in December 2007.
2. ET was hoping to piggy-back onto the San Joaquin RTD contract with
Gillig to purchase three 35-foot, low floor, hybrid buses with BRT styling. It was
determined at the last minute that the RTD had not advertised the original bid on the WEB
(per RCW 39.34.030) and the contract could not be entered into. ET is looking for another
contract to piggy-back on to or it will go out with an RFP to for a 5 year contract to
purchase 30-foot, 35-foot, and 40-foot buses with many options (engines, transmissions,
styling packages, hybrid technology, etc.). If ET goes out with a RFP, piggy-back
opportunities for other agencies will be included if feasible.
Paratransit Fleet
3. Have taken possession of 13 new Champion paratransit vans built on
the Chevy 4500 chassis.
4. ET is considering purchasing some mini-vans in the future for
paratransit service.
5. College Station
6. Construction has begun on the new off-street, 6-bay transit station
adjacent to Everett Community College. Completion of station is scheduled for February
2008.
North Operating Base
7. ET is currently in negotiations with the Everett Scholl District to
lease a vacated school bus operating base in north Everett (approximately 6 blocks from
current operating base). The School District built a new operating base in south Everett
and has vacated the old site. The site is about 1 square block in area with some office
space and a 6-bay vehicle maintenance building that will be used for storage by ET. About
half of ET’s fixed route buses and operations will move to this new location and
begin operations on November 26th. At this time, only weekday fixed route service will
operate out of the North Base. It is anticipated that Training/Safety/Security will move
to this location after the first of the year and after some improvements have been made to
the facilities.
Uniforms
8. ET is making some changes to its uniforms and will be going out to
bid soon. Effective 1/2008, the new uniform will consist of a red or black shirt (or red
and black camp shirt), black pants (or shorts), black shoes, and black coats. Black or red
sweaters and vests will be optional, but must be purchased through ET. Employees will not
be allowed to wear all black uniform garments at any one time. If any employee wants to
wear a black shirt, black pants, and a black outer garment, they must wear a red tie. The
new ATU contract has some changes in how uniforms are replaced, paid for, and now includes
some money for shoes.
C-Tran – Bob Medcraft
1. The coach operator contract was approved and ratified by the ATU 757.
Highlights include cost sharing, additional benefits for Para Transit operators, and 3.5,
3.5, 3.5 raises for fixed route 5.0, 4.5, 4.0 for PT. The PT increases are to do
comparables.
2. TOPOFF exercise – October 16th, 2007. C-TRAN provided
transportation to two area hospitals during the exercise. Our participation was successful
with only some minor hiccups.
3. Service change scheduled for September 30th was postponed until
November 18th due to a problem with a design flaw. The elevation of the platform was
incorrectly calculated.
4. New buses due in June of 08. Twenty two total, twelve 40’ hybrid
lowfloors, five 29’ lowfloors, five 35’ lowfloors. (All sloped nose “BRT
affect” design) (Wifi and new color scheme.)
5. Branding – New logo approved. The bus colors are metal dark
gray, grey, and a white stripe.
6. CCTV camera system engineering in final phase. Only a few PTZ
cameras, most are fixed. Hooked to fiber optics for viewing WSDOT and ODOT cameras. Total
project $450,000 for three sites.
Spokane Transit Property Update – Steve Blaska
Paratransit
1. 12 replacement vans in 2008
2. Installing Ranger MDTs in fleet right now, expect completion by end
of year.
3. Transitioning to Trapeze Version 7. Soon after will go to Version 8.
Investigating whether we can go straight to 8.
Fixed Route
4. GFI Odessey Fareboxes working well. WIFI and Ticket Encoding Machines
have been problematic
5. 3 Hybrid coaches on property now. Will be in service in December
6. Releasing specifications for 5 year coach procurement contract.
Specifications should be out by end of year.
7. City of Spokane is looking into a streetcar. STA will support the
effort but not lead.
Vanpool
8. Still distributing the 20 additional vans we received this summer
General Info
9. All 3 Labor contracts are settled. ATU 1015 (drivers & mechanics)
agreed to wage increases of 2.5/3.2/3.2 as the annual pay increases
10. Starting the process of “Smart Bus” enhancements to the
entire fleet (cameras, passenger counting, CAD/AVL, stop announcements, etc.) RFP for a
consultant to help draft the RFPs and design our requirements has been released.
11. 0.3% of our 0.6% sales tax will “Sunset” in 2009. We may
go out for the reauthorization vote as early as May 2008.
12. Installed new phone system to better manage our Para Reservations
and Customer Service call centers. Agilent / Avaya was our contractor. Initial impression
of the system is positive.
