Up until my grandmother started riding the bus, I was her favorite.  Now I have been replaced by Mike the bus driver. 

Wyoming has been my home for 30 years, but my grandmother lived in Rochester, Minnesota.  As the oldest  of over 35 grandchildren she liked me best, however reality is that she treated us all as if we were her favorite.  

Grandmother was 90 and using a mobile device to get around.  Rochester has a paratransit service provider called ZIPS.  While I am sure that ZIPS would have assisted my Grandmother with the ADA process, my Grandmother insisted that she did not want to ride the bus.  Sound familiar?

Ok, you know what I did….I flew to MN and filled out the client portion of ZIPS paper work.  When I called my grandmother’s DR at the Mayo Clinic, I shared my time constraint dilemma and was able to get the required signature that very day.  Handed the paperwork in to ZIPS and was able to purchase tickets and schedule two rides for the very next day.  What service!

Booking the trip was very easy and the dispatcher very nice.  We went to the Old Country Buffet for lunch and when we were done, we called the ZIPS and they picked us up.  The next day, I was going to ride with my Grandmother to go shopping, but she insisted that “Mike” the famous bus driver would take care of her.  I could not believe he won her over so quickly.

My grandmother was able to stay in her home for a couple more years because of ZIPS.  THANK YOU.

(Image from jackieash.com)

Pushing the play button on the answering machine, I heard a man’s voice saying “I am looking for someone named Cindy Johnson.  If she works there could you have her call me back”?   He sounded tired, not the usual happy person I usually find on the other end of the line.  The caller ID indicated a local number and he had called twice while I was out of the office so I knew the person was anxious.  I called right away and Mr. Caller’s wife answered and kindly explained that her husband needed a ride everyday at 2:00pm.  His meds needed to be intravenously given to him and Medicare would only pay for his treatment if given at a hospital. 

I knew our local transit system did not run on the week-end so I immediately offered to provide Mr. Caller’s rides on Saturday and Sunday.  Mrs. Caller shared with me her inability to see so she could not drive and her husband is a wheelchair user (with his knees unable to bend).  I was thinking that perhaps I could transport him in a van if I could transfer him from the chair; I was informed that transferring him was impossible.  Could a transit provider loan a vehicle out?…darn insurance companies- I knew better than to even ask.  Our community only has one taxi company and sadly they are ill equipped to transport a person who uses a wheelchair.

Could anyone give me another suggestion?  Another avenue to try?   Right now the only option is getting the ambulance to take him on the week-ends.  That is very expensive, certainly not a cost effective option.   

While DISPATCHERS can make or break your system, DRIVERS are the backbone.  There are many types of drivers but today let’s discuss the driver who plans ahead.  Planning ahead is great, unless that plan includes dropping off one passenger a little too early and arriving at the next pick-up just a little late so that their break is extended to almost 30 minutes.  That kind of ingenuity would be ok, if our driver just wants to stop, pull over and read the next chapter in their book.  But what happens if the driver decides to go to the grocery store to pick up a dinner ingredient?  The store is only 3 miles off the route so not a big deal right?  Well, if 8 drivers did that every day and 50% of running your vehicles was drivers salaries, then the cost of stopping for an item is somewhere in the neighborhood of $47.40 a day.  You know how many days a year you operate, multiply that out. 

Should this be a perk of the job?  If the answer is YES, just know how much it is costing. Talk to your drivers about how much just 3 extra miles an out of the way trip cost.  Reducing any extra miles in today’s economy gives you a business edge.

Finding funding for your Rural Transit System was always hard, but now the task seems absolutely daunting.  With the price of flour, sugar and butter- even bake sales are out of the question.  Therefore, we have to look under some other rocks. 

Look at each item in your budget.  Could someone help you purchase that item?  For instance, all those tickets or punch cards.  Could someone purchase the tickets for you in exchange for an ad on the back?  Pharmacies, other agencies, and novelty shops are the perfect places to ask to purchase ads.

Do you have to purchase your own paper towels, Kleenex, and TP?  If you are paying full price for these items, look for something better.  Ask a LARGE employer, who is buying these items in bulk, to purchase yours at the same time.  Sometimes the employer does not even ask for reimbursement, but if they do you got the items at a greatly reduced rate.  Can you ask for office supplies too? We probably need to get a ruling, but if we can document the savings amount can we use that as “in kind” donations?

Write to me and tell me of some of the Rocks you have turned over and found small gems.  I will be glad to share them with everyone.

Transit is a network of agencies filled with individuals who are warm and caring.  They will share their grant secrets, job descriptions, and any other management tool you need so the real goal of doing more rides can be concentrated on.  Each year during CTAA’s annual Expo, I am reminded all over again of how taking the time to give a hug and get one in return can rejuvenate you.   And you can’t do that over a webinar.

This year it will be especially important to rejuvenate daily.  Our funding streams are changing, JARC and New Freedom dollars may be folded into the 5311 grant funds and very little if any money will be “earmarked” for projects.  Medicaid funding and how non-emergency medical trips are paid for will be shaking up the very core of some of our systems.   Health Care for our employees is taking center stage with the focus on “ but how are we going to pay for that?” being shouted.  Don’t go it alone, call a neighboring transit director, share your time saving ideas so that you too can get on with the job of providing more rides.

When you buy new software, remember to change your staff’s job descriptions.  

Companies who made jeans used to have employees called cutters.  They used to cut the pants with electric scissors.  Today, a devise falls from the air like a cookie-cutter and “stamps” out the pants.  

Did the jean manufacturer leave the employees that used to cut out the pants in that same position?  NO.  The employee was reassigned to help work on fastening belt loops.

When we purchase new accounting, maintenance, or dispatching and scheduling software, Transit Directors must take a look at the shift in job duties.  Did the dispatcher’s duties increase, while the reporting director and scheduler’s duties decrease?  Talk to your staff after a major software purchase and let them share the differences in their daily work load with you.

Writing new job descriptions is not a favorite task, but do it anyway.

Welcome to Cindy Johnson’s first blog!

With over 20 years experience in the transit industry, I’d like to think I have a few relevant ideas to share with my many colleagues.  Look for my weekly blog posts to include advice on best practices in transit, how to handle common problems we all face, and what my experiences have taught me. 

If you’re attending CTAA Expo 2011 in Indianapolis next week, please stop by to say hello (I’ll be sitting in my new bus stop kiosk exhibit- booth 225).

Be sure to check back weekly!  See you all soon!

-Cindy