Overview of Operations

This report contains a description of daily operations of Door to Door, Inc. (DTD); a medium sized paratransit property located in central Illinois. The following sections provide an overview of the organization’s personnel structure, a detailed description of the agency’s manual operations from receipt of a request for service to dispatching, and a brief description of vehicle operations and the customer complaint process. The agency’s financial environment, service area and characteristics are briefly outlined, and the agency’s fleet composition is included. This report is focused on the internal operations of the organization’s manual activities; especially those affected by the installation of computer assisted scheduling and dispatch software.

Except for billing and manifest printing, during the pre-automation period, Door to Door Inc.

transit operations where supported entirely by manual activities. Door to Door’s routine transit operations include receipt of service requests, scheduling, publishing of driver manifests, communication of enroute changes to drivers, customer problem resolution, and maintenance of primary billing records and of vehicles.

Scheduling and dispatch operations in a manual environment require expert level knowledge of the service area and a significant array of client characteristics. Routine operations for the dispatcher/scheduler require the ability to recall individual client characteristics that at minimum include client disability type and normal/alternative billing options. That level of expert knowledge is rarely developed except through assignment as a vehicle operator. This prerequisite experience has so far limited all dispatcher/scheduler assignments to those personnel who are former vehicle operators.

Door to Door’s daily operations can be segmented into four distinct categories: service call receipt, scheduling, dispatch and vehicle operations. These activities are discussed in additional detail below.

The amount of data potentially available for collection from paratransit operations is overwhelming in its volume. The literature review lists several dozen potential measures of productivity and quality and it is possible to add a nearly unlimited range of measures from dispatcher/scheduler efficiency to maintenance hours per arbitrary unit of passenger travel. At Door to Door, Inc., the management’s decision has been to balance reporting requirements with the core activities required to provide service in the community. This action has minimized a potentially paralyzing administrative burden by collecting no more data than necessary to provide required reports and to perform essential operational analysis.

Despite the determined effort to minimize administrative activities to its bare bones components, Door to Door, Inc. still generates a significant volume of paper records during routine operations.

These records are composed of driver manifests, passenger tickets (pre-paid fares), cash receipts, and associated records.

6. Personnel

Door to Door’s routine personnel structure includes thirty-four personnel assigned in ten separate job titles (Table 1). For purposes of discussion, the job titles shown in Table 1 are distributed into three categories: Management, Union/Non-Management and Non-Union/Non-Management.

All Union/Non-Management personnel share union affiliations with the district employees union; Amalgamated Transit Union Local 416.

Table 35 Door to Door Personnel Assignments

Management Union/Non-Management

Executive Director 1 Vehicle Operators

Administrative Assistant 1 Regular 8

Director of Operations 1 Non-regular 12

Director of Maintenance 1 Ambulatory 3

Total Management 4 Total Vehicle Operators 23

Non-Union/Non-Management

Maintenance helpers 2 Scheduler/Dispatchers 3 Part-time Van Assistant 2 Total Scheduler/Dispatcher Staff 3

Part-time Clerks 2

Total Non-Union 6 Total Personnel 36

6.1 Executive Director

The Executive Director is overall manager of all operations and administrative activities of Door to Door, Inc. He formulates and recommends strategic policy to the board and implements the board’s decisions. The Executive Director manages development and dissemination of all agency information (annual reports, budgets, personnel policies, reports to the board, etc.). He also represents the agency in all contracting or coordination meetings with all outside organizations. This individual makes all hiring and firing decisions and approves all personnel scheduling decisions. He ensures appropriate marketing/public affairs activity is generated and interacts with all outside funding agencies. Major portions of the Executive Director’s responsibilities include generation of funding sources.

6.2 Director of Operations

The Director of Operations supervises, coordinates and directs the day-to-day delivery of service within the service area. This individual acts in the place of the Executive Director in his absence and supervises the schedulers/dispatchers and vehicle operators on a daily basis. He is directly responsible for maintaining the on-time performance of the fleet. This individual is responsible for training all new scheduler/dispatchers and vehicle operators when necessary. Additional duties include investigation of accidents/incidents and ensure data accuracy for operations reports.

6.3 Director of Maintenance

The Director of Maintenance is responsible for the maintenance of all Door to Door, Inc.

vehicles (excludes GPMTD leased vehicles), Door to Door, Inc. equipment and facilities. In the absence of the Director of Operations, he assumes responsibility for Scheduler/Dispatcher operations. The Director of Maintenance is assisted by two part-time maintenance assistants.

This individual maintains all repair and safety records. Because of previously developed computer skills, an additional responsibility includes the maintenance of computer software and hardware for the organization.

6.4 Scheduler/Dispatcher

The Scheduler/Dispatcher receives, processes and enters all requests for transportation on Door to Door, Inc. fleet vehicles. The Scheduler/Dispatcher interacts with the public, the agency vehicle operators and management. Four Scheduler/Dispatchers are assigned at Door to Door, Inc. The Scheduler/Dispatcher manages vehicle assignment, enroute communications with drivers, and serves as the first contact for passengers attempting to follow-up with service complaints or compliments. The Scheduler/Dispatcher must have a high threshold for conflicting priorities, a deep sense of commitment to customer support, and above average interpersonal skills. Because of the prerequisite that dispatchers have in-depth knowledge of the service area, to date, no Scheduler/Dispatcher has been assigned without first having served in the capacity as vehicle operator.

6.5 Administrative Assistant

The Administrative Assistant manages the office and provides administrative support to the Executive Director and the organization. This individual collects, records and deposits all cash receipts for the organization, and administers the agency’s accounts payable and receivables.

The Administrative Assistant prepares all reports and statistical output on behalf of the Executive Director.

6.6 Maintenance Helpers

The Maintenance helpers assist in any task associated with maintenance of Door to Door, Inc.

vehicles, equipment or facilities. Maintenance helpers are assigned directly to the Director of Maintenance and perform such tasks as he assigns.

6.7 Part-time Van Assistants

Van assistants assist vehicle operators in configuring the assigned vehicles to accommodate projected passenger needs. These individuals add or remove seats to allow wheelchair space and often travel with the vehicles to assist in securing wheelchairs inside the vehicles prior to departure.

6.8 Part-time Clerks

Clerks assist in general office duties as assigned by the Administrative Assistant or management staff. They may provide data entry and telephone support as well as filing and other assistance as needed.

6.9 Vehicle Operators

Driver assignments vary by load requirements, but generally are distributed in three shifts; the majority work straight 30-hour weeks Monday through Friday. Two to three additional drivers assist during peak hours in part time status, and a single driver works the late shift. Two drivers handle Saturday runs.

DTD drivers are required to possess a commercial drivers license (CDL) and to comply with the requirements imposed by its assignment, including criminal background checks, drug testing, etc. Additional orientation and testing is required and provided by both DTD staff and contracted personnel, in areas such as sensitivity training, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and service area familiarization. Drivers who will be transporting mobility disabled passengers are required to attend a workshop/orientation at a local hospital where the drivers are introduced to issues surrounding transport and implications of wheelchair usage. During this time, drivers are temporarily “confined” to a wheelchair, trained to maneuver a loaded chair through a number of small obstacles, and demonstrate strength adequate to move a loaded wheelchair into a vehicle.

Drivers incrementally expand driving responsibilities and passenger loads based on both positive evaluator observation and length of employment, until the driver demonstrates competency.