Mason Transit Operations – Sandy Stutey
1. New schedules adding 7,000 hours of service - 14 percent increase
2. End September - 3 percent increase in overall ridership
3. November 13 - Delivery of 3 35' low-floor Gilligs; new paint scheme
4. New bus schedules - Information sections are bi-lingual for the first
time
5. October - starting 4 new vanpools - 25 percent increase
6. Didn't get the funding for renovations to our downtown transit center
Congressional Earmark
7. Transportation Enhancement grant
8. Using portable ergonomic seat cushions with lumbar support
9. Oregon Aero
10. Going out to bid on radio service
11. Converting radios to telephone style handset with three new coaches;
retrofit
12. Installed the County's digital map on Trapeze
13. Trapeze's vendor - Teleatlas
14. Hiring - working out issues around "retired" workforce for
on-call coverage
15. Road Trip - dispatchers to Pierce, Intercity, Kitsap and Metro
ACCESS
Ben Franklin Transit – Barbara Hays
1. Finished negotiations with ATU in mediation. Dial A Ride settled with
Teamsters with out any problems.
2. Dealing with a great amount of growth in the service area and
increased service requests. Extended one route north to the Battelle Campus and
surrounding companies. Battelle has made a commit to support the route by purchasing a set
amount of passes each month.
3. Our new fuel facility is done and in use. The 2nd phase of
construction in the maintenance area has started on the new bus and smaller vehicle
washes.
4. At the recent APTA Annual meeting they were really hitting the issue
of hiring “Gen X & Y” employees as the Baby Boomers start to retire and some
of the issue that will be coming up. It was a very interesting topic.
Kitsap – Sheldon Breaux
Thursday October 25, 2007
8:30 AM
Don MacLardy (Select, Inc.) Handout provided
Integrated Risk Management WSTIP –Select is available through WSTIP to help with
agency Risk Management including the following:
Claims management
Emergency Management
Business Management
Evaluate/Access Plan, design/development,
training, follow-up & results,
Safety and Compliance management
Consultation resource
Security and Asset Management
Continuity of Operations Planning – COOP
Four Groups did valuable exercisesdeveloping COOP plans for disasters.
Recommendation is to including COOP plan into risk management and security plan. Don will
send WSTA more information. Watch their Website.
1:00 PM-Roundtable Discussions:
Topic One-Organization of First line supervisors: Lead, Steve Blaska
Discussion included the duties of supervisors, the ratio of supervisors to drivers,
Union vs Exempt supervisors, Disciplining another Union member
Operations/Paratransit supervisors, are there differences?
As the discussion developed it was apparent that properties use supervisors in difference
ways. Their duties are varied and their authority and responsibilities are not the same.
Topic Two- Preplanned sick leave: Lead, Colleen Baumann
Community’s sick leave is given on top of the daybook and vacation
book, and it has been difficult to administer.
Not all properties have sick leave
Metro has the employee sigh a sick verification form. Form lists name,
phone and fax number time & date and signature of operator. They fill it out on return
to work.
Topic Three-Auditing of Operators: Lead, Earl Fowlkes
Properties use different ways to audit drivers at work. Audits come
from, uncover riders, video and audio, polling passengers.
WSTIP has a pilot program of six agencies that loan supervisors for
auditing to each other. This is now a structured program. It is not discipline focused. It
is a quality focused program.
Metro swaps base chiefs to audit each others areas.
The rider should be trained to know what is a good or a poor ride. The
ADA requirements and other issues that a transit might need audited.
3:00 PM Property Updates
Community Transit – Colleen Baumann
Thanks Colleen for the cool “Double Tall” model bus
Watcom- JohnGarner & Geoff Beaumont
Jefferson Transit Property Update- John Koschnick & Mike Pollack
1. Contract Negotiations begin with ATU587 on November 1 Issues: EE cost
sharing on health benefits
a. Annual vacation bid process
2. 10 acres for new facility will probably not be developed for several
years due to lack of funding. In the mean time we will do some refurbishing of current
facility.
3. Recently developed dial-a-ride efficiency plan in hopes of keeping
rising costs down. Will implement in three stages (Now, January 08, July 08)
4. Looking seriously at general service dial-a-ride to replace evening
service on a couple of in-town routes. Probably will not be implemented any sooner than
Fall, 08.
5. Began Saturday morning and evening connection with Mason Transit, now
giving us six days / week connections between the two agencies.
6. Citizens Advisory Board will be attempting to revitalize itself. One
goal is to have more say in development of service in the future.
