board meeting to order. If we can all stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge and
light
Thank you. We'll take the roll call please.
Chairwoman Hilary chambers President Vice Chairperson Abdul Hadis. President. Dr. Curtis ivory is excused absent. Mr. Royce manucho. Mr. Brett Regan is excused absence.
Mr. John Paul Raya,
sticky Walker,
he's delayed in traffic but she is on her way. A few minutes out.
Thank you.
Take a motion to adopt the agenda.
Make a motion to approve the agenda as presented venture
afford it?
It's been moved in supported all those in favor? Aye.
Aye. Any opposed? The agenda is adopted. Miss Martin asserted certification of public notice.
Smart will hold the July 27 2023. Board of Directors meeting at 2pm. In Smart sport room located on the sixth floor, the bill building 535 Chris Wall Street Detroit, Michigan 482 to six, this meeting is open to the public. Thank you.
Take a motion to approve the minutes from the board meeting for June 22 2023. Support.
It's been moved in supported any discussion? All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed?
And the minutes are approved? We'll move on to public participation. Are there members of the public that would like to
participate?
Please come to the podium the first person in the first seat state your name and county for the record, please. Three minutes to speak, sir.
Okay. I'm Stephen hiring. I'm Wayne County. And you know, I have so much to say but I just want to say is, you know, the current wage that drivers are getting paid. And you're gonna hear a lot of this today. It's just deplorable. I mean, I've talked, I've been taking the bus for 10 years, I've talked with drivers. I've heard what they went through what, you know, whilst drivers were in the top 10, they were behind medical workers and workers that die during COVID. You know? And also, oh, it's not only that, but another big problem we're having buses are late. You're, I'm seeing for example, maybe a 462 doesn't show up. But then you'll see two 460 ones and then two hours later a 460. And you know, people rely on these buses, you know, you might see a bus with one person on it. But that one person might be a school, the head custodian for a school that has 1000 to 2000 people, you know, this problem with smart is I just feel like and the one thing that I'm just so infuriated with that's just in my opinion, extremely on democratic is how are they not working without a contract? I mean, that just makes no sense at all. I mean, these drivers are some of the most important essential employees, in my opinion, the country and for them to be treated like this underpaid. It's just deplorable. And you know and I also want to say is any of the board members even taken the bus I mean, have any taken the bus here because I think it would be a good idea for maybe one day all of you to maybe try taking the bus I mean, the ones that may live out in North Oakland or North Macomb go park in the grass shade or Woodward lot and take the bus and just see how bad the services and what these drivers are going through. You know, because this is just so me and a group of people. We had a protest over by the Rosa Parks transit center with over I believe it was 50 people and you know, drivers in Ann Arbor in Chicago, they start at 28 An hour and I know I'm reading these you know these ads for smart bus driver fair. Well, the problem is once they get their CDL they're gonna go right to Ann Arbor. Toledo are a system that's a drivable distance that pays an actual fair wage shift. So
okay,
thank you Miss Sir Demetri who would like to speak next. Harley Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Holloway.
Hello. For the record. My name is Megan Owens, I'm the Director of Transportation writers united, as most of you know, true has been working for over 20 years, because we believe everyone should be able to get where they need to go regardless of whether they drive. And for a long time, we could count on smart. It may not be the most frequent service, it may not get everywhere. But you could count on it to be there when you said, and that was what smart was always known for. Unfortunately, that has changed. I know. Well, I've shared before you and had emailed out to many of you before, on a report that we released today, saying save our service. It provides a lot of details behind the concerns that many people have about the scarcity and in frequency of buses, about the number of buses that are not showing up when they are scheduled to and the real life impact that is having on 1000s of people I overheard someone getting fired losing their job waiting 45 minutes for a bus that didn't show they call their boss three different times while waiting. And the third time the boss said don't bother to come in. That is the real life impact. That is why it may feel like we're we're nagging you, we're bugging you we're making being a big hassle. But this is a huge crisis. And we are not seeing the level of urgency from this board and from this management that would really appropriately address the uncompetitive pay. I know you've been trying hard, I appreciate the additional events that you've been doing to immediately draw, hire new drivers. But whatever you've been trying hasn't been enough. So please recognize we are all here because we love this service. We know how critically important it is to 10s of 1000s of people across the region and the millions of us who depend on them. So please do more to restore the service as fast as you can thank you very much.
Thank you Miss Owens.
