TO: AC Transit Board of Directors
FROM: Michael A. Hursh, General Manager
SUBJECT: March 2022 Sign-up
BRIEFING ITEM
RECOMMENDED ACTION(S):
Title
Consider receiving a report on the District’s planned service changes associated with the March 2022 Sign-up.
Body
STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE:
Goal - Convenient and Reliable Service
Initiative - Service Quality
Periodic service improvements are essential to maintain reliable and sustainable service.
BUDGETARY/FISCAL IMPACT:
Total daily weekday vehicle platform hours have increased from Winter 2021 service levels by 9 hours, Saturday and Sunday have each increased by 8 hours. In total, these changes yield an annual increase of 3,127 platform hours, resulting in an annual estimated increase of $437,780, well within the District’s annual operating budget for service growth.
BACKGROUND/RATIONALE:
AC Transit conducts four Sign-ups each year as required by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with Amalgamated Transit Union (ATU) Local 192. These occur in March, June, August, and December.
Implementation of the March service change extends the service changes in the December Sign-up. For this service change, no additional operator resources were available. Given the same number of operator assignments from December into March, the service changes going into effect on March 27, 2022, will reuse the December run cut and roster and will include the following minor adjustments:
• the restoration of pre-pandemic span of service on Line 88
• the removal of the afternoon school trips on Line 54 (since construction near Latitude High School has ended)
• the addition of three PM trips to Line 39 to accommodate Skyline High School sports programming.
Systemwide, the District remains just below 85% of pre-pandemic service levels in March of 2022. Service improvements for the March service change are outlined in the attachment. The reliability improvements did continue and focused on an additional five routes per operating Division that were identified in collaboration with the ATU Local 192 Drivers Committee. Runtime adjustments were applied where the integrity of the December runcut could remain intact.
ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES:
The primary advantage of implementing the March service adjustment would be providing the Scheduling staff more opportunities to ride the bus and research issues in the field.
The disadvantage of implementing the March service change is the inability to further advance the District’s Service Recovery Priorities due to an absence of additional resources required for operation.
ALTERNATIVES ANALYSIS:
Staff evaluated other alternatives, including restoring more pre-pandemic service levels across the system, but the disadvantages were too great. There were no additional operator resources to absorb the additional work created. Moreover, Scheduling staff would not have the additional time to survey issues in the field, perform mandated Automated Passenger Counters (APC) system validation checks as required by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and meet with operators regarding their scheduling concerns.
PRIOR RELEVANT BOARD ACTION/POLICIES:
21-519 Consider receiving a report on the District’s December 2021 service changes
Board Policy - 544 Service Adjustments
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Service Change Summary
Prepared by:
Christine Eduok, Senior Schedule Analyst / Traffic and Schedules Administrator
In Collaboration with:
Ajay Martin, Scheduling Manager
Michael Eshleman, Service Planning Manager
Approved/Reviewed by:
Robert del Rosario, Director of Service Development and Planning
Ramakrishna Pochiraju, Executive Director of Planning & Engineering
Derik Calhoun, Director of Transportation
Salvador Llamas, Chief Operating Officer
Chris Andrichak, Chief Financial Officer
Jill A. Sprague, General Counsel