TRU - The State of Transit 2024, Providers Panel (in-person recording)

1:02AM Jan 31, 2024

Speakers:

Keywords:

transit

people

year

service

working

big

rta

region

ddot

challenge

paratransit

call

mover

folks

partnerships

city

good

biggest challenges

driver shortage

increase

All right. So the five panelists we're gonna have tonight are going to be the interim director of DDOT Michael Staley, Director of Regional Transit Authority bends to the General Manager of DTC is that first mover problem for him. The deputy general manager of Smart City counter and the cue line visa, representative if you want to listen to us asking everybody please join

me right, still warm HUMIRA legislators there, thank you guys so much for for being here. As I noted, in past times, past states of transit events, we've asked each of you to do a whole presentation, preparing much more in depth updates, we won't have a chance to do that. But I think everyone will agree having a legislator speak was probably going to fly along. But I would love to hear from each of you, if you can start by sharing a little bit about what's one or two of the accomplishments of the past year, that that you're most proud of, but some progress that your agency has made over the last year.

So I'll go first. So the people who've read it over the last a year, it's been about getting things moving again. And we opened the year before, after a shutdown there during the pandemic, we had some changes in staffing, a lot of things kind of getting back up to speed. And so just really proud of kind of getting back to basics for the mover. Over the last year, I've had a good year of getting projects moving, that hopefully here in the first couple of quarters of this year, we really start to see and feel a lot of differences. And obviously going this year air freeze and they were really excited about and are already starting to see some of those results.

So I think we really started to see the payoffs or all the investments that we've made in the key line since we restarted passenger service and fallen 2021. So many of you probably heard me talk about the implementation of the dedicated transit lane, in front of Little Caesars arena, which is not only for the streetcar, but also buses to use during heavy event traffic, we see far fewer blockages as a result of that the implementation of signal prioritization, which has facilitated the movement of streetcars through intersections more quickly and in places where we have to change lanes to call for those signals a little bit faster. And and then you add that up with us not charging fares since we restarted passenger service, I think results in the big win of having over a million riders in 2023. So that was the first time since since pre pandemic and outpacing sort of recovery in, in transit ridership in in post pandemic and other communities. And so we're really excited for what that what that means for transit, what it means for other partners out here, and looking forward to more good things to come this year.

Thank you, Lisa is a big deal. Trying to pare down on this to what we're most proud of, I'd say having two of our four contracts with five of that end of last year was a very big deal for us. And we continue to move forward at a pretty quick clip. The next two are operators or mechanics. I think that the kickoff of the Dragon bus with us event last year was another big deal for us in terms of recruitment. We know that the driver shortage is a nationwide problem. And we're doing everything that we can to really address that. While we were initially somewhat disappointed in the results of the drive a bus with us a bit because we didn't see a huge turnout. What we are seeing is the consistent effort being applied, having the higher event events, doing them on site, being at the terminals, and consistently getting the message out there started to show proof of the good work that we're doing that we're seeing the turnaround in the fiber shortage, and we'll be happy about that. Last one of the biggest one I think that everybody was we were really loud about was the expansion of stuff importing into Wixom and senior debt.

Thank you. So for the RTA big wins last year, we saw continued ridership increase on a DTA to service. We still have some more room to grow there. But seeing 57 5% increase every month on that rider back service. We were able to distribute all $13 million to dozens of small providers through our 53 times program. These are providers that provide services for seniors and people with disabilities and communities throughout the region. So we were able to do that last year, we're able to work on a large federal grant application that Zach mentioned earlier. The wonderful thing about that application is that we worked with every every person up here, every legislator that was on here, we had almost 70 letters of support through was a huge advocate for putting this together, we were able to leverage some of the state money that was put in the budget last year. So we're just kind of sitting on pins and needles waiting to hear back on that. And then it's a The other big thing for the RTA, we stepped up quite a bit. And we have we doubled our staff are so small staff, but a powerful staff and we're here tonight, I won't make you guys raise your hands, but you can look at their name tags. And we got a new board chair first new board chair, since the inception of the RTA. So a lot of new energy pad here, TA and really looking forward to a big 20/21

