The changing role of bus operations supervisors
Public transit has not been known as a cauldron of creativity. Services have been provided in much the same fashion for the past 40 years. During that time, ridership has remained stagnant, while transit’s market share of all travel has steadily decreased. There are many factors that contribute to this trend, such as urban sprawl, two-income households, and inexpensive fuel and parking. However, many functions performed by a transit agency could be changed to make transit more customer-oriented and attractive.
The Metro-Dade Transit Agency (MDTA) requested CUTR’s assistance in reviewing the performance and purpose of its field supervisors. MDTA’s interest in this subject was spurred by its concern for improving service and the implementation of Automatic Vehicle Location technology that might enable their field supervisors to be used in different ways. CUTR’s report, entitled “Evaluation of the Role of the MDTA Metrobus Operations Supervisor,” concludes that there are many ways the supervisory function can be changed to enhance transit’s image and performance.
CUTR conducted a phone survey of 16 of MDTA’s peers throughout the country to determine how field supervisors are being utilized and deployed. Many transit systems are still using their supervisors as “system enforcers” whose primary role is to ensure schedule adherence and respond to incidents. However, a number of systems are assertively changing and/or expanding the priorities of their supervisors. Some are requiring more interaction with passengers and bus operators. This tends to occur at transfer centers throughout the bus systems. Others are multi-tasking their operations supervisors to improve their mechanical troubleshooting skills or to take more responsibility for the physical facilities in their zone. Still others are encouraging more interaction with the communities served by the system.
In essence, supervisors in these systems are adding value to their agencies by increasing productivity and performing services important to passengers and operators. Supervisors at the more progressive transit agencies are becoming more visionary and less reactionary. Technology such as AVL (automatic vehicle location) and laptop computers are tools that enable supervisors to change their emphsis from finding problems to preventing or fixing them. Supervisors are becoming more assertive managers of their zones rather than reactive agents responding to the next problem broadcast over the radio.
CUTR staff rode with numerous MDTA road supervisors during their shifts, reviewed more than 100 daily supervisor logs, and held two focus groups with field supervisors to better understand their current workloads, attitudes, and responsibilities. Field supervisors fill an extremely vital position within a transit agency since they provide a human bridge between management and the majority of the workforce that works in the field all day. They are also close to the transit customers.
A careful analysis of the daily logs, supplemented by field checks, revealed that the field supervisor position is currently being underutilized by MDTA. Using the results of its research on this project and its knowledge of MDTA’s critical success factors (CUTR produced the MDTA Strategic Management Plan 1995 Update), a series of specific recommendations was made:
- Improve the agency’s communications with supervisors and encourage their active participation in service planning, scheduling, and marketing.
- Take consistent, corrective actions with bus operators who violate fundamental service standards and keep supervisors apprised of the results of such actions.
- Encourage more positive interaction between supervisors and operators to develop a better understanding of bus operators’ needs and to develop a greater sense of trust and teamwork.
- Provide more skills development training for supervisors to allow them to perform new duties to foster the achievement of the agency’s critical success factors.
- Provide new vehicles (preferably vans) and equipment that will change the image of field supervisors and allow them to perform their roles more effectively.
MDTA Director Ed Colby was anxious to receive CUTR’s report. “It is imperative that we know what other agencies are doing in this area,” said Colby. “We are reshaping our bus operations function, and this report is helping us establish new priorities for our field supervisors.”
For further information, contact CUTR’s Deputy Director for Transit, Joel Volinski, at volinski@cutr.usf.edu, or at (813) 974-3120.
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