Buses, Trains and the Media

Play me or keep me!

I forget where the phrase "play me or keep me" originated. I'm pretty sure it was uttered by a mediocre baseball player who was spoofing the star player's ultimatum, "play me or trade me."

In any case, the scary U.S. economy is forcing some public transportation employees into a play-me-or-keep-me corner. They're faced with the choice of getting no raise this year or looking for a new job in a tough market.

This dilemma is playing out at Sacramento Regional Transit District, which is holding the line on wage increases even as union mechanics, who have been working without a contract since October, stage sick-outs. An editorial [registration required] in the Sacramento Bee does a good job of laying out the financial challenges faced by management because of budget shortfalls.

But I question whether management should be telling employees that they should feel lucky to have a job. The problem is that the job market isn't so bad that new jobs can't be found.  They can, and the folks who will have the greatest success are the ones you'd most hate to lose.

What you'll also find is that when the job market turns around, the disgruntled employees who stayed with the organization will start seeking out greener pastures. The cost of replacing them will be high because often they're some of your best people. I've experienced this first-hand. It's not a pleasant situation.

Until next time.

Steve

Maligned by a disgruntled rider

Does the local newspaper have your back? That is, will the editors give you a call before publishing something that skewers your organization? I'm not talking about a straight news article because I assume any conscientious reporter would seek your input before writing the story.

What I'm talking about is commentary, whether it's a letter to the editor or an op-ed piece. This recent opinion piece, published in the Juneau (Alaska) Empire, takes a large chunk of flesh from the local transit providers. This type of damning criticism, especially when it's backed by specific examples, hurts a transit system's reputation in ways that can't be calibrated.

So, how do the transit providers respond? Well, they could write a letter to the editor refuting the complaints (or apologizing and promising to do better). But the far better course of action is to respond to the commentary before it's published. How can this be done?

Ask the editors of the newspaper to give you a heads-up when a particularly negative letter or opinion piece is going to be published. See if they'll allow you to submit a counterpoint that can be piggybacked to the complaint. That way, you can do some on-the-spot damage control. Fair-minded editors should not have a problem with tagging the response to the commentary. But you have to make them aware that you would like this opportunity and that you will provide your response in short order.

Whether your organization deserves to be maligned in the press is not the issue; the issue is how to minimize the damage of a publicly aired complaint and then to respond appropriately in addressing any shortcomings in your operation. Sounds cynical, but it's how the world works.

Until next time.

Steve

What's your top job challenge?

In my ongoing job satisfaction survey of the public transportation industry, I asked the following question of some of the participants: What is your greatest on-the-job challenge? Before I provide some of the responses, I'd like to share a few of the challenges that I faced when I was the editor of METRO Magazine and SCHOOL BUS FLEET.

First and foremost, workload. Being the editor of two magazines is sorta like being a hamster who's running on two exercise wheels simultaneously. The only difference being that the hamster can take stop whenever he likes, without much undue consequence. I used to tell entry-level editors at our company that their satisfaction at the position will depend on their ability to grind from issue to issue. If you can, and you enjoy writing and editing, you just might have a long, successful career in magazine publishing.

The second challenge is related to the first . . . finding the time to train your people. You get so busy putting out fires that you don't have time to train the new firefighters. That's a huge problem. "Training" becomes pointing out errors that could have been avoided if time had been invested up front. The really bad part? If you do spend a lot of time training your people, you can be perceived as not spending enough time doing "real work."

Well, enough about me. Here are a sampling of challenges mentioned in the survey. I'll eventually categorize and tabulate the responses and post a summary of the results at TransitTalent.

• Educating the public, boards and commissions on the realities, costs, importance and challenges of public transportation.
  