and foremost, the increase wages for the D O's $3 across the board increase, as well as as well as a $500 increase in the in the attendance incentive bonus, I think it's a rare opportunity where 6000 $8,000 can really have an impact on the quality of life of some individuals. And I know that there are advocates in the audience that that we're we're strong backers of that initiatives that that's much appreciated. Second would be the beginning of the demolition, and ultimately construction on the Coolidge terminal. Third would be the first honest steps on BRT on East Jefferson. And last but not least, is the turnaround and paratransit teed up and brought paratransit the critical operational functions or reservation scheduling dispatch, in House in January of 2023. And by the end of the year on time, performance has gone from mid 80s to 97%. customer complaints are less than 1/10 of 1%. accidents, injuries are down. And overall the quality of service being provided under the Americans with Disabilities Act to go a huge step forward.

Clearly, these guys have a lot going on. And those are just a few of the highlights. I'm sure there's there's obviously a lot of work and a lot of stories, and a lot of excitement around each of those. I would like to invite you to to also share, what's one of your biggest challenges. What do you what are what's one of your biggest challenges? And what are you doing to to solve it? And are there things that that allies and supporters can do to help tackle those those challenges?

I think the biggest one, first one that I confronted was the driver shortage, which is, which is pretty typical throughout the United States. And also the shortage of mechanics. So been in the business for two years haven't learned much. But I understand that if you don't have drivers, you don't have vehicles, you don't have service. So the really the driver deficit, which was anywhere in the neighborhood of about 150 videos that we were down mechanics, about a third of the positions were not filled, those are two of the biggest challenges.

So for the artists, he and I really liked the pyramid thing that Megan did earlier. So our challenge is trying to balance the very real needs that the director talked about, and I'm sure through taking care of others will talk about the very real needs of the services that are out there today with some of the aspirational projects that we need to move forward as a region. So how do we how do we strike that balance? How do we hold the coalition together, that doesn't just include folks in this room, folks in the state legislature, by other providers, you know, other chambers of commerce and all other kinds of folks, folks who want to, you know, see light rail when we're struggling to get us out on the street every day, when I could even be happy to talk to anybody about how the airport service actually gets set up. And Leo's here today to talk to you about how hard it is to get a bus shelter. So just the the reality of getting these projects implemented, but having it continue to kind of carry that torch I don't think it's a challenge. I think it's an opportunity. I think it's it's it's wonderful to be able to do that and I'd love to be able to do it. But but always trying to balance those two things. How do we kind of look to the future but keep our feet firmly coordinated have made it a reality. So today

in looking at the challenges, I'd say there's a couple of things. One, Senators mcaro, sitting here just a moment ago, said that transit investment is economic development and that conversation about changing that perception of transit. While we are all chewing bubble gum tight shoes walking around, and everything else you can imagine all at the same time, really helping those that aren't inside of our echo chamber, understand the importance of what we do and how it affects their lives. Just the same is one of the biggest challenges I say and CC that we have in this region is making sure others outside of us understand it easily on the hiring side, just last week, we were in DC lobbying on behalf of transit in general. And one of the things that are breaking down the barriers to hiring our operators. What we do know is we have two big things that are standing in the way of greater progress. And that is one the substance abuse testing requirements and the CDL requirement that we have for our drivers. What we see in the substance abuse space is the Department of Health and Human Services and sitting on a Federal Register doctor that since 2019, that allows for an oral fluid test that to 72 hour lab versus the 45 to 60 day, look back and in your interests, what we find is when we recruit every year, we are shameless about recruiting, if we're grocery shopping, if we're in a happy School, where we're walking our dog we are hired. And what we hear from people is they do enjoy what is considered legal in the state from time to time, and they won't even apply for a job with us because they can't pass that test that is a barrier. We're trying to help move that forward. And our Michigan delegation has been very supportive of that. So that's something in the CDSS requirement, I won't get into too much detail in order to get there on time, but really looking at what's meant for over the road truck driver and what's meant for our bus operator. And so we have a pipeline, oftentimes we find that we train people, and then we send them off to do another job in the private sector. And that's not helpful to our industry. And we need to make sure that we're not so blind, that we're not moving that agenda forward to be stuck in the trunk or possible. So the average side is true. And then on the software side is what we saw last year sitting at the same event, I was very smart at the time that they meet Robert, it just exchanged the space. When I was sitting for this panel before, we didn't have a team that I would say wasn't the executive leadership team at the time. So you have to be recruiting. And what we're finding is, when we hear at the Lord's table from the advocates or from the public, they don't feel that there's a sense of urgency, you all have heard about the duck, right? And if they look who looks at what is working real hard, and that's the stuff that you don't see. And on the operation side, well I'll put I'll share with you as our team is now spending time in the terminals at the time of pulled out. So we understand exactly what's happening. So we're looking at operational efficiency to try to get us there on time, we manage by observation, we are there, we understand the impact that we have, if we miss a run, that can affect somebody's life in a way that is greater than what we would experience and just, you know, hear it from the public. I love public engagement that keeps you honest. It's that it used to add to your echo chamber and makes you accountable. So as much as you may see sometimes that they did not find you do and we've been doing this for 20 years. She knows I appreciate making sure that we're here and outside of ourselves what needs to be done, because we do take it seriously. And it is a sense of urgency about it.

