Staff Report #10
August 29, 2018
To All Commissioners
Re: 2018 Work Program – Operations – Second Quarter Update
Recommendation
That the report be NOTED and FILED.
Background
The following report is provided as an update on major projects as set out in the 2018 Work Program that are ongoing in nature and/or were scheduled to commence and/or be completed over the first six months of 2018, with the lead on same being the primary responsibility of the Operations department.
New – Construction Communication
At the March 28, 2018 meeting, the Commission requested a follow-up report with respect to the planned communication strategy relating to summer construction projects.
Understanding that the planned construction for the summer of 2018 and into the fall season, specifically in the core has and will continue to have significant impacts on service, continuous and timely effort to ensure that all employees and customers are informed has and continues to be a top priority.
London Transit administration continues to work with the City of London administration, specifically the Downtown Project and Business Relations team on a joint communication campaign including posters and billboards intended to remind Londoners of the significant improvements that will result from these temporary inconveniences. In addition, LTC administration attends weekly meetings with the Downtown Project and Business Relations team to ensure an understanding of the status of all the construction projects and special events within the downtown as well as to advise on potential impacts/implications to any changes that may arise during the period of construction (i.e. new short term detours, lane closures, etc.).
Customer Communications
The launch of InfoWeb and Twitter, has provided significant improvements in the ability to keep customers informed about detours, schedule adherence and general service issues. Additionally, communication has been provided to customers through on board posters, a special construction Transit Talk, notices on the Interactive Phone system and stop level notifications of ongoing and upcoming closures.
Employee Communications
Ongoing communication has also been maintained with our bus Operators, Dispatchers, Inspectors, Ticket Clerks and Customer Service staff to ensure they have the most up-to-date information regarding each construction project and the associated detours. Use of internal postings, the Marlin system and MDT have been utilized in an effort to ensure all parties are kept up-to-date.
Operations department personnel will maintain a presence on the service in the areas affected by detours and service improvements, providing the opportunity to discuss issues directly with bus Operators as well as to experience the impacts being felt by customers. Services in the affected areas will also be monitored closely in an effort to identify bottlenecks that may be addressed through re-routing or the addition of tripper buses. All of this information will be shared during regular department meetings and utilized to discuss possible mitigation strategies going forward to limit the negative impacts of the detours.
Service Monitoring Process Review
In an effort to direct increased attention to service performance overall, the restructuring of the Operations department in January 2018 included the creation of a new position, Supervisor of Service Performance, and the 2018 Work Program includes a process review on conventional service monitoring.
Given the creation of the new Supervisor position, coupled with the limited service monitoring that was performed in the past, this review will be undertaken in phases. The focus of the first phase of the review was on the on-time reliability of the conventional service. New and/or enhanced initiatives stemming from the review include the following:
- The review of time point crossing data to determine running time as scheduled against actual application in normal working environments.
- Riding routes that return repeated early or late data or complaints to gain firsthand knowledge of the on road issues giving rise to the adherence problems.
- Meeting with employees to gain an understanding of the issues on the route with respect to maintaining the schedule, as well as any suggestions they may have for improvement.
- Investigation of service failures impacting on-time performance and sharing details for respective departments to follow-up on (i.e. bus change-offs for repeat defects, bus restriction change-offs, late out of garage reports and missed service or gap in service due to lates or Operator performance).
- Daily monitoring of the Automatic Vehicle Location system in an effort to ensure the Inspector group is following up with buses that are falling late or running early.
Information collected from the aforementioned reviews is shared with the Planning department as applicable, noting many of the adherence issues can be addressed through minor changes within existing schedules.
As set out in Staff Report #5, dated August 29, 2018, the on-time performance of the Conventional service has improved during the first six months of 2018, due in large part to the efforts noted above.
Recommended by:
Shawn Wilson, Director of Operations
Concurred in by:
Kelly S. Paleczny, General Manager