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5Study Issues, Goals, and Methodology Aside from having the financial resources necessary to meet service demand, one of the greatest challenges facing providers of American with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) complemen- tary paratransit service is maintaining an experienced and sta- ble workforceâparticularly vehicle operators. Consider the following hypothetical scenarios, meant to illustrate some of the commonly reported issues. The Manager of a paratransit service provider called a meeting with her senior management team to discuss the ongoing prob- lem of vehicle operator availability. âIt seems that no matter what we do, we are always short on operators,â she said. âLetâs go over what we are doing here and come up with some solutions.â âWe have ongoing ads in all the papers and signs on vehicles, and we still canât get enough applicants,â noted the HR Manager. âAnd then, if we get applicants, we are having difficulty getting them to pass all of the background, driving, and drug testing requirements that the transit agency requires.â âI have 10 people in training right now,â the Lead Trainer reported. âBut based on past experience, weâll be lucky if five stick with it and complete the training.â âI will probably have five new vacancies in the next month,â said the Operations Manager. âWe still have rapid turnover with about half of the workforceâthose with the least seniority. If we canât get applicants and get them through training faster than that, we wonât gain at all on the number of operators we need. And the service is growing, so our operator needs are likely to increase faster than we are bringing on new people.â âWell letâs think of some more things we can do,â the Manager requested. âWe canât keep operating this way. Itâs starting to affect our ability to provide the capacity required and service quality.â Across the City, in the public transit offices, the transit agencyâs Paratransit Manager was meeting with the Contract Administrator to discuss the same issue. âOn-time performance dropped from 95% to 90% last year and riders are saying that routing has gotten worse,â he noted. âWe got the budget increase we needed this year and we have added the vehicles that the contractor wanted, so what else do we need to do to get performance to meet standards again?â âThe main thing we are finding,â said a Contract Adminis- trator, âis that the contractor is reporting very high operator turnoverâ50% last yearâand doesnât have enough operators to cover all of the scheduled runs. They use whatever extraboard operators they have to cover scheduled absences but donât have enough operators to cover same-day call-outs. A lot of trips end up being put back on the unscheduled list each morning when they canât pull all of the runs out. We also noted that they often end up closing out runs the evening before if they donât have enough operators scheduled for the next day. This has made the scheduling very tight, and there are a lot of add-ons on the day of service. I think the add-ons are leading to longer on-board times and routing that takes riders out-of-the-way.â âIn the next RFP that we put out next year, we are going to have to try and address this issue,â said the Paratransit Manager. âWe added incentives and liquidated damages last time, and we have been using those, but we may need to do more. And even though we really stressed in the last RFP the need to provide a stable workforce, it didnât end up changing the operator compensation very much. The winning bidder had wages and compensation that were not a lot higher than the last contractor. How can we get bidders to address this issue better?â And back at the garage, a new vehicle operator was just pulling out to start her run. It was a 6-hour afternoon run. She worked weekends and a few weekday afternoons but was still only getting 35 hours a week. The best shifts had already been picked by the time it was her turn to select runs. The last few afternoons of work had been tough. She was in a part of town that she didnât know very well, and the traffic had been bad. The schedules seemed to be very tight, and the dispatchers were so busy that she wasnât always comfortable asking them for assistance. She ended up running almost an hour late by the end of each day and didnât feel that her performance was good. Riders were also rightfully frustrated with the service, which made it even more stressful. âI know that over time I will get more knowledgeable about the area and each rider,â she thought, âbut right now, this is really hard. I really donât know if I can stick this out. The city is looking for school bus operators,â she recalled. âThat has got to be easier, and they pay just as much.â Similar meetings, conversations, and situations seem to occur frequently across the country. Recent studies of ADA paratransit services and compliance reviews conducted by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) have identified vehicle C H A P T E R 1 Background