Sherry Wells from Oakland County and this morning I met a another Ferndale person who was coming for this rally today. She and I both individually learned a long time ago that we have a place to be at a certain time. We look at what bus would get us there on time and take the one before that. To make sure that even if the one before that doesn't show up, we've got another good chance of getting the bus that will get us there. That's not good. On the bus. And I was very gratified because two men on that bus, we're taking the bus to the ballgame today. And my what I've been working for is to get the people who've been complaining to put it nicely about paying taxes for the bus on the bus. Because it's for everyone, not just old people, disabled people or students. Before COVID I was on the bus and talking with with a young man in the seat in front of me. He said he was taking the training from D O T to learn how to ride drive a bus and then he was going to move to Atlanta
for better pay. That said thank you, thank you. Thank you for the next person
that goes to the microphone. I do want to encourage and I'm so happy to see such full participation here. I do want to encourage and I know that I've said this in the past that that everyone who speaks in public comment and beyond does save for the update that the board is going to receive today because we will receive updates on staffing
efforts go ahead sir
Yes, good afternoon. Mike Reiner Chesterfield township I know you've seen and heard from me before. And I really have nothing new to comment on. Disappointing from my very first picture comment presentation reminded me with the poster here I had all my pictures and I was ready to really make some progress here. Came in numerous other times reinforcing various things. Sunlight ers emails. I've done everything I can to get some responses. And it was wonderful because as I came in our new Vice President of planning, initiated a quick conversation with me and address some of my issues that I've been struggling with for about a year now. It really is pretty frustrating to not even be acknowledged. I mean, is that asking too much? Now, I must mention, I've gotten responses from a number of people responses, or follow ups from Bonnie Slater, Mark, Starnes, and marks Boss, I'm sorry, forget your name. But otherwise, nothing. Even my email from the last meeting? I couldn't be there. So I emailed my comments while they weren't ready. So I simply want to reinforce one last time No, I'm sorry, one more time. One more time, because I'll never give up. Number one, as we've been discussing competitive wages, I mean, how basic is that? And we've been going over and over, we have negotiations going on, I can only hope and pray that there will be a positive outcome. Number two, which I think I have the most influence on that, I think is something that we don't really, we're not really too aware of. And that is, bus routes, where the jobs are used, see all these for hire for hire for hire. And when you do a little researching, you find out that those for hire jobs are not being filled. We see you know what they pay, you don't get there in your SUV. You're hoping that there must be a bus service there. But there isn't. So we need to really work hard on making sure that we have bus routes where the jobs are. And the last thing is the disgusting. Sad, it's that lack of sanitation in our shelters. I mean, I can't even until very recently, I couldn't even get a power washer. The maintenance guy said, Oh, it's been broke for months. It's broke for months. So I had I did ask a guy to come through and power wash. My particular one that was really bad. And he was very kind of needed for me. So should our bus really sit in these unsanitary conditions?
Thank you very much. But that just stop. That's good too.
Yes. Are there any other members of the public? Yes. Thank you.
My name is Don Hammond tree. I live in Macomb County. And I really depend on both fixed route and paratransit. If you're thinking about it on paper, the bus running at every half hour doesn't so sound so bad. Until you're waiting at the bus stop and you miss Abbas or is delayed, then you're waiting a very, very long time. To people who never take transit, that's probably fine. Why do you? Why do they care? To people who only take transit, they're expecting it. It's baked into their lives. But the important part, what really impacts our city is what happens when two people for whom transit is an option. The spiral goes like this, you go to take the bus instead of driving, thinking I'm going to have a couple of drinks or I want don't want to worry about parking where I'm going. So you take a bus, first bus is right on time. But then you transfer from the fast crash it to a Crosstown route and your bus is delayed it and it only comes every every 30 minute. minutes. Excuse me. If if there's a driver available, which is not my by no means guaranteed. And then you're waiting 40 minutes later. were wondering where your bus is knowing you had could have driven there in 20 minutes. Why would you ever too To take a bus again, the bus made use waste, precious time on your day off just sitting there. So next time you drive riders, ridership goes down. When the transit authority asked for more money for more buses and more drivers, people point to the ridership numbers and say, Why should we pay for this? Instead of paying for our schools, police, parks or roads, if you we want to increase ridership, we need to actually design and fund functional transit networks. We if you we want people to actually ride the bus, we need to make it a better option and then driving, which means reliable service, if which you don't get with a bus every 30 minutes, every 15 everywhere all the time and eat to accomplish this, there have to be enough drivers experienced competent drivers. Drivers are who are not going to quit in frustration, because they're not being bathed in a lit living wage or get a better offer from Chicago or Cincinnati or Ann Arbor. This could be a self perpetuating the system, get enough drivers and people will ride the bus, even in the Motor City. People want and desperately need. Good public transit. Thank you. Thank you
Is there anyone else from the public that would like to speak? Please come to the podium.
Please state your name and county please.
Hi, my name is Ella. I'm from Livingston County, Michigan. Now I know what you're thinking at this point, wow, an outsider. We don't pander to outsiders here. Just keep in mind that if you don't support public transit, that's exactly what you're doing pandering to outsiders. When you have highways cutting through the city that benefits outsiders. But if you support public transit here, you benefit the people that live here in Detroit. I took the 462 bus this morning to get down here. It was not the best experience. But we need to pay drivers more here. We need to pay drivers more. And we need to improve service expand service. So out this region, that's the point of this is to be able to get people where they need to go because
you know, I just
you know I hang out in all four corners of Southeast Michigan just for fun. I can handle the bus being late but there are people who rely on the bus being on time to get to work. And if you fail those people you are failing the city of Detroit and you are failing everyone.
Thank you. Thank you Next speaker please.
