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Maintenance Staffing Levels for Light Rail Transit (2005)

Chapter: Appendix C - Written Comments to Survey Questionnaire

« Previous: Appendix B - Results of Light Rail Transit Maintenance Staffing Questionnaire
Page 38
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C - Written Comments to Survey Questionnaire." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Maintenance Staffing Levels for Light Rail Transit. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13547.
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Page 38
Page 39
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C - Written Comments to Survey Questionnaire." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Maintenance Staffing Levels for Light Rail Transit. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13547.
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Page 39
Page 40
Suggested Citation:"Appendix C - Written Comments to Survey Questionnaire." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2005. Maintenance Staffing Levels for Light Rail Transit. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/13547.
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Page 40

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38 Agency Philosophy, Policies, and Standards Regarding LRT System Maintenance 1. How did you determine your initial level of staffing? (Rank up to three) • Salt Lake City: Developed in-house based on system characteristics and other’s experience. • Dallas: High level of training anticipated to establish minimum level of technical knowledge to maintain initial system requirements. • Denver: Used other transit systems’ information. • Houston: Surveyed other properties and took into consideration their current experience. 2. What factors determine your present level of staffing? (Rank up to three) • Cleveland added budget as a factor. • San Diego added budgetary limitations as a factor. • Houston added time availability to work on system and vehicles during nonrevenue time. 3b. If not, what might have been the reasons? (Choose one) • Buffalo: Separate agreement in beginning with union. • Pittsburgh did not know reasons. • Salt Lake City: Too expensive; concern about service quality. • San Francisco: Local labor climate and past practices. 4. Does your agency have established maintenance standards/goals for…? • Dallas: Mean time between systems failures (e.g., traction power and signals). • Pittsburgh noted that board-approved standards are not known. 5. Do you feel the maintenance goals/standards your agency establishes are adequately and consistently monitored? • San Francisco: Voter-mandated service standards reported on quarterly. 9b. If the answer to Question 9 is no what are reasons you do not? • Salt Lake City noted it has too many riders to run single-car trains off-peak. Labor Considerations 10. What factors most affect your overall maintenance productivity? (Rank three) • Dallas: Consistency of operating to established service plans and parts availability. • Denver: Special services. • Houston: Current staff experience. • Philadelphia: Stream of parts or repair components. • San Francisco: Budget shortfall and original equipment manufacturer supply time lines. 11. In what areas do labor agreements limit you the most? (Rank up to two) • San Francisco: It is difficult to select best qualified candidate; seniority dictates assignment location and shift. APPENDIX C Written Comments to Survey Questionnaire

39 12. Do you have any incentive programs to encourage better work attendance? • Cleveland: Uses a General Manager TEAM Incentive Bonus based on performance and meeting or exceeding standards. • Philadelphia: “Earned” day off for good attendance. • Pittsburgh: Accumulated sick time toward pension. • Salt Lake City: Ad hoc awards for performance including attendance. • San Francisco: Dollars for mean distance between failures, availability, and on-time performance. 13. Would an “extra board” pool help meet swings in manpower availability? • Pittsburgh added that it uses extra board for relief assignments. • Portland added that it uses an extra board arrangement. 15. Do maintenance employees receive adequate training to be proficient, advance, or move laterally? • San Diego emphasized that money for training is below needs. Vehicle Maintenance 18. Do you feel that design flaws were adequately addressed in subsequent vehicle orders or by the manufacturer under the warrantee requirements? • Pittsburgh noted that it was too soon to tell. 19. Based on your experience, would it lower maintenance costs if more parts were common among operators? • San Diego emphasized that there would definitely be lower costs if more parts were common. 22a. Have work standards been developed for each task involved in preventive maintenance (e.g., man-hours/task)? • Buffalo noted that developing APTA standards are now in process. 25. What vehicle maintenance functions are done in-house vs. outsourced? • Dallas noted that graffiti removal and motor repair are done both in-house and through outside vendors. • Houston: It does brake repair in-house; brake overhaul to be determined. • Pittsburgh: It does 70% of brake repair/overhaul in-house, the rest is outsourced, and it does 75% of electronic repair in-house. Wayside, Track, and Traction Power (Guideway) Maintenance 26. In your opinion, what is the single main indicator of good guideway maintenance? • Portland noted two factors: annual service delays and good ratings in passenger surveys. • Salt Lake City: Main indicator was combination of ride quality and reliability. 27. Which maintenance functions are to some extent covered by collective bargaining agreements? (Choose any that apply) • Dallas noted that because Texas is a right-to-work state it has no union agreements. • San Diego added facilities as a function. 28. What guideway maintenance functions are outsourced? • Dallas noted that wayside graffiti removal is done both by in-house labor and contracted labor. • Pittsburgh added that it does 50% of its landscaping work in-house, 50% through contracts, and it does 70% of its communication system repairs in-house.

40 29. Do any other agencies help with system maintenance? • San Francisco: Some street painting (clearance lines and curbs) are painted by Department of Parking and Traffic. Facilities and Equipment Maintenance 30. In your opinion, what is the single main indicator of good facility maintenance? • Houston noted that good ratings would assume that cleaning and repairs are routinely performed per our policies or as required. • Portland noted two indicators: cleanliness and number of things that needed to be fixed. • Salt Lake City said indicator was a combination of cleanliness and low number of things that needed to be fixed. 31. Does you system have CCTV coverage of stations or an Automatic Train Information System? • Dallas added that it has public address/variable message boards at some locations. 32. Do these features require more than expected maintenance? • Houston: CCTV—not more repair than we had expected; ATIS—more than we had expected. 33. What maintenance functions are outsourced? • Cleveland noted that the maintenance of the Gateway Walkway is outsourced. • Dallas noted that for the repair and servicing of the agency’s motor pool, its maintenance vehicles, its stations, and its tunnels and bridges the work is done partly in-house and partly through outside contractors. • Houston noted that light cleaning and repair are done in-house, but heavy cleaning and repair is outsourced. • Pittsburgh noted that 20% of its building repair work is done with outside contractors.

Next: Appendix D - Light Rail Transit Maintenance Staff Information for Three Other Systems »
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TRB’s Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) Synthesis 61: Maintenance Staffing Levels for Light Rail Transit examines light rail maintenance staffing practices and factors important in their development at U.S. transit agencies. It covers the areas of maintenance functions, new light rail start-up, and management in attempting to give better insight into the variables affecting maintenance staffing.

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