Meeting_Body
REGULAR BOARD MEETING
JANUARY 27, 2022
Preamble
Motion by:
DIRECTORS MITCHELL, SOLIS, BONIN, AND GARCETTI
Operations Transparency and Safeguarding Motion
With over 200 separate lines and nearly 80% of total current ridership, bus operations are the backbone of the Metro system. As of the beginning of December, overall ridership has returned to 69% of pre-pandemic levels and bus ridership alone has increased further and returned to over 80% of pre-pandemic levels. Riders both want and need Metro services to reach jobs, school, and essential services.
Providing consistent, reliable bus service is essential for equitable transit. While the system is currently averaging approximately 10 - 15% cancellation rate as of January 2022, cancellation rates are highly concentrated in Equity Focus Communities. According to Metro data, of the top ten lines with the most canceled service, six are in South Los Angeles and all run through Equity Focused Communities.
Metro has not been able to provide its full schedule of service mainly due to a record high operator shortage. If the agency must temporarily decrease scheduled revenue service hours or cancel scheduled service hours to improve service reliability, Metro riders should have greater transparency on how the burden will be more equitably spread throughout the system and how the agency plans to return to full-service levels. Further, while the operator shortage is emblematic of a tight labor market globally, the agency must take substantive steps to urgently attract and retain talent.
Subject
SUBJECT: OPERATIONS TRANSPARENCY AND SAFEGUARDING MOTION
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
APPROVE Motion by Directors Mitchell, Solis, Bonin, and Garcetti that direct the CEO to:
A. Set a goal to return to full bus service levels no later than June 2022;
B. Assume full bus service levels in the FY23 budget;
C. Report back in 30 days on:
1. Clear metrics for how Metro will determine its readiness to return to 7 million revenue service hours;
2. Cancellation data by line and division dating back to the September 2021 service update, including geographic trends in cancellations such as, disparities between Equity Focus Communities and non-equity focus communities and division differences;
3. A methodology for service deployment that prioritizes NextGen Tier 1 lines and lines serving Equity Focus Communities, as well as other emergency service options;
D. Report back in 60 days with recommendations for improving operator retention and division shortages, including but not limited to:
1. A plan to meet the mental health and wellness needs of current operators and other frontline workers, particularly those who have been victims of assault while on assignment;
2. Incentives to effectuate the prioritization of NextGen Tier 1 lines and lines serving Equity Focus Communities for bus service;
3. Recommendations to streamline and retain operators through the training process; and
E. Report back monthly on scheduled versus actual service during the temporary service reduction period, with detail by line, division, and effect on Equity-Focus Communities; and steps to ensure cancellation data continues to be made publicly available data.