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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1997-04-22 - AGENDA REPORTS - SC TRANSIT COMMUTER (2)AGENDA REPORT City Manager Approval 14k Item to be presented by: George Caravalho UNFINISHED BUSINESS DATE: April 22, 1997 SUBJECT: STATUS REPORT #1 ON SANTA CLARITA TRANSIT COMMUTER EXPRESS SERVICE ISSUES DEPARTMENT: Public Works Staff has made a commitment to the City Council and the public that we will present a status report on all of the items pertaining to commuter bus service at each City Council meeting. This report will be our first report to the Council, including information from our written Status Report. We will report updates in the following areas: - Status of additional buses - Maintenance of existing equipment - Vehicle cleaning - Communication - Fueling - Ambassador Program Receive and discuss update information. SACCAGBNDAMSSTAT.AGN AMIDIp��V�D CITY OF SANTA CLARITA INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM TO: Mayor Smyth and Members of the City Council FROM: George A. Caravalho, City Manager DATE: April 22, 1997 SUBJECT: COMMUTER EXPRESS SERVICE ISSUES STATUS REPORT #1 BACKGROUND To keep the City Council and the general public informed on these issues, the City Manager presents a status report at each City Council meeting. This item was presented to Council at the April 1, 1997 Study Session. I. Status of Additional Buse Two MCI buses of acceptable condition have been identified. The first of these arrived on April 4, 1997. Following testing and operator training, that bus commenced passenger service on April 9, 1997. The second MCI was delivered on April 11, 1997. Both buses have been used in revenue service on a daily basis and have received favorable comments from the customers. ATC has also decided to bring out two 1989 Prevost buses from their Royal American Charter Fleet in Chicago, Illinois. These buses have -manual transmissions so they will be refitted with new automatic transmissions before arriving. Estimated arrival is the week of April 28, 1997. With four dependable spare buses in place by the end of April, progress to refurbish both the 1991 and 1986 Metroliners should be completed by the end of May. ATC has also met with three providers of buses service (two charter bus companies and one transit system) seeking proposals to subcontract a portion of the express bus service on a short term basis until a consistent reliability history can be established for all existing equipment: These proposals have just been received and are being evaluated. II. Maintenance of Existing Equipment A progress chart has been developed to track the scheduling and completion of the items causing the most dissatisfaction with our customers regarding the 1986 Metroliners. While there has been a continuous attempt to fix these problems within the current maintenance program, it has proven to be unsuccessful. ATC has met with two local vendors to work on front doors, AC/heat systems, engine power, and passenger seats. This refurbishing began with the arrival of the two MCI's described above and will accelerate upon arrival of the Prevost buses next week. Some of the front door work began the week of April 7, 1997, on buses that return from morning runs and were completed by the time the bus was needed for. its afternoon trip. This may prove to shorten the entire time it would take to refurbish this fleet. III. Vehicle Cleaning Deficiencies centered around the cleanliness of buses is one of the issues that ATC was able to begin corrections on immediately. They plan to create a completely new program from the one that has been in previous existence. Progress on that is as follows: On April 2, 1997, a meeting was held with all bus cleaning personnel to communicate new cleaning procedures. ATC subcontracted an outside labor supplier for two people to wash the outside of the buses. This will allow ATC employees to focus on the .bus interior. The entire exterior of the fleet is to be washed twice weekly with daily interior cleaning. Detailed cleaning of each vehicle will be scheduled on a monthly cycle. On April 3, 1997, ATC added one full time employee to the bus cleaning work force. On April 4, 1997, ATC contacted another ATC property to send their successful cleaning procedure program. This program will be modified to fit our system. ATC met with a subcontractor to develop plan for installation of an automated wash rack. Full implementation of the new cleaning program, incorporating the automated bus wash, is projected for April 30, 1997. IV. Communication The readiness and condition of the fleet prior to each morning pullout now require that the ATC Operation Supervisor and Maintenance Foreman communicate with each other to ensure each vehicle is properly prepared. As a part of this communication they will be using Daily Vehicle Reports (DVR) completed by each operator at the end of their shift. The process will be as follows: Operators will note defective items on the DVR. DVRs will be deposited in a box at bus maintenance. Mechanics will return a completed DVR to Operations, within 48 hours, noting the items that have been repaired or a date the items will be repaired. Operations will copy the DVR card and place a copy in the operator's message box. V. Additional Personnel ATC will increase its maintenance staff by two full time positions - one "A" mechanic and one `B" mechanic. Both positions are currently filled. A highly experienced maintenance foreman from Phoenix Transit visited the property between April 9, 1997 and April 18, 1997, working each shift, addressing service issues and developing information to make an assessment of programs and needs. VI. Fueling A plan is being implemented by ATC to prevent any recurrence of a bus running out of fuel. The role of ATC Operations includes the afternoon extra -board driving doing the following: • Look at the board in dispatch for vehicles needing fuel. • Check the fuel log and DVR cards from the previous day for missing fuel entries. • Measure the fuel tank of identified vehicles with the measuring hose. • If identified vehicles need fuel, dispatch will be notified and permission obtained to proceed to the fuel yard. • Once vehicles are fueled or verified full, the dispatch board will be updated. • Dispatch is to enter time and statement of completion on the dispatch log and initial it. • In the event the extra -board driver is utilized elsewhere, it is the responsibility of the p.m. dispatcher and ultimately the p.m. supervisor to ensure the above procedure is completed. It is the role of ATC maintenance to ensure that the Maintenance Prober will, as part of their duty, check the fuel level of all vehicles returning to base. In the event the vehicle is not full, the operator will be instructed to return to the fuel island. Every evening the Maintenance Supervisor and the Operations Supervisor will meet to review what vehicles are potentially available for morning pullout. Those vehicles will be fueled or identified as not available until fueled. A laminated card is being created that will be kept on the bus stating "Needs Fuel." It will be placed on the driver's seat of any bus returned to the yard which has not been fueled. This procedure began the week of April 14, 1997. VII. Ambassador Program After reading through the goals and objectives of the Ambassador Program, ATC General Manager, Steve Thorns, believes the program is an important tool for our customers and for ATC in maintaining and building future ridership. He regrets the position that ambassadors have been put in as a result of the frequent service problems. Mr. Thorns met with eleven of the ambassadors on Wednesday, March 26, 1997. Ideas were shared on how the program needs to be improved and another working meeting was scheduled for April 19, 1997. Major changes to this program were discussed, but most likely will not be implemented until the current service problems have been eliminated. Under the current guidelines of the Ambassador Program, ambassadors were to serve for a period of six months. After that period, new ambassadors would be chosen and trained to serve for the next six months. With the first six-month period coming to an end, several ambassadors have indicated they were leaving the program. It is Mr. Thorns' opinion that, given ATC's immediate focus on correcting the major service issues, there should be no recruiting at this time. Instead, the first working meeting on April 19, 1997 should be used to discuss with the current ambassadors a consensus on how to proceed with the program. An agenda for this meeting will be developed to include such items as: ambassador replacement, report format, report methods, increased communications, and other items. RECOMMENDATION Receive and discuss update information, provide guidance, and consider any potential new direction to staff. SUDMINIBUSSCAT.XI