Mack carrier
Wayne County. So just wanna begin by stating some examples of Miss buses that have happened to me. So they're just this last week. Just Monday during the torrential downpours. A bus miss me was in downtown on Woodward and Clifford the 261 didn't show no show. torrential downpour. Lucky for me, the next one showed up and I made it home. The week before that. I had a no show at 6:46am in the morning. I was trying to get to the train station in Dearborn to 50 did not show I called in. I was told that there was no operator that day that no one showed up there. This isn't the operators fault. This isn't the bus drivers fault. This is a systemic issue going on. There's the same, right? You have a bad apple, you have a bad apple. If all your apples are going bad, you should check the trees. Right? And it's not the drivers for the apples. It's these missed routes, right? All these Miss routes, if you have in the 20% misses, something is going on stomach and smart. So I want to know, just as Steven asked, When did you take the bus last? Did you take the bus here? Did you take the bus to the last Taylor meeting? Right? I doubt many of you did. But I would like to know if you did. The other thing I would like to know is what is your turnover rate? Three months, six months, 1236 months for your bus operators? Because if you have high turnover, that is again, systemic problem, something going on, right, something that that indicates that you cannot retain people. And I would imagine, I don't know. But I would imagine that you are paying more to keep hiring people than if you just raised the rates for those operators. Again, speculation, but imagine the data is out there to support that, please pay your drivers more, you're going to you get what you pay for. Right. And if you're not paying them more, they're not they don't have incentive to show up on time. They don't have incentive to be here. And and they're being overworked. As is right. If you're 100 drivers down, that is more time that these drivers who are present need to be spending on the roads to make up for it. They're overworked. They're overstressed. They're underpaid. Please take care of it. Thank you.
Thank you. Next speaker plane.
Good afternoon,
Pontiac city, Councilman McHale Goodman from Oakland County. So first thing I want to say is, I think it's been said multiple times how massively important public transit is to everyone that is in this room and almost everyone in this region, because you recognize that despite this being the Motor City, that has a very unaffordable dream for a lot of people, nor should it actually be a dream for any of us, we should be investing heavily in public renewable, reliable transit for everyone. Because long before the auto industry said otherwise, that was the way that things were supposed to work when it came to getting in around cities. But I'm not here to teach in belabor about the the purpose of public transit. But what I do want to speak about is a couple of different fundamental issues. One is that if we should not have to come here, as citizens who pay into the system through taxes through villages, while the ones that pass in Oakland County, making sure that smart had enough money, we should not be having to sit here and fight and ask for drivers to be paid more, we shouldn't have to ask that smart, work with them and honor the contract that they've been, has not been operating for multiple months, we see that there is labor movement all over this country currently, I mean, the fact that UPS almost brought this country to an entire hole that's on purpose, there should be a recognition that workers have the majority of power. And we should operate that way, because these people who have these jobs are the ones that make sure that the system that we're funding into, that municipalities are paying into that citizens are paying into with their taxes, runs and functions the way that it's supposed to. I'm on top of that. I know also, when I mentioned the fundamental problem that we are even having to have, really this conversation on a regular basis that the fact that we have to come out and demonstrate and protest. Because I would assume that smart being a public transportation authority should be focusing primarily on expanding public transit. And while I do see that that is happening in some areas, there needs to be a more concerted focus. Because again, we should not have to come down here we entrust you to do these jobs with the money that we give you. And it's not to say that I want to remove money from you. I am not the don't pay taxes individual. I'm the person that believes that everyone should be paying their fair share in taxes to make sure that the system works. But if we're going to be doing that people need to have a return on their investment because we are not worried about the stakeholders who have all the money. We're worrying about the people who actually use transit as I have for multiple years, also often on again when things happen to me in life. So as a elected official for a city of people who need public transit, I very much encourage you to continue to do the work to expand public transit for everyone, but also, please pay your damn Lord.
Thank you. Thank you, sir.
I don't think I did my whole three minutes. I do have one ma'am.
I'm sorry. You were given three minutes. We have to let the next speaker speak please. Thank you.
I did use my whole three minutes. Yes, ma'am. I'll write you and maybe you'll answer. Okay.
Thank you, sir. Please state your name and county. Yes,
my name is Ethan Benedict. I live in Oakland County. In addition to paying your drivers living wage, I was also concerned about the state of the bus stops along Northland drive between Northwest highway and Greenfield road I'm need to lean on the city of Southfield to get that properly illuminated with street lights. But I had heard a rumor that those bus stops would be relocated in the coming months or years. I was wondering if anybody knew who I would have to talk to to learn whether or not those rumors were
factual. Okay, I'm
okay. I'm not not the right place for this question. Okay. Anyway, but about a third bus driver pay, we need to pay our bus drivers a living wage, because driving a bus Believe it or not, it certainly seems to me to be a skilled trade. We are moving several tonnes of steel along a road at 3545 55 miles an hour as however traffic may be. And we are maneuvering. And we are asking our drivers to maneuver it around other people and throughout the built environment without hurting anybody or the machine itself. This is worth a lot more than a barely minimum, barely surviving wage of what 19 An hour. Yeah, around 19 an hour. It's it's not enough. It's not enough for a person to be able to build a life around. And this is not this is a specified skill set that takes time and efforts to to learn and develop. And if we keep losing people to other cities and other transit systems, we're still just putting in and that invest that base level investment and not getting our return out of it in skilled competence drivers. Thank you very much.
Thank you, sir.
Good afternoon to all.
I am Szechuan Collier, I am the president and business agent but at you local 26 That represents the drivers for the city of Detroit. I'm sorry, can
you repeat your name,
please share Tron Collier, s c h e t r o n e. I'm standing here in support of my brother local, local 1664. Who are the drivers that operate the smart coaches. I have been an operator myself for over 34 years. One thing that I know and why I'm here and supportive them although I don't drive for spot. We are brothers of the same union.
They do what I do.