operator recruitment and retention as one of the common challenges in systems experiencing service quality problems. Developing a better understanding of vehicle operator recruit- ment and retention issues and identifying proven, workable solutions could have a significant impact on paratransit ser- vice quality across the country. The goal of this research was to: Provide information and guidance that will assist transit agen- cies and paratransit operators in improving the quality, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness of ADA paratransit services by improving vehicle operator recruitment, retention, and performance. The specific objectives of the research were to do the following: ⢠Identify the key factors that affect the recruitment of qual- ified vehicle operators. ⢠Identify the factors that affect vehicle operator turnover and factors that can assist in improving operator retention, job satisfaction, and ultimately operator performance. ⢠Determine how actions and decisions at all program stagesâ system design, system policies, contractor procurement, and daily operationsâaffect vehicle operator recruitment, reten- tion, and performance. ⢠Determine the inter-relationships between factors. ⢠Develop practical and useful outcome information that will better link decisions made in system design and operation to operator performance, service quality, and efficiency. ⢠Develop an understanding of the factors, relationships, and outcomes in various settings (small, medium, and large sys- tems) as well as in various service designs (in-house, con- tracted, brokered, union/non-union, etc.). ⢠Produce guidance that will assist small, medium, and large systems to better understand the factors and rela- tionships that influence operator recruitment, retention, and performance. ⢠Provide effective and proven examples of programs, actions, and industry best practices that can improve operator recruit- ment, retention, and performance. Since labor issues are different for different types of para- transit services (e.g., taxis, human services transportation, ADA paratransit, etc.), the research focused specifically on ADA complementary paratransit services provided by public transit agencies. It did, however, address all types of ADA paratransit service designs, including contracted services, in- house services, and brokered services. Also, given the extensive scope of this issue, the research was conducted in two phases. The first phase involved the identi- fication of factors that affect operator recruitment and reten- tion. This was done through a literature search, focus groups, a national survey, and input from an expert panel. A model that identifies, diagrams, and illustrates the various factors and issues associated with paratransit operator recruitment, reten- tion, and performance was then prepared. The model also describes the relationships and interactions between factors. The second phase then focused on specific factors and rela- tionships felt to be most significant and developed data that will begin to âfill inâ the overall model. For example, detailed research was conducted to identify the following: ⢠The impacts of various levels of pay and other compensa- tion on vehicle operator turnover, ⢠The impacts of tenure and work experience on productiv- ity and service quality ⢠Experiences with integration of fixed-route and para- transit workforces and efforts to equalize pay, ⢠Innovative approaches to procurement of ADA paratransit services that are designed to increase workforce stability, ⢠The cost of recruitment and training, and ⢠Innovative recruitment practices and efforts to reduce turnover. A better understanding of the factors and inter-relationships that affect vehicle operator recruitment and retention will help public transit agencies and service providers establish more appropriate wage and benefit structures, attract and retain qualified and experienced operators, and provide more efficient and cost-effective services. Public transit agencies will use this information when designing appropriate service procurement requirements and in reviewing and selecting proposals. This, in turn, will enable riders to receive quality service and public transit agencies to provide this service in the most cost-effective way. Organization of the Report Chapters 2 through 5 of the report describe research efforts to identify the factors that affect vehicle operator recruitment, retention, and performance. Chapter 2 presents the findings of the literature search as well as findings from focus group meetings of vehicle operators, supervisors, and ADA para- transit managers. Chapter 3 presents the findings of the indus- try survey. A model that depicts the key factors identified is then presented in Chapter 4. Some key inter-relationships between factors are also detailed. Chapters 5 through 7 then present research aimed at pro- viding information for the model and inter-relationships proposed. An analysis of the impacts of various levels of com- pensation on vehicle operator turnover is summarized in Chapter 5. The impacts of training wages, starting wages, max- imum wages, and several types of fringe benefits on reported vehicle operator turnover are explored using regression analy- sis. The relationship between vehicle operator tenure and per- 6
formance is explored in Chapter 6. The analysis looks at pro- ductivity, on-time performance, and complaint rates for groups of vehicle operators with various levels of job tenure. The full cost of turnover is discussed in Chapter 7. Chapter 8 presents information collected throughout the study on recruitment and retention practices reported to be successful. Information used to identify job applicants who are likely to be successful vehicle operators is presented. Examples of recruitment, pre-screening, and training approaches are also provided. Techniques for improving retention, such as recog- nition and performance bonuses; technologies to assist vehicle operators with performance of the job; and supportive work environments are also included. Chapter 9 then explores the potential benefits of fixed- route and paratransit workforce integration and vehicle oper- ator wage parity. The experiences of several selected systems that have achieved wage parity or are working toward it are presented. Finally, Chapter 10 describes efforts by several public tran- sit systems to develop more stable ADA paratransit vehicle operator workforces through innovative procurement or contracting. Examples of ways to address workforce stability in the procurement process are detailed. Contract require- ments and associated incentives and disincentives meant to impact workforce stability are described in several case studies. Chapter 11 discusses future research needs. 7