Meeting_Body
OPERATIONS, SAFETY, AND CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE COMMITTEE
JANUARY 21, 2021
Subject
SUBJECT: STATUS OF MOTION 10.1: FY21 OPERATIONS RECOVERY PLAN (JANUARY 2021)
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE status report on the January 2021 response to Motion 10.1: FY21 Operations Recovery Plan.
Issue
ISSUE
On September 24, 2020, the Metro Board of Directors (Board) approved Motion 10.1: FY21 Operations Recovery Plan (Attachment A) directing staff to:
A. Report back to the Operations, Safety, and Customer Experience Committee in 60 days, with updates every 60 days thereafter, with an FY21 Operations Recovery Plan that achieves the following outcomes:
1. Aligns bus lines with their respective NextGen service tier standards.
2. Does not exceed maximum load factors on buses and trains based on industry accepted health and safety standards.
3. Sets criteria for adding service in anticipation of future on-street conditions related to economic sector and/or school re-openings and the return of traffic congestion and effect on bus speeds.
4. Takes full advantage of operational savings from faster bus speeds to achieve performance-based service outcomes.
5. Restores revenue service hours as appropriate to achieve all of the above outcomes.
B. Report back to the Finance, Budget, and Audit Committee in 60 days with an amendment to the FY21 Budget, if necessary, to implement the above FY21 Operations Recovery Plan.
This report addresses Items 1-5 in Section A above.
Background
BACKGROUND
In September 2020, the Board approved the FY21 Annual Budget which included 5.6M annual Revenue Service Hours (RSH) for Metro bus operations. Motion 10.1: FY21 Operations Recovery Plan was approved as part of the budget deliberations to direct staff to monitor service performance and determine criteria for increasing service to levels envisioned by NextGen while balancing vehicle loads, financial constraints, public health directives, and service quality.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
The following provides the status update for each item listed in the motion:
1. Aligns bus lines with their respective NextGen service tier standards -
No Change. Attachment B lists all bus lines by service tier for the December 2020 shake-up, as well as the NextGen Transit First full buildout scenario frequencies.
2. Do not exceed maximum load factors on buses and trains based on industry accepted health and safety standards
No Change. Service continues to be scheduled to maintain a max. load standard of 75% of seated capacity during any 20 min. time slice during peak periods and 60 min. time slices during off peak period.
3. Set criteria for adding service in anticipation of future on-street conditions related to economic sector and/or school reopenings and the return of traffic congestion and effect on bus speeds
Percent of Trips Exceeding Maximum Load Standard
Maximum loads on all Metro bus trips continue to be monitored weekly. The percent of trips on average each week exceeding the 75% of seated load standard since the December 13, 2020 service change to the week ending December 26, 2020 are as follows:
• Weekdays: average 1.2% or 135 trips (range 1.2% to 1.3%) so on average meets the target
• Saturdays: average 2.9% or 190 trips (range 1.8% to 4.0%)
• Sundays: average 1.2% or 79 trips (range 0.5% to 1.9%)
For the December 13, 2020 service changes, additional trips were added throughout the week to address trips with consistent heavy loads and has resulted in fewer trips exceeding the load standard. Loads will continue to be monitored on a weekly basis and further adjustments can be made if needed through interim schedule adjustments.
Ridership Potential
During October and November 2020 average weekday bus ridership remained stable at 47-48% below pre-COVID levels, with Saturdays between 32-36% down and Sundays from 26-31%. Ridership is not anticipated to grow during FY21Q3 given the growing number of new COVID cases and further safer at home orders in LA County. Ridership will continue to be monitored on a weekly and monthly basis to determine when where service should be added.
Public Health Directives
Given the increases in COVID cases and stricter safer at home orders, it is not anticipated that economic activity will grow in FY21Q1 particularly with outdoor dining and other functions suspended. In fact travel activity between October and early November 2020 decreased 8% based on cell phone location data. Schools are also not anticipated to be back in in-person classes during next quarter.
Resource Availability
Financial
Financial resources to add additional service hours will be considered as part of the mid-year budget review and will need to be considered alongside other priority needs within Operations.
Staffing
Bus and rail operators generally attrite at a rate of 7 per week or 28 per month. Therefore, operator hiring needs to be continuous in order to achieve our Operator to Assignment Ratio (OAR) goal of 1.25 for Bus and 1.27 for Rail during the COVID pandemic. As of the beginning of December 2020, our actual OAR was 1.21 for Bus and 1.40 for Rail.
In 2021, Operations will hire enough operators to follow all safety protocols without using excessive overtime. The first class of 30 Bus Operators starts on January 11, 2021 which includes 6 weeks of class time plus one week for DMV licensing. The second class of 30 Bus Operators is scheduled for January 25, 2021 and will follow the same schedule as the first class. Operations will begin a new class every 3-4 weeks when the current class moves from classroom to “behind the wheel” instruction. To further increase training throughput, Operations Central Instruction is developing a schedule and securing additional classrooms and/or equipment to support more than one class at a time.
Performance
Boardings per revenue service hour for October and November 2020 continue to trend around 30, however, the latest trend of ridership shows a decline over the past few weeks. If that trend continues and as our RSH grow in December 2020, performance would expect to decline.
4. Takes full advantage of operational savings from faster bus speeds to achieve performance-based service outcomes
The December 13, 2020 service change continues the speed improvements generated since the June 21, 2020 service changes despite the consolidation of eight Rapid corridors with the local lines. Revenue speeds systemwide are 10.6 revenue miles/revenue hours on weekdays and 10.9 on Saturdays and Sundays.
5. Restore revenue service hours as appropriate to achieve all the above outcomes
No Change. The December 13, 2020 service change restored services to address higher loads and to begin implementing midday frequency improvements established under NextGen. No additional service has been added since then.
Financial_Impact
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Implementation of Metro’s December 2020 service changes is included within Metro’s FY21 Budget as approved at Metro Board’s September 2020 meeting.
Impact to Budget
There is no impact to the approved Metro FY21 budget and allocated funding sources. The planned changes are made within the revenue service hours budgeted.
Determination_Of_Safety_Impact
DETERMINATION OF SAFETY IMPACT
This report does not have a negative effect on the safety of our customers or employees.
Implementation_of_Strategic_Plan_Goals
IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS
Recommendation supports strategic plan goal #1: Provide high quality mobility options that enable people to spend less time traveling. The service changes also respond to the sub-goal of investing in a world class bus system that is reliable, convenient, safe, and attractive to more users for more trips.
Next_Steps
NEXT STEPS
The next scheduled status report on Motion 10.1 will be in March 2021.
Attachments
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A - Motion 10.1: FY21 Operations Recovery Plan
Attachment B - December 2020 Scheduled vs. NextGen Planned Frequencies
Prepared_by
Prepared by: Conan Cheung, Sr Exec Officer, Service Development, (213) 418-3034
Reviewed_By
Reviewed by: James T. Gallagher, Chief Operations Officer, (213) 418-3108