7. We have been using four Amerivans (Chevrolet mini-van) in our DAR
service for about one year. Allows us access to some rural locations that we could not
serve previously. Both operators and passengers like the comfort of these vans, although
the driver’s area only accommodates average size individuals.
8. In 2009 Jefferson Transit will be part of the Hood Canal Bridge
replacement mitigation plan. We need to temporarily hire about twenty operators and about
seven supervisors for about a two month period (May – June). We will also needing
buses. We will provide shuttle service between a temporary park and ride lot and a foot
passenger ferry terminal, about eighteen hours per day.
Pierce Transit Specialized Transportation -Randy Hendrickson, Earl Fowlkes & Diane
Brown
1. We will be participating in an FTA review of our ADA service next
month. We expect few surprises but nonetheless it is an anxious time.
2. We are currently doing factory acceptance testing on our CAD AVL
system. That is where Otis Reed is. We have decided on the Orbital mobile data terminals
and a Motorola radio system.
3. We are still using the Adept scheduling system from StrataGen. The
system is working fine and we are getting some updates to reduce backtracking and reduce
run empty miles. StrataGen has been sold to Digital Dispatch Systems. We don’t expect
too much to change in our relationship with StrataGen.
4. Shuttle and BusPlus currently use Nextel radios, and we are
installing a recording system in the next couple of weeks.
5. As some of you know we contract 70% of our service to First Transit
and do 27% of the service ourselves. Another contractor performs 3% of the service. We
just put out an RFP for an additional service provider, but only got one response.
6. We are getting 10 replacement Ford cutaways for paratransit vehicles,
replacing Collins buses which we haven’t had a good experience.
7. Our general public routed service with deviation or hybrid service
will be expanding into the Tacoma Tide Flats in early 2008.
8. Our new communication center is built out and is ready for the
radios. It should be fully operational in June 2008.
9. The agency is doing some remodeling on our main building. Planning
will be relocated for about six months to portable office buildings during the remodel.
Intercity Transit –Phil Early Fixed Route Manager
1. We are receiving 18 new Gillig buses starting in November (some are
here already) 8 are for replacements and 10 are for service expansion.
2. We are having a service expansion in February and also considering a
deviated fixed route in the North Lacey area.
3. We are in the process of hiring 24 new drivers with training for the
first group of about to start in December.
4. We are in the test phase of on board camera installation with a mini
fleet of 5 vehicles. The actual installation of the fleet will be in January
Skagit Transit Operations Committee Overview -- Dennis Digges
Congratulations to Dennis on being selected as Skat’s New Operations Manager
He received the position permanently after the Operations Committee Meeting
1. Skagit Transit's Commuter routes are continuing to build ridership.
Route 90X between Everett and Mount Vernon has built to 130-150 riders per day with
Fridays hitting 185 riders on eight round trips. Route 80X, which is run jointly with
Whatcom Transit Association runs full most of the time with over 6,000 riders in October
on eight trips a day.
2. We have increased Pocket Service to our rural areas to two times a
week and eight hours a day instead of six hours. Skagit Transit received a new Freedom
Grant to accomplish this. Ridership has been picking up steadily since it was expanded in
September.
3. Our mechanics have joined a union. They met with management for the
first negotiation meeting in October.
4. Skagit Transit will be advertising for an Operations Supervisor in
November, a Safety/Training Coordinator in December and a Planner in December.
Clallam – Frank Poulsen
1. The Port Angeles transit center (Gateway) continues construction and
is still due to be completed at the end of 2008. The crews have begun pouring cement walls
for the basement/parking garage area.
2. As mentioned at the last Ops committee meeting, the reconstruction of
the 8th Street bridges forced CTS to implement two routes to cover the one route that used
these bridges. Ridership on the two new routes is approximately half of what the previous
route had. There will be another routing adjustment due to this construction that will
allow CTS to send buses along Marine Drive and provide new service to the marina.
3. CTS has developed new schedules that are going to press this week.
The new format borrowed ideas from both the Whatcom and Skagit schedule books.
4. Currently CTS is fully staffed, however, the local school districts
are not able to fill all of their positions and CTS may be affected with trying to hire
summer temporary operators (usually school bus drivers) and also when trying to fill
future openings.
5. CTS will be participating in WSTIP’s Guest Rider program and two
Operations Supervisors will travel to Walla Walla next week to ride that system. Walla
Walla will visit Port Angeles sometime in November.
6. WSTIP’s Integrated Risk Management team visited CTS last week.
7. Ridership for the year is up approximately three percent from last
year.
Seattle Monorail – Amanda Nightingale
Ridership
1. Ridership has been very close to projections; we met the 1 million
rider mark in August and are on track to meet the projected year end ridership of 1.5
million.