• Program management gridlock in terms of lack of communication, indecision and poor judgment by top management in helping to move things forward in the most efficient and effective manner.
• Being heard. It's not always easy to get others to listen to my ideas. I'm waiting for when others leave, and I can move into management to pursue my ideas.
• Getting the bus operators motivated and to envision the vital role they play in the big picture of Public Transportation.
• Herding cats ... the lay decision makers.
• Penetrating a broader market for charter services while surviving cut-throat larger companies that underbid.

Thanks for your time. If you'd like to add some of your own job challenges, please feel free to comment.

Steve

Late buses, trains are OK

As a former magazine editor, I know how difficult it is to stay on schedule. Dozens of things can go wrong, and do, between the start of a project and its conclusion. That's why I don't expect perfection from bus and rail operators. They have more uncertainty built into their operation than a magazine. So, as I wait for a bus or train, I'm not necessarily expecting it to arrive on the dot; if it's a few minutes late, it's OK.

What I would like, however, is for the front-line personnel to acknowledge that they're providing a service to a customer. I don't expect them to say, "Thanks for riding with us!" as I leave the bus, but how about a "Good morning!" when I enter? Often, it almost feels like they're doing me a favor by stopping the bus to let me on.

Yes, I'm talking about customer service. We want people to use public transportation for a variety of great reasons, but we don't make the experience as pleasant as it can possibly be. Lynn Starcher, human resources manager at Community Transit in Everett, Washington, says she lists job openings for coach operator trainees under "customer service," "retail" and "call center" headings in the newspaper classifieds. "The key skill is customer service and that attitude is hard to teach," she says.

I know that it's a tremendous challenge to find good bus operators, but the difference between a good one and a not-so-good one is critical, especially if the goal is to attract new riders to public transportation.

Until next time.

Steve

PS: After posting this note, I came across a short newspaper article about a rider throwing a cup of hot coffee in a bus operator's face. The article didn't mention how the driver and rider got into an argument, but it reminded me of how difficult it is to serve the public, whether you're a bus operator or a salesperson at a clothing store. I've got nothing but admiration for those of you who can perform this difficult task, especially if you're doing it with a smile.

Here's something for the bucket list

I spent the weekend in Phoenix running in my first marathon. I don't want to go into the painful details, except to say that I crossed the finish line in a mostly upright position. I haven't seen the movie "The Bucket List," but I've been told that I can put this marathon in my bucket. Consider it done.

As I was driving through the area, I saw many signs of the ongoing construction of the METRO light rail line, which is scheduled to begin operations in December. I asked my sister-in-law who lives in the Phoenix area what she thought of the light rail line. She was dubious. "A lot of people don't understand how hot it gets here," she said. "If you have to walk even two or three blocks to get to the light rail line or to get to you destination after getting off the line, that's going to keep people from riding."

As a Southern California resident, I have a hard time imagining being deterred by a two- or three-block walk even during the hottest weather here, but I've been in Phoenix at the height of the summer heat and it's excruciating. To their credit, the folks at METRO are doing their best to mitigate the effects of the heat, both in the railcar and at the stations, but it remains to be seen how the public will respond.

You have to note as well that the weather is not always hot in the desert. On Sunday it was a pleasant 65 degrees and I would have been happy to ride a bus or a railcar, especially for the last 13 or so miles of the marathon! Next January I think I'll go back to running the half-marathon. And I'll look forward to riding the new light rail line.

Talk to you later.

Steve

Aaargh you ready for "Bus Pirates"?

"Talk like a pirate day" is Sept. 19, so I'm either four months' late with this entry or eight months' early. Take your pick. But my point isn't to promote the benefits of pirate speak. No, I'm here to share my enthusiasm for a YouTube video series called "Bus Pirates."

Before you scatter to the winds to fire up YouTube and check out these videos, be aware that the production values are, well, fully worthy of YouTube (this is known as "managing expectations"). Having said that, the actors are more enthusiastic and the humor is more inspired than on many of the shows that you'll see on network and cable TV. Another highlight is that the action all takes place on a transit bus!

