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Pages 102-138

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From page 102...
... 102 Part 1. Case Studies Overview The research team selected 14 targets from the survey respondents for follow-up interviews.
From page 103...
... Supporting Materials 103 Organizational Character The survey for this large TA was completed by the vice president of the LU, who is also a bus operator, and the bus operations specialist from service planning. The company provides bus, fixed-rail, and paratransit service in urban and suburban areas.
From page 104...
... 104 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access The Committee is not involved in budgetary decision-making; it generates ideas and makes proposals to the executive leadership: We don't think about funding. We bring ideas.
From page 105...
... Supporting Materials 105 stations, the buses, the rail. And also we looked at structures we already have in place that we might have to reconvert.
From page 106...
... 106 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access However, not all problems have been solved. According to the LU vice president, significant problems remain on specific routes and times.
From page 107...
... Supporting Materials 107 Organizational Character The surveys for the large regional TA were completed by the TA regional general manager and the president/business agent of the LU. The TA provides bus, fixed rail, and paratransit services to urban routes that largely serve tourists and also suburban routes that serve commuters.
From page 108...
... 108 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access Infrastructure Relationships with businesses and vendors are important for this system, as the fixed station was not built with public restrooms or TA employee restrooms in mind, according to the manager of operational planning. As a solution, the TA stated, "We have a list of companies that will allow us to use their facilities, and we put it in the block for the operators at the start of the shift." The TA has assigned a supervisor to update the list every change day, which occurs three times a year.
From page 109...
... Supporting Materials 109 Service Delivery The TA survey respondent reported that the unscheduled need for restroom access rarely delays services. However, LU members feel there is a potential for accidents when operators do not have easy access to restrooms or feel too pressured to make their scheduled times.
From page 110...
... 110 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access After a serious citation issued by the state department of labor, the RAC position was created and the TA restroom policies were expanded and clarified. The RAC explained, We approach this program as [serving]
From page 111...
... Supporting Materials 111 Infrastructure We have quite a large infrastructure of a transit link that's going in. All of those terminals are going to have to be serviced by buses.
From page 112...
... 112 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access And then, of course, they're not in the field and they're not dealing with each one of our sections as ongoing practice. That's up to me and the program and the different departments.
From page 113...
... Supporting Materials 113 of different ways. You could say, "Well, then, you know what?
From page 114...
... 114 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access • Minutes of committee meetings, including open items and updates from previous meetings; and • Description of the accommodation protocol for restroom access for fixed-rail operators and the steps the control center must take to inform operators about terminal restrooms that are out of service. Forms: • Restroom reporting forms for operators, • Inspection form for operations supervision (online reporting system screen shot)
From page 115...
... Supporting Materials 115 employees would press that, especially if the operators are doing their job, and they send the codes that they're taking a restroom break. That would be something that I would hope that someone would be researching prior to producing discipline based upon scheduled events for that.
From page 116...
... 116 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access Infrastructure At the time of the interview, the TA had recently opened a new transit location that helped with significant issues with restroom locations: It's really an improved shelter and layover zone that has operator access restrooms based on a key code entry -- in fact, the layover location for two of our frequent service routes, two separate routes that are every 15 minutes. Previously, on both of those routes, the nearest restroom access was about at least 700 to 800 feet away; for one of them, possibly as much as 1,000 feet away -- just park a little bit further up.
From page 117...
... Supporting Materials 117 The management representative added, And that's an example; again, it's definitely not a good situation. We don't want to be reliant on one single business that has restrooms that are inherently difficult to provide access to because they are in nonpublic locations.
From page 118...
... 118 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access Service Delivery The TA planner acknowledged that restroom access plays a role in service delivery: I've been saying it from my perspective in terms of route planning and design scheduling.
From page 119...
... Supporting Materials 119 Organizational Character This medium-sized Canadian transit agency supplies bus service in an urban area. The survey was completed by the transit director (TD)
From page 120...