Yeah, I think for us, a lot of it is sort of boiling down to brass tacks issues, which we are in the most challenging part of the year for our operations, which is snow, and not necessarily as it's falling. But once it's fallen, and then it gets plowed into the roadway and onto the tracks or into parking spots. And people are trying to wedge their vehicles into parking spots and hanging over the white line. So unfortunately, we're still spending a lot of time working with our partners at the city and the state troubleshooting that. You would think after six, seven years, we would have gotten that down. But we're still still still working on that. But for me, and I know and then also working with our partners like Transit Police at the city of Detroit. I know cheaper rounds here in the office, have been very helpful with getting an industry cars moving as quickly as possible in those situations. But you know, I think we also on the other hand, we know some of the treatments that can help solve for that and I think that the dedicated transit lanes, just creating more space for transit to operate I get impacted by this as well. And so I think creating more space on our public roadways, which we have a lot of capacity. I know we think we have traffic here in Detroit, but we don't really have traffic in Detroit, a few travels to other cities. And so I think using some of that, that capacity dedicating that for transit only, not only facilitates movement for our passengers, but it also sends a message to everybody else who's using the roadways that, hey, transit is important. And I think, kind of feeding into the previous panels discussion was, people need to hear from us. And so those who are operating, those who are writing, those are advocating, I think that's another really powerful way to send a message to the general public, that transit deserves space on the roads, just like like everyone else, so.

Okay, so one of the things that I really liked working with a mover is, there seems to be a lot more puns available. So I really appreciate that. I think they can kind of set me up to the top of the pyramid, which of course, our system is above everyone else. Take that for now. Also included interesting art, I believe was up there. High frequencies. Yeah. So those are all things we have going for us. We also don't have any drivers so that no traffic, I've dedicated gateway. So a lot of the challenges of my fellow transit providers, we don't have to deal with it. But the challenge for us is a really is how can we this is kind of something we try to work with for every day. And the people who write DTC in general to restraints increase. Double Shut up to Chief Ricky Brown is helping is how can we contribute positively to the experience, right. So that can be people who are visiting downtown can be people who live downtown and people who are using downtown to connect to other modes of transit to get to the airport students go to an arbor, but also to connect people who live in the city and people who live outside of the city. can I connect together? I think Senator Warren had to create that if you connect to people, good things will happen. I made a note of that one, that was a really good quote. And so our challenge, which is kind of this kind of funny, almost, is that we're here, and it's about how do we make people are aware of how we can connect, and how we can connect them using the people mover and the resources that we have to attack. But I think from a bigger challenge standpoint, maybe again, it's kind of just a different perspective a little bit, for me personally, but also the people mover is, I still think there are more opportunities and challenges for all of us. Us, us us. And to have a state elected officials here, our infrastructure office leader, I think there's still the challenge still is how can we work more closely together, I really still think that there's a lot of opportunity for that. And maybe it's just the people who are kind of like the the ugly duckling in the back sometimes. But we're here and I think, really everyone, including us, I'm committed and all of you are to really keep pushing for all of us to work together better. So I really think that's the way for us to be successful.