For 34 years I went out there I picked up passengers. When the news comes on and tells everybody else stay off the roads, the bus drivers have to go. Now I don't know about smart but I know that in 34 years DDOT has never stopped never on a date no matter what tornadoes, blizzards, whatever the situation is operators have to go this is a core service that the public depends on. You have to pay them more DDOT is in the same struggle. And I'm going to my battles on my side with the people who I have to speak with but I am here to support in their battle as well. You just have to pay people more you have to compete, the landscape has changed in the job market. Bus drivers were never able to work from home. And if the pandemic didn't teach us anything, it told us who was important. You would have never believed that the guy that puts the food on the shelf at Walmart was as important as he was when you wouldn't air you couldn't buy anything because he wasn't there to put it on the shelves. That showed us a lot. People never had to stop moving throughout the pandemic. And as DDOT operators we took the stand okay to stop the service when we were not safe when we couldn't get the PPE and stuff that we need it. I personally did not miss one day of work during the pandemic but I had plenty of drivers calling me crying saying I can't do it because there was so much unknowns connected to what COVID was what your operators showed up as well do that whole thing and everybody praised us but now that we seem to think is over. Now we're back to the old fights. Stop fighting these old fights. Let's move forward. Let's be progress. Stop and give them the money they deserve.
Thank you sir.
Good afternoon.
My name is Robin Bree Vander. I have been taking the smart bus since 1978 When I would take the bus to my co op job at Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Lately, when I was working as a patient advocate at Detroit receiving hospital, I took the bus to and from work every day. There was such a high value for me, I had such a challenging job. It was a half an hour, where I could decompress and prepare or read a book.
These days.
The bus predictability is worse than when I then in 1978 when I had paper bus schedules and crossed my fingers. Luckily, customer service at Smart has been very helpful. I believe it was two weeks ago, the 420 at Southfield in 14 mile, never showed up. At least I was able to call customer service who was able to tell me yes, they had no bus coming. And it would be another hour and 15 minutes. That's how that bus is scheduled. The bus stop is in the sun, there is no bench. I was able to walk from Southfield to Woodward. To catch a bus. I also would have had the option of taking an Uber. But there are people out there who do not have that option. Where does this leave them? It is unreliable. I prefer to take the bus. It gives me exercise, socializing a net to people in my neighborhood today. The bus drivers are so valuable to us, I can tell you I have left my purse on the bus twice. In about the last five years, I have gotten your back each time with everything still in it. That speaks to these drivers. They are caring, and they have one of them. The one job I always realized was harder than being a patient advocate at Detroit Receiving Hospital. One of the first things I would do when I got on shift was handout bus tickets to everybody who's been discharged in need to call home. I know what they deal with and they deal with it while driving a bus.
They deserve
adequate wages, and we really deserve adequate service. I thank you for what you do. Thank you man.
My name is Steven Hammond
tree. I'm a resident of Macomb County. One second. My name is Steven Hammond tree, I'm a resident of Macomb County. And I do not like driving. It is scary. I am not a safe driver, I have data.
And
I'm glad there are people out here that can do that for me. I want there to keep being people out here that can do that for me that I can rely on to be there. And to get me where I need to go. But you're not paying them enough.
And we need to fix that.
There was a trip I took with my mom sitting over there. The day after the last board meeting, we went to the fireworks in Mount Clemens. And we needed to get home at 10:40pm. And there was a bus driver that day. But we took paratransit there was one bus driver, but she said that she had to stay late to provide us that trip instead of someone being scheduled for that shift normally.
That's not that's not a good thing.
So we need to pay drivers more and we need to make sure that we can actually retain them so that we can get service backup to reliable levels. Because another thing about this is that I am unemployed at the moment. I am scared to go looking for a job because of how unreliable the buses are. Because I don't think I would be able to keep it when let's say my second day rolls around and the bus doesn't show up. That's yeah, I could go on and on and on but I'm going to cut myself off here. Pay your drivers more.
Thank you Mr. Hammond tree
Good afternoon members of the board. My name is Lucas Hill Seki. I'm a regular smart writer, I hail from Farmington Hills Oakland County. I begin I'd like to begin by congratulating the new class of operators that I understand graduated from training a couple of weeks ago. It's nice to see that at least a few more people will be added to smart School of operators to maybe take a chip at solving the crisis. But I do have to wonder how many of those operators will stay how many will remain in a group of people who make $19 An hour less even than their counterparts across the across the river in Windsor and make 24 I learned that from a driver today. How long are they going to stay working without a contract, they have been for nearly seven months now. And I think they're gonna get tired of it pretty quick. So many of them have been leaving going to Ann Arbor going other places where they can work in better conditions for better pay and get better benefits. that's causing more canceled runs. Still problems still straining people in record heat, smoky air and insane thunderstorms. I saw a bit of that yesterday.
But mostly,
I'm concerned with how it's affecting the Oakland transit project. That was the greatest achievement of my life being a part of bringing smart to the entirety of Oakland County for the first time in my life for the first time in nearly 30 years transit out to Novi Rochester Waterford. You've heard it before. You've heard it more than you hear Taylor Swift. But it's turning bittersweet, because all we've seen so far is a plan that's going to call for the discontinuation of other routes, you forced the scheduling department to kill the 400 so that we could get our new routes. That's not acceptable. You need to negotiate a contract, you need to pay the drivers more get on this yet on solving this crisis so that you can capitalize on the biggest opportunity smartest had in decades to BRING IT service more in line with other cities in the US. Thank you for your time.
Thank you, sir.