... 120 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access service. So we said that's not intentional delay of service.
From page 121...
... Supporting Materials 121 The LU president discussed the system whereby route planners would ride with operators along routes to gather information to help with route design. The problem, from the LU perspective, was that because these ride-alongs were not done at peak times and the operators did not actually pick up customers, the planners did not experience complicating factors such as traffic jams or large groups of school students.
From page 122...
... 122 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access have as much layover time, they give compensatory layovers during peak shoulders. The TD explained that the schedulers make sure that when we set the schedules, we provide an opportunity at least every hour and a half, 2 hours, not to have, instead of a 2-minute, or a 3-minute recovery time on the bus route -- you've got 5 or 7 minutes every hour.
From page 123...
... Supporting Materials 123 to use the washroom facilities." Although the policy technically lives, it's not enforced or followed. They do say we can stop the bus at any time, but the runs are so tight that if you stop the bus, then the customers or passengers now start hollering at you.
From page 124...
... 124 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access The LU described a citywide survey in which operators raised health issues and were met with a contradictory response: We have these employee engagement surveys, and last year, they added a lot of health and wellness questions, and a lot of people complained about the run times and all that in the city for this year's version. So we had the best turnout.
From page 125...
... Supporting Materials 125 and one of the most important issues according to the TA vice president, on specific routes and for specific operators. Restroom access is a problem for passengers as well: "We have public restrooms at the main transit hub only.
From page 126...
... 126 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access on grass or on the sidewalk when using the restroom. Management takes these comments seriously and closely monitors those situations.
From page 127...
... Supporting Materials 127 to location -- that is, less time in high residential areas and more time in areas with facility access points. The TA arranges them so that recovery time occurs at terminals with available restrooms: Our blocks don't necessarily stay on the same route -- rarely do they -- but they do essentially follow a pattern of routes.
From page 128...
... 128 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access Summary This medium-sized TA and LU leadership take the issues facing bus operators fairly seriously. A consistent and responsive approach to planning and to service allows the TA to address problems quickly.
From page 129...
... Supporting Materials 129 Infrastructure The transit system is built around hubs and transfer points at which drivers have 24-hour restroom access. This geographic area is experiencing significant population growth and increased public transportation ridership.
From page 130...
... 130 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access Route Planning The general manager described the agency's system as hub-and-spoke, with some routes looping and some being linear. There are also suburban routes that travel through outlying areas.
From page 131...
... Supporting Materials 131 Despite the conflicts related to schedule, the LU felt they were able to work well with the Health and Safety Committee to resolve other restroom issues. Service Delivery Unscheduled restroom use along routes does not seem to slow down service: It generally doesn't have an overall impact.
From page 132...
... 132 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access The LU sources described this approach from a different perspective: "They think the customer service aspect that you're going to get from working at a place like [a fast-food restaurant] is more important than the driving aspect that you're going to get from having been a professional driver." Evaluation The general manager reported that they do not analyze costs separately or collect other restroom-related data.
From page 133...
... Supporting Materials 133 buses, and three routes were added during the day, along with route revisions. Other service increases were projected.
From page 134...
... 134 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access runs, covering one or two routes, are between 1 and 2 hours in duration. In the winter and other bad weather, they are frequently longer.
From page 135...
... Supporting Materials 135 Facility Finder Inspection Checklist: Designed for data collection in different phases, the initial identification of locations, and ongoing inspections. The initial selection cell allows the user to print out separate sheets.
From page 136...
... 136 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access Capital Costs: Lays out permanent and temporary restroom costs, land access and purchase, site and stations improvements, and potential savings. Total Costs: Brings all these together in a simple table and chart.
From page 137...
... Supporting Materials 137 Manage and fund staff resources. • Define and support staff roles.
From page 138...
... 138 Improving the Safety, Health, and Productivity of Transit Operators Through Adequate Restroom Access Service Delivery Policies and Practices Rules for restroom access reduce service impact. • Keep transit agency restrooms employee only.

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