Command-Level Decision Making for Transit Emergency Managers (2013)

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CHAPTER 4: RECOMMENDATIONS The following are topics and recommendations for implementing TERA to the transit community 4.1 Organizational Acceptance For transit agencies to incorporate TERA into practice, the tool must first be accepted by the transportation community as an applicable tool for exercising decision making during emergency situations. A mechanism for encouraging organizational buy-in is to inform and obtain upper-level management support at both public and private transit agencies by demonstrating the capabilities and benefits of TERA to save time and training costs, improve personnel performance, and provide realistic simulated training experiences. In addition, endorsements from associations such as the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and Community Transportation Association (CTAA) and the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) would provide credibility to TERA, and help accomplish their mission for providing smart software solutions to state departments of transportation (i.e., AASHTOware). We propose a three-step approach for obtaining organizational buy-in and implementing TERA. Table 4 illustrates this approach by listing the steps, associated action(s), reasons for gaining organization acceptance, and suggested resources. Table 4: Three-Phased Approach for Obtaining Organizational Acceptance STEP ACTION(S) RATIONALE SUGGESTED RESOURCES Phase 1. Orient  Set-up meetings and demonstrate TERA with state departments of transportation, transit associations, and other public and private transportation agencies • Obtain acceptance and endorsements • Familiarize agencies with tool’s capabilities • Begin to identify implementation requirements or best fit possibilities for where the tool could be incorporated into transit agencies (e.g., augment existing course curriculum) o State Transportation Research Centers (e.g., Louisiana Transportation Research Center) o American Public Transportation Association (APTA) o Community Transportation Association (CTAA) o American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials Technology Implementation Group o World Conference on Transport Research Society Phase 2. Implement  Create and implement outreach activities such as online or in-person peer exchanges, workshops, and stakeholder meetings. • Maintain awareness of TERA with transit agencies • Provide training support for users and facilitators • Implement and evaluate best practices for using the tool o TRB Annual Conference o Transportation Hazards and Security Summit and Peer Exchange o Annual AASHTO National Transportation Management Conference Page 18

4.2 Financial and Technical Assistance Options Besides organizational acceptance, monetary assistance or technical assistance from government organizations and private associations with similar or complementary missions would create a diversified support stream for long-term sustainment of TERA. Table 5 depicts some potential organizations that may be able to provide short or long-term support. Table 5: Potential Organizations for Providing Financial or Technical Assistance ORGANIZATION EXAMPLES Government Organizations  Department of Transportation  USDA’s Emergency Management Division  FEMA  State Transit Administrations  County Departments of Public Works and Transportation  Metropolitan Area Transit Authorities University Institutions  University Transportation Research Centers  National Transit Institute (NTI)  Mineta Transportation Institute (MTI)  University Transportation Centers (UTC) 4.3 Technical Support (Software) Another area for consideration when implementing TERA is to provide technical support to assist users in problems or challenges that may arise when operating the software. In general, technical support services will attempt to help users solve specific problems with TERA rather than providing training, customization, or other support services (see Section 4.4 Training Support). Technical support may be delivered over the telephone or online by e-mail, website portal or directly through TERA where users can report an incident and the call can be logged by the support representative. Annual users guides that illustrate best practices and new features of the tool can also be issued to end user community as a form of technical support. Unlike facilitation guides that offer training support guidance, user guides are more technical in nature that provide information on how to use the primary functions of a system, troubleshooting tips when encountering problems or errors, and knowledge on where to locate further help and contact support details. 4.4 Training Support The purpose of training support is to reinforce, maximize, and sustain the capability, capacity, and performance of TERA for the end user community (i.e., local, state, and federal transit agencies). Training support can be made available through in-person training systems such as train-the-trainer workshops or through independent references such as coaching or facilitation guides. Facilitation guides can be used to assist transit agencies in running an exercise by providing instruction that specifically concentrates on presenting teaching strategies and expert tips for understanding the scenario content and learning objective achievement. TERA contains a Scenario Builder tool that allows users to tailor existing scenarios to their needs or develop new scenarios. Creating a scenario with multiple roles and assessment criteria is a complex task. Three day to one Phase 3. Inform  Document and write-up research results, best practices, and use cases for implementing the tool. • Continue to maintain awareness of TERA with transit agencies • Validate the implementation approach • Market the tool to a wider audience and outside organizations with similar challenges o TRB Report o AASHTO Journal o Journal of Public Transportation o Journal of Transport Policy Page 19

week training courses can familiarize users with use of the Scenario Builder tool and best practices for developing customized scenarios. 4.5 System Sustainment For local, state, and regional transit agencies to access and use TERA over the next 5 to 10 years, hardware and software updating needs should be considered. A key element to continued use of the system is providing a logistical tail to allow implementation of new features and incorporation of user feedback. Upgrades that address user feedback and evolving needs provide a sense of “ownership” for the user, while a system that doesn’t change over time to meet the most frequent user requests will frustrate and eventually alienate the user community. Input for these upgrades and new features come via direct user feedback to the website, after action reviews following training events, and help desk requests. Table 6 presents system sustainment needs along with strategies for fulfilling those needs. Table 6: System Needs and Strategies for Need Fulfillment System Sustainment Needs Strategies for Need Fulfillment Hardware o Hosting o Server maintenance o Support and sustainment contract from sponsoring organization(s) (e.g., AASHTO) o Revenue stream from providing turnkey exercise facilitation. Software o New features o Addressing user feedback o Support and sustainment contract from sponsoring organization(s) (e.g., AASHTO) o Revenue stream from providing customization services 4.6 Follow-Up Research To successfully implement TERA, follow-up research should be conducted to document and report the effectiveness and usage of the tool for teaching expert decision making strategies during rapidly evolving transit related emergency incidents. This phase of implementation will allow us to determine whether there is a consensus within a large cross-section of transportation professionals from small, midsize, and large transit agencies, thus further validating the identified critical tasks sequence, actions, and system requirements showing in each of the TERA scenarios. If discrepancies exist between the findings initially identified in the Phase II field testing, we will examine these discrepancies and make design adjustments to the existing simulation scenarios. The output of the follow-up research will be requirements used to enhance the existing scenarios, guide new scenarios, document best practices for using the tool, and present learning effectiveness results. All findings will be written in a report and other transit publications (see Table 4 – Organizational Acceptance; Inform Phase). Page 20