2. We are looking for ways to increase ridership during the shoulder
seasons (spring and fall). Current efforts to do this include: renewed marketing
memberships, new marketing tools (i.e. pocket pick), possible participation in multi venue
attractions card, and promotional events.
Station Upgrades/Train Refurbishment
3. The Monorail system is undergoing a $3.5 million refurbishment
project that started this year and will continue into 2008.
4. The downtown station received ramp and gate upgrades that are
currently being tested. The Seattle Center station is undergoing aesthetic improvements
(painting, lighting, etc).
5. The train refurbishment projects (including
pneumatic/electrical/bogey systems) just went out to bid and contractors will be selected
by the end of the year. The first train refurbishment is scheduled to begin in January;
the second train is scheduled to be done with refurbishment by fall ’08. Only one
train at a time will undergo refurb work so that regular operations can be maintained with
the other train.
Staffing/Training
6. Continued effort to cross training employees and create a pool of
fill in/temp staff to work during regular employee vacations/sick days/etc. We have been
successful in creating this pool for cashiers; we are now focusing on doing the same for
drivers. If anyone has drivers looking for this kind of work let Amanda know….
7. Looking into starting a secret shopper program for the Monorail
system.
Upcoming for 2008
8. Focused effort to increase system efficiency and public perception of
Monorail system through: additional safety and customer service training for field
staff/supervisors, new/updated uniform pieces, and review of
policies/procedures/communication systems.
4:35 Election of Officers - 2 year term through Fall of 2009
Chair Jeff Wamsley was nominated, was unopposed and received unanimous
support to continue as Committee Chairman.
Vice chair had 3 nominees and Mike Pollack was elected
Recording Secretary also had 3 nominees and Barbara Hays was elected
We toured Pullman Transit and got to see their new maintenance addition and several deer.
Then it was on to dinner at “The Old Post Office Restaurant.” We had a tour of
the WSU campus and Pullman sites with narration from our bus driver who is a current WASSU
student.
We returned to the Hawthorne Inn and capped off the night with cookies and milk.
Friday, October 26, 2007
Began with another good breakfast
9:00 AM - Program on low cost GPS Data Collection presented by George Baxter & Skip
Algard from Everett Transit They will email presentation on request. Michelle will try to
link it on the WSTA website.
Property Updates
Grant Transit – Dan Morrissey
Metro – Doug & Jeff Wamsley
1. We are currently hiring 32 First-line Supervisors
2. Process will take 4 months
3. Once hired, the SIT's (Supervisor-in-Training) will be trained for a
period of one year, in Base Dispatching and Road Supervision. After completion of the year
they will be able to train in the Instruction Department and Service Communications.
4. Link Light Rail will be hiring 14 First-line Supervisors
5. New e-mail addresses for all Metro/King County employees –
format of first name.last name remains the same, then followed now by @kingcounty.gov
instead of @metrokc.gov
6. South Lake Union Streetcar – operated by KC Metro under contract
for the City of Seattle – three trains on the property, one purple, one red, one
orange – one chief, four first-line supervisor/leads and nine operators hired and in
the process of being trained – scheduled to start service in December 2007
7. New fixed route bus Control Center – scheduled to move in on
October 27, 2007. LINK Light Rail Control Center adjacent to fixed route bus Control
Center also being staffed since Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel reopened and light rail
vehicle testing began.
8. ATU 587 negotiations underway for transit operators, vehicle
maintenance personnel, first-line supervisors, customer service and facilities maintenance
personnel, senior schedule planners and others – in early stages of exchanging
proposals and ideas. ATU 587 leaders have negotiated a lot of agreements this year
(Clallam Transit, Clallam Paratransit, MV Transit, LINK, SLUS and a major KCM sick leave
MOA).
9. IFPTE 17 administrative support and rideshare staff negotiations in
pre-arbitration mode
10. Ability to Work and Sick Leave Abuse initiatives – In the last
year, KC Metro has taken a more assertive role in identifying, notifying and monitoring
operators who are unable to work on a regular basis or abuse sick leave (for other than
being sick). Results have been positive. One termination (or more?) has resulted for
inability to work regularly and is being grieved.
11. Customer Complaints initiative – KC Metro is currently
examining how it handles and responds to operators who receive frequent customer
complaints. A model similar to that used for ability to work may be followed.
12. Facing challenges hiring enough part-time transit operators
13. Some operators are having difficulty understanding recent changes to
the sick leave policy and the forms they need to submit (some of which are being revised)
14. We are (and will be) experiencing high attrition due to retirements
at all levels of organization and movement of operators, first-line supervisors and chiefs
to South Lake Union Streetcar and LINK light rail
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