Hi, my name is Steven Boyle. I live in Wayne County. And I wanted to mention that it's been a few times that I've actually met people who are trans tourists in that metropolitan area. And it's always an interesting conversation of asking them, okay, so where are you going to, so I can assist you as a fellow rider. But then when are you coming back home? Because the return visit home, they assume, as most metropolitan areas have that there's actually night service that would get them to where they need to be. It doesn't exist here very well. It's just it's it's abysmal trying to take the bus late at night. Most of our last run, buses, whether it's DDOT, or smart, are completely filled to capacity. And you really need to look at those numbers, because the capacity on the last run, that means these people have no more opportunities to get home. So they're getting on that last visit that they can possibly get out. So I think if you want to talk about tourism, buses are very, very much a cornerstone toward having robust tourism in a metropolitan area. And we need to improve our service so that people can come here and not have to burden themselves with getting a car figuring out how these roads work, and where are they trying to get to. It's actually not very safe to have a tourist driving around when they don't know where they're going and they're distracted the entire visit. It's easier for them to get on a bus or to take a shuttle from the bus to where they need to get to. We need to work more on intermodal opportunities. Intermodal includes things like bike shares, Scooter sharing shuttles, we need to look at and these things are going to alleviate, to fix our roads strategy. fix our roads is a failing strategy when it comes to mass transit. We need to be leading this country when it comes to transit alternatives that includes electronic vehicles and it includes electronic trains and more. This this city in this state, give us an awful lot more help. And we need you. Thank you. Thank you, sir.
Are there any Are speakers the public?
Hello,
thank you for allowing me to speak. My name is Thomas Yazbeck. I live in Rochester Hills in Oakland County, I should add, there's a lot of people here who are doing a great job of advocating for smart, I feel like some of them should get a job. Because sometimes I feel like the agency doesn't do a good, good enough job of communicating things to people. The fact that we're all out here kind of speaks to that, that, you know, in addition to the service problems that people just don't, there's not a lot of trust in smart team and get the word out about things that are happening. So and I'll cut to I don't want to go on too long. But there are consequences for this, you know, it's not just missed, you know, people losing their jobs, missing appointments, but it's political to, you know, voters are expecting smart to deliver on county wide transit and Oakland County where I live, right. And so many of those voters voted against renewing smart's funding, and they're gonna look to see they're gonna look at bad service and say, Why am I getting taxed now for this? So there are obviously smart as an agency cannot advocate for, you know, cannot tell people to vote yes or no on something like that. But just, you know, the future of the agency is in doubt when it takes so long to adjust to a crisis like this. You know, mostly other people have have pointed out all the reasons why, you know, it's bad for people. But it's bad for economic development, too, because there's a massive brain drain going on. So most of my high school graduating class don't don't live in Oakland County anymore. A few of them have moved to downtown Detroit, but most of them moved to Chicago or elsewhere. So smart plays an essential role in keeping people in businesses in Michigan. And I hope you recognize that. Thank you.
Thank you. Anyone else?
Hi, my name is Deborah freer. I hail from Farmington Hills. Also, I appreciate the board paying attention so diligently to all the comments here. I would like to be a smart bus rider. But I can't because it takes I live just off of 11 mile and metal belt. And I believe that route is going away. But unfortunately, it would take me two hours and 20 minutes to get to my office if I took smart, but I really want to. I know there's a lot of people out in our area that would like to to the ridership is out there for the getting. I hope that the smartboard and staff can see true not just as a rabble rouser, but an assistive organization that helps to bring you writer feedback. We have worked very hard with the Michigan Legislature to get another 60 million and local bus operating funds, and the next budget coming up. Unfortunately, 45 million is one time funding, which we do recognize. Excuse me, we do recognize that you cannot restore service, or put new service out with one time funding. But we are continuing to meet with legislators we are continuing to fight for smart. I know it might seem sometimes as though we're fighting against smart, but we're not. We appreciate all the work that you do. We hope to be able to help you in some capacity. And I hope that we can turn this around. I know there is a commission on increasing Michigan population. But I think everybody in here knows that one of these significant answers is more and better public transit. Young professionals all over the country and in Michigan have said they need better public transit. They don't want to drive they don't want to be mandated by the cityscape to spend money on a car and transportation. I have two kids in college and one is disabled. I would love to give up my car so I can just put that money towards their college education and things like that, but unfortunately I can't. Again, I help us see true as an ally. And we can continue to help smart. Either way, either way, I am a former staff member of the ride, and I do when people hear that they talk about the comparisons between smart and the ride. Obviously, it's comparing apples to oranges, and I let them know that smart does have
great people. Thank you
Good afternoon.
My name is Joel Batterman. I live in Wayne County in Detroit. I'm not a regular smart writer currently, but did rely on smart for some time to get up to work in Ferndale.