Excellent. And again, the time goes, by way too fast. I will say I'm working with with each of these guys to arrange a transit Tuesday talk like we did before, have focused conversation with with just one or two agencies. So we can go into a much deeper dive on all of the amazing things that you guys are doing. But in the few minutes we have left, what's coming up? What are you looking forward to? And what's what's happening? I think we touched on a little bit, but are there ways that we can be working together to support each other to achieve great things?

So from the people mover, kind of that's my first comment is we're this is our big time to shine, right? So a lot of what we're talking about is reasonable. We can't be any bigger than our three mile loop, which is sometimes good, sometimes bad. But the draft is coming, which is a huge event for downtown the city, the region is a Midwest event. And so that's something that we are laser focused on not just internally making sure that our technology improvements, you're going to see stuff at the stations that's going to be more safe, reliable, but also have more information when the trains coming. When a few lines coming into this new era station. We're kind of having that as well. But really, from a bigger perspective, it was pre FERS, it's just helping make the region shine. And that really lit a lot of efforts around the draft to have a better coordination at all levels, whether it's with law enforcement, city service Is regional connection strengths providers? I think this is really a great opportunity, but to keep momentum going after that, because what's the most important thing?

Yeah, I echo that about the draft. And I think I see 2024 is a year of partnerships and to Robert's point, and then I think that we're all very much in the conversation of how we can provide more and better service for the draft and to continue that beyond so not just having me for three days or a week, while a bunch of people that are in town, but how can we use strategies like park and ride and apply more broadly, to get people to use transit and really how to use that as a focal point. So I think with the partnerships that you see up here, you know, now that we're working on those, those issues outside of these conversations here, you know, I other partnerships, I was saying, internally, you know, we're renegotiating our contract with the union as well this year, and we're very fortunate to have good relationships and excited to move that process forward. That represent all of our streetcar operators and our mechanics at the q line. And I'd be remiss to say though, it's one of the partnerships with the RTA, we announced in December, that's the you know, the intention or the key line was always for it to be part of a public entity, because we're currently a nonprofit organization. And we cannot take advantage of the federal operating dollars that exists to operate public transit. And so us becoming a part of a public entity has always been a part of, of the plan. And we're now at that point in the road where we're exploring that relationship with with the RTA. So excited to continue exploring that partnership to come.

Let's see. So where do I begin, just Okay, so just last week, at our board meeting, we took an action that I think was very significant that I want to share with everyone. And that was, we made our budget so that we would be able to fund our pension liability at 95% and our own. That was a huge move for us and a critical move in order for us to sustain what we consider to be the most historic wage increases we have on the table. Right now for the long term, we are freeing up $11 million in operating a year that we were putting towards our pension liabilities that we now own that have to do going forward. So we can use that for granted things such as wages, so we can be an attractive employer. That's number one. Number two, let's see if I could get to the next thing I gotta work on whenever we got a new service that started the beginning of this year the to add in Romulus connecting with business district is now in service. We're seeing some good things that started that service in Wayne County. We started the 561. But we extend the 561, Chesterfield to new Baltimore, as well. And we have on the horizon, the Baptist organization. And part of the reason we are spending our time with the tribal This is make sure that we can make all that to give all of our services, but definitely have a good kickoff for that. I'll say a couple other things. We hired a general planning consultant at the end of last year, we now have a scope, ready to move forward on our first stop inventory. And that's really looking at all 6000 staff throughout the region, and creating standards for those staffs really looking at make itself making it. So what we see and what we experienced even when we did the tour on 740 was people didn't know how to use bus stops aren't always right across the street from each other as much as you can simplify usage of the system. We should. So I tried to wrap up, I'm trying to think if there's something Oh, we are developing a production with our partners spoke for a mobile app that will allow folks to again increase user friendliness on the transit system that will definitely change the narrative. We know that when people can use this little device for their banking payments for it or they email communications and everything else you're shopping everything you can think of if we can get it so that they can plan for pay for and get to their trip on this mobile device easily. We know that we have done ourselves a great service and change in the name itself on public transportation. With with Equinox like I think they're depending on us. We'll get some of this