I think this series has great PR value for public transportation. It takes the normally hum-drum experience of riding the bus to new, albeit campy, heights and shows that riding the bus can be fantastic, literally. I have to thank transit advocate Paul Foer of FoerFront Communications for bringing this YouTube series to my attention.

Be aware that there are more installments of the Bus Pirates series. To find them, visit YouTube and search for "Bus Pirates."

Until next time.

Steve

Video-equipped buses will patrol bus-only lanes

Well, it sounds good on paper. A couple of San Francisco Muni buses have been equipped with video cameras that can be used to nail people who park their cars in transit-only lanes. According to a Jan. 4 article in the San Francisco Chronicle, the video footage will be reviewed daily by parking-control officers, and violators will be mailed a $100 ticket, although Muni will ease into the program by starting with a warning.

This pilot program is designed to speed up Muni buses, which are notoriously behind schedule. Theoretically, offending motorists will change their behavior now that they can be caught and punished for this transgression. But here's my question: Aren't they already being ticketed by parking enforcement officers? Why should buses shoulder this responsibility? The cameras are just one more piece of equipment that could malfunction and create additional workload for the maintenance staff.

Also, I have a feeling that the overall impact on average bus speed will be negligible and that it will aggravate people throughout the city, like the much-despised cameras mounted on traffic signals to catch red-light runners. In fact, I'd be surprised if this practice didn't result in an expensive lawsuit, legitimate or otherwise.

Yeah, I'm a nay-sayer on this one, but if it turns out to be a good thing, I'll be pleased for Nat Ford and Gavin Newsom. They get points just for trying something a little different.

Until next time.

Steve

Buses, trains and, uh, wagons

  This is a photo of my 6-year-old son Matthew pulling a wagon filled with cans of food. As a cub scout, he went door to door collecting for a food drive. There's something about the composition of this photo that I really like, but more than that, I think it captures the essence of what public transportation is all about: Picking up critical cargo (sustenance for the needy, in this case) and efficiently delivering it to the proper destination (the Food Bank).

Moving people rather than cans of green beans is, of course, a bit more complicated. But I like to think that it's just a souped-up version of what my son accomplished on a recent afternoon with his red wagon.

Also, think about the benefit multiplier that is inherent in public transportation. Not only are the riders benefiting from the transport, but, as well, the receiving end is also benefiting. That is, when you take an employee to his or her workplace, the employer is also benefiting, as are the employer's customers. The same goes for the green beans . . . when they get to the Food Bank, they're distributed to people who might otherwise go hungry.

Until next time.

Steve

"Bible-Reading Woman Kicked Off Fort Worth Bus"

Tough to pass up an article with that headline. It appeared on a FoxNews website covering the Dallas-Fort Worth area. As I read the story, however, I realized that the woman wasn't just reading the Bible, she was reading it aloud to her children as they headed to church.

And, if she was sitting in the back of the bus, as the story contends, she must have been reading very loud for the bus operator to not only hear her but also to ask her to stop.

Which she refused to do. Consequently, the operator called a supervisor, who met the bus and transported the woman and her children to church in a van.

I've been on buses in which the bus driver has ordered passengers to turn down their radios . . . that they were listening to with earphones! Some drivers have "rabbit ears" and won't tolerate what I would consider reasonable volumes of music or other noise. Others probably aren't even aware of the noise coming from the passenger area because they're focused on their driving.

FoxNews' decision to play up the "Bible-reading" aspect of the story is understandable. The general public loves the story of the underdog: A religious woman battling a large public agency over what she calls religious persecution. Although no mention has been made of a lawsuit, the woman is asking for an apology.

I don't know enough about the circumstances of the event to comment, but I think transit systems need to keep a tight rein on loud and abusive behavior on their buses and trains, whether it's a mother quoting the scripture to her children or an executive shouting on a cell phone.

The only shouting that should be heard on the bus is the operator calling out the stops, which, unfortunately, is all too rare. But that's a discussion for another day.

Until next time.

Steve