Oh, before I
forget, I just want to mention that I really hope that future board meetings at other locations, the suburban board meetings that you've been having, we'll be having at Macomb Community College campus next month. You know, I don't think that's a bad idea in itself. But I really hope that they can be at locations that are more convenient to transit riders. There's very little service to the I guess they call it the central campus of Macomb Community College. I know there are a lot of fine dining and shopping options on haul road. But if you know there's a possibility that in future those meetings can be on, say, the fast routes, for instance, that would be better for riders. I guess at this point, I really just I guess I just don't understand. I don't understand what, you know, I'm not privy to the details of the the negotiations. But I just don't understand why there hasn't been a resolution to the contract. Certainly there was a time when smart was being operated on a shoestring. You know, obviously, the millage rate is still much lower than most agencies in the state. But, you know, it's not like you're rolling in money. But after the, you know, after the passage of the county wide millage last year, the strong support, and just the fact that, you know, you haven't been fully staffed, you know, there's I don't understand what the holdup is. And if it's, you know, if it's not wages, if it's something else, then, you know, maybe there can be some given take on the wage front. Yeah, I guess I just don't understand why it hasn't been more of a priority for the agency. And I encourage folks, you know, if, you know, the folks that work for the three county executives, you know, perhaps if you're able to get your bosses involved, if they could be helpful, they've, you know, certainly have had experience and negotiations. So if we could get the county executives involved with this issue, perhaps, you know, whatever it takes to bring this to a resolution because it's simply been, it's been way too long and we need to pay our drivers better. We need to provide the service the riders deserve. Thank you.
Hello, my
name is Richard Sager and I am from Frasier in Macomb County. For your consideration I would like to bring up how I live off of 15 mile and Garfield. And so I mostly rely on the 780 which is the Crosstown which runs from Gratiot Avenue to Long Lake which is a very long route as I have recently been on the bus and the driver talking to a passenger saying how she wished that it was could potentially be split into two because he usually just is very long and in duration tends to be on the hour so if you miss it you have to wait a whole nother hour to catch it pretty much and the cut off and Birmingham in particular is I recognize it as 950 and if unfortunately it gets canceled that means have to get an Uber which is happened to me once before I'm also I think about how Oh yeah, so it doesn't have service on Sundays which means that if I want to go somewhere I have to walk all the way usually an hour's worth to over the grass shed to get down on the usually either the eighth mile or all the way to the Detroit and then vice versa up to something off of Woodward if it's something in Oakland County. So certainly, I would just suggest, extent expanding services and to consider the possibility of more hours and the and the splitting up the route into more shorter routes, perhaps even a local throughout the boundary line between Oakland and Macomb counties. Thank you.
Anyone else?
Hi there,
my name is Mike Linden, Aronoff, I'm with the Michigan Environmental Justice Coalition. And I live in for eight to 10. Um, and a lot of great points have been made. I just wanted to say, as a taxpayer in the city workers is where I want my money to go. There's nothing else I'd rather pay for, please pay these workers the wage that they deserve. And I think it's really upsetting that workers like quest drivers were considered so essential during the pandemic, they had to risk their lives to take us around. But then now they're not being paid as though they're essential. They're being paid like they're disposable. And people have really talked about a lot of the day to day needs of public transit. I'm one of those people who wishes that they could be taking the bus, but wouldn't be able to make it to work in a reasonable amount of time. And so I had to use all my savings to get a car. And yeah, so. But I'm going to talk about a couple different things that haven't been mentioned yet. I wanted to talk first about general public safety. So when we have more buses, when we have more accessible buses, when it's easier to take the bus, we have more bus drivers, we don't need as many cars, which means less traffic fatalities. It means less car accidents, it means that regular Detroiters as a working class city will have more money in their pockets that they don't have to spend on cars, car insurance, car repairs, etc. And that makes it safer for kids going to school people crossing the street disabled folks who are rolling around our corners, and are currently endangered by how many cars we have. It also gets into an environmental justice issue where we have a massive air pollution problem in the city. And yes, personal vehicles aren't the major driving force behind that. It's mostly industrial pollution and trucks. But still, we have really high rates of asthma really high rates of respiratory issues. I'm one of the people who suffers from those things. And things like wildfires, flare ups are just going to get worse. And so when we transition to more buses, we have a cleaner, greener city, we have less air pollution, we need to have less traffic on the roads. And that helps us meet our environmental goals in a way that's a heck of a lot cheaper than transitioning to, you know, trying to put an electric vehicle charger in every corner. Well, if you have electric buses with well paid drivers, and they're reliable, you need a quarter of as many chargers and that's going to save the city money in the long run. And also last thing I want to say is just that my tax dollars are currently going to millions of dollars in subsidies for billionaire developers to focus on new new Detroit residents or big businesses downtown. But what about the longtime Detroit residents right about folks living in the regular neighborhoods. That's where money should be going and public transit is one of the major ways to do that. Thank you so much.
Hello,
good afternoon. My name is Ayana Grace King. I live in the 48202 zip code right here in Warren County. I am also working for me JC and I second everything that comes about environmental justice, I am going to speak as someone who takes the bus to work. I am an organizer for the community and I'm also an urban farmer. So I used the bus to go to work to grow food to feed people for free. And taking the bus between both jobs in my house is a lot, especially at night when I'm on the farm until eight o'clock at night and I have to wait two hours for a bus because the one that was scheduled didn't come and the one after that didn't come and then the one after that may or may not come in as a black queer woman standing outside at 10 o'clock at night is not safe. As somebody who's an essential worker in every single part of her life not being able to rely on other essential workers is really hard and $15 an hour is not a livable wage in any kind of capacity. I got paid 50 bucks an hour last year as a farmer, as someone who's in a relationship with two dogs, it was I was living paycheck to paycheck, there are many times I went to work without food. And nobody cared because there wasn't enough money to give me more money. And that's to expect people to come to work to feed and to service the community. But then they don't have what they need to be stable, to be stable mentally to be stable in terms of foods be stable in terms of their kids, it it contributes to the fact of why people are leaving Detroit instead of staying in Detroit. So I urge you guys to think about the livable wage. I urge you guys to think about how many people contribute to your groceries contribute to your kids getting to and from or have to go contribute to your grandkids being able to be here and seeing their long life. Detroit or Michigander,
thank you so much.