Okay, let's see. I totally I my notes right there. I'm just gonna see if I can scale them. Yeah. Okay, so 2024 Airport service. Yeah. Trying to get that up and running by the end of March. Okay, good. And for the for March. So, certainly for the draft, so that'll be a pilot project, but we're gonna get that up and running, we're still looking for ridership increases for GTA two, we are completing another update to our original transportation master plan. So that was not super exciting. But it's actually really important to really provide kind of some guidance, or what we want to see in terms of investments and priorities here in the region. So I spoke to our board, two weeks from when we're going to be updating what we call the coordinate human service transportation plan, and the next government calls it this is a nice tip, don't make me say that acronym. The, this is the plan that informs how we want to prioritize services for seniors and people with disabilities. So we're going to be working on that. This year, we're going to be deploying towards the end of the year or first access to transit grant programs. So this is a program focused on pedestrian and bicycle safety, and shelter has been around in all stops. I will tell anybody that listens that I completely totally stole this idea from Chicago warranty. And he's been doing it for almost a decade. So I was able to use that to convince some of our partners to at some target others to provide some funding to be able to do that program. So we'll be launching that towards the end of the year, we're expanding our partnership. So that's a big piece of business we have going on and going for doing something our mobility, wallet pilot project. So this is a project that we get some funding from the state to do to look at having a booking app available for paying for multiple transit providers throughout the region. So it's kind of a cool project where we're working with, specifically with Yahweh Southeast Michigan, in Detroit at work to to pilot this service for folks who are using those services. So really having a job focus on that mobility while I've been anything, anybody? Good. Good. All right. Yeah, I gotta talk more. And again, you have that grant, and just waiting, just waiting. So anybody knows anybody who wants to give a call to new elected officials, please do so.

two pronged approach, and teed up for 2024. Back to Basics, and 14 future data has become safer, more reliable, and more customer oriented. And so people in this audience, a larger general public, our ridership is, as Tiffany said, we value the input, the conversations aren't always the most comfortable. But we need to get that feedback, that input to let us know, Where were your expectations. And even more importantly, where we're not DDOT reimagined, we've got the final draft, we're going to take advantage of the February community input meeting, to turn that into a public hearing on T dot reimagine. There'll be details on the plan on the website, beginning day after tomorrow, February 1. So you can see a preview of coming attractions there. And then on the 15th, we'll hold the we'll hold the public hearing on DDOT reimagined, and obviously, input from everybody in this audience and beyond is his critical, State Fair becomes operational spring of 2025.

Finally, on the paratransit front, same day service through a grant for the RTA we hope that that will be operational no later than July 1, of 2024. Give people the opportunity to wake up on any given day, or if they get called for their doctor's office saying their appointments to change, wake up, make a phone call, and get picked up in a reasonable period of time on the same day basis. Also the introduction of IVR technology you can from a grant through the RTA, so that night before, if you're scheduled to trail the next day, you'll get advance notice that you've got a trip coming up the next day. And then even more importantly, real time 15 to 20 minutes in advance of your pickup, you'll get a notification that vehicles on his way. You're the next the next pickup. One of the things that we hope that that IVR technology will do is obviously cut down on the need for where's my ride calls. So if we can reduce the call volume into the call center, which handles the reservations and where's my right calls, that the whole time for customers will decrease and that will that'll improve the quality of the experience when they're from interacting with the Coulson

literally a ton of great stuff happening give a round of applause to this.

Really, really quickly. We are all I think I speak to everybody we're all actively working with our with attorneys and caucus and with the state legislature. So all the folks that you heard up here, we are actively working with those folks to help make those changes help talk to our writers and our constituents and work with them to make those positive changes. That's heavy on all of our agendas this year as well.

Excellent. Well, thank you so much for fitting time into to push for that legislative support as we are all doing. So yeah. Another quick thank you to these writers or to these providers.