Thank you, thank you very much for the members of the public participate. We appreciate it. Moving on to the chairpersons reports. I just
doesn't matter. Okay, there was no, I just
wanted to take this opportunity because it came up in several of the comments, discussion about Oakland transit and the county wide millage that we approved last fall, which, of course we're very excited about. And we now have a transit office and a transit manager. But just to just to remind the public, you know, it is for Oakland County broader than the service that smart provides. Although we are very pleased that smart is going to be expanding their service. So just a few quick updates. We are very happy that the Board of Commissioners approved our request to expand our local reimbursement program. So communities outside of the current smart footprint who are spending money on transit services are being reimbursed for those services. Also very pleased that we're taking to the Board of Commissioners for approval in August, a contract with people's Express. So service can start under through people's Express for the communities in western Oakland. So we're very pleased about that. Also good meetings in Northwest the The Hollies and the Springfield's of the world in terms of how we can expand transit services to those very, very far north and west communities. So all of that is very positive, in addition to the expansions that North Oakland Transit Authority, and the older persons commission and Western Oakland transit authority are undertaking because of the millage. Also very, I like to compliment harmony Lloyd for all of the work that she's been doing with the city of Bloomfield Hills, and working through the issues that exist there. So we can get bus stops and service to those areas, which is currently you know, has always been kind of a gap and service on Woodward Avenue. If you can think about Woodward in those big stretches, it's not necessarily easy because if you get off on the north end, you have to come back on the south end and it's a wide Express. So she's very much working through the concerns that they have. And we're hoping that we can resolve those so that we can have stops along that passage and would have been Woodward. Also, Brett is you know starting a much deserved vacation with his family today. But I do want to mention because his planning division, working collaboratively with our transit division and the Board of Commissioners are starting to work with communities that have tiff has and DBAs who are capturing the transit millage so that they can think through you know, mobility and walkability and ways that they may be able to use the the additional revenue coming into their capture to support transit opportunities in those areas. So that's just a few quick updates as it relates to open transit, and I will turn it over to Mr. Girl with the general manager's report.
Hello, everybody. I had a very long and complex journal matches report I was gonna do but I decided against it. But I do want to make some comments As it relates to actually some of the comments that have been made here today. We have an executive session scheduled today. And we will continue to have executive scheduled executive sessions for this board on an ongoing basis to brief you on where we are with labor negotiations with our four unions. So that you will know what that is. But I'd also like to make a couple of comments. The situation as it relates to the shortage of drivers is not just a smart issue. It is a nationwide issue. It did not start because of the pandemic, it started before the pandemic. Now, I've heard comments here today about people and how long they've driven in this and what have you. Some people may not know, I drove, I was a member of the ITU for 10 years. So I certainly understand what it's like to be a bus operator and the issues that bus operators go through. I have not forgotten it. Although it has been a minute ago, I would agree that the wages that we pay aren't competitive.
That's not lost on us.
So we understand that. But if wages alone could fix this, it would have been fixed a long time ago. So there's not a single issue, or multiple issues that have to be addressed in terms of ultimately coming up with a contract for four different unions that have four different things to address. What works for mechanics doesn't work for operators, what works with fixed route operators, and more for paratransit operators and what works for supervisors that work for anybody else. So trying to be able to get all those pieces to fit together. Now, later in this presentation, later in this meeting, you will get a rather detailed presentation on the efforts that have taken place over the last couple of years to be able to hire operators. But one of the things that I cannot stress enough is, and I said it just a minute ago, if it was just wages alone, that would not have been much easier to deal with. I want to say this, because I think it's a couple of things. One, because we're in negotiations, we're really not in liberty to go back and forth with the public about what we did and what we offered in what have you that we're not going to negotiate in the press, we're not going to do that. But we are trying to negotiate.
When I talked about there being a st not being a singular issue, we cannot provide. And I want everybody in here to understand that we as an organization know that this is a service business, we can't do what we do without human beings doesn't work. And what it takes to attract and retain talent today is not the same thing it took to attract and retain talent. When I started some time ago, I'll let you guys figure that part out. But and I want the public to understand that we know that I'll say this. And then I'll close any work rule that was in place when I started driving the bus, August 11 1980. And I'll let you guys do the math for those of you who have math that math mathematically challenged as 43 years ago next month, has no place in the workplace today. And so what it takes to attract a talent is different. There are more jobs, we have far more competition for an employee for for jobs. And it's not just the wages than what others have. So again, this is a very complex issue. I want everybody to be able to understand that. And I want everybody who's here and who's listening to know that we are committed as an organization to providing the service that this region needs to grow and to develop and that people who depend on us need to have. So with that, that concludes my GM report. And then the the the HR briefing of date that's going to come under the briefing section will go into much more detail about what we have done thus far, and will probably in some instances, answer some questions that have been asked today.
Thank you. Before we
before we move to that, if we might, if there any questions for the general manager and if I might ask one question, make a comment and ask a question.
First I I don't know if it doesn't matter if it's on Tiffany.
Just
want people to hear.
First, I mean,
talk really loud. Is that something I can do? Okay, thank you. First of all, I mean, I, if it does not go without saying it should be said that this board supports our bus drivers and our employees and competitive wages and livable wages and all of those things we have done. So in Oakland County, we have provided more and more of our employees the right to join a union and collectively bargain. And so we there's no question that this board supports a livable wage. And I also agree with you that it is my view that negotiations shouldn't be done not in the media and not in in the public domain, because there has to be back and forth. So given that caveat, if you if you want to find a different way to answer this question, but you did say you talked about wages. So let me just ask you are wages the
sticking point?
I don't think that wages are the sticking point no.
So there is a whole array of issues that have to be agreed on. And generally a strategy is that nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to exactly. So more of the issues are other issues to make sure that we have the type of workplace that not only supports our workers, but allows us to get drivers who may be called off or may be coming off the board in a more efficient, more effective workplace. Well, there's lots of issues that are involved in this negotiation.
One of the things that we want to make sure that we tackle with this one, it has been mentioned often. And this is a this is a United States problem, not just transit, is retaining talent. Attracting is one thing, but keeping them here. And so the things that it takes to keep them here are things that there are some things that we have to negotiate. And there are some things that we're just doing. But it takes all of those things. So there's a there's a give and take that goes with negotiations in order to be able to accomplish. So we want to make sure that when we hire somebody because we understand how much it costs to train somebody and all the efforts that it takes to be able to do that. But as you will be able to see when you see the presentation, you can see the efforts that we've done. And you can also recognize that part of the issue is our ability to retain. And there are a whole host of reasons that come into play as it relates to retaining talent. It's, it's, it's a very different environment than what transit historically has had to deal with. So we don't have the franchise on it. But I do think that we have some solutions that can work long term. And I'll just say this, because it's it's part of the it's the largest demographic out there is not a baby boom, the largest demographic out there is millennials. And everybody in this room understands that I'm millennials and how they function and how they think is different. So how we go about creating in a work environment that can be attractive for Millennials, Generation X. And all of that is what we're trying to go about without going into a whole lot of details.
Thank you. I appreciate that. Are there any other questions for the general manager or comments?
Thank you, Madam Chair, listening today to all the comment from the public, and how they feel about the service in some area, about the benefit of the people who work for smart, all that have a value. And we pay attention to that. And we work together to make sure our employees are well protected and provided with income that have good standard of living, to be able to raise a family in Live Live decent living. On the other hand, we have the responsibility to protect the organization to be able to survive and to provide the services to the public they need. So it's a win win situation when we try to protect both sides. Not one only. And I want everybody to know this word here. Have a reputation with the leadership. We have now. With a smart is we aiming to enhance the benefit and the pay wages for the employee and that we need to protect those jobs and protect the organization and working together probably and the support of the public. We will complete that.
Thank you. Thank you. Any other board members? Okay, so we will go on to item number 10, which are the board briefings. Miss Jackson. Thank you, you're gonna do HR hiring update.
Good afternoon. Today's presentation is going to be on smart hiring goals as it relates to our fixed route operators and paratransit operators. The presentation will provide a brief summary on what are our fixed route operators and paired paired transit operator position staffing goes also how our recruitment efforts have impacted and increased the submission of applications for the positions of fixed route operator paratransit operator and why despite of our recruitment efforts, we still haven't reached our hiring goals. And lastly, what needs to be determined in order for smart to reach its fixed route operators and paratransit operators? hiring
staff involved right now is over there this probably won't be
if our staffing goal is to have 400 Fixed Route operators 145 here okay here
our staffing goal is to have 400 Fixed Route operators in 104 45 paratransit operators. Today, we have 300, fixed route operators and 98 paratransit operators. Our need is to hire 100, fixed route operators, and 47 paratransit operators. The primary tool that has been used by smart to feel staffing positions and identify future employees as operators is recruitment. In the past smart efforts, were not as energetic or aggressive as they are today. We're looking at the period of June 2021. Through June 2022. We received 365 applications for the subject positions of fixed route operators, and 201 for paratransit operators for a total number of 566 applications. From that application pool or applicant pool, we hired 63, fixed route operators, and 21 paratransit operators, for total number 84. When you look at the next year, or the next period, we received 978 applications for fixed route operators 396 For paratransit operators, for a total number of 13 174 applications. This was 143% increase from the
year before.
This increase was due to a couple of things. One was HR marketing campaigns that involve offerings of new hire and referral bonuses. The hiring of q&a marketing, firms will begin literally issuing advertisements for open operators positions, the use of social media, like Facebook and LinkedIn, five jobs for recruitment fairs occurring within nine months targeting the areas of Detroit, Southfield, Novi,
Dearborn and Pontiac.
From this recruitment effort, we hired 113 Fixed Route operators and this hiring actually exceeded our goal to hire 100 You Six route operators by searching high reach. We also hired 49 paratransit operators. In this exceeded our goal to hire 47. paratransit operators by two, with a total number of 162 hires.
Now you're probably thinking, Well what happened? Because we still haven't reached our goal of 406 route operators, and 145 paratransit
operators.
What happened is we lost 77 Tyrese during their training process. When a fixed route operator paratransit operator is hired, they are required to participate in aqueous eight eight week training period. That training consists of classroom curriculum and on the road training with a senior operator. During the July 22, through July 23 periods, we held 20 operator training classes for the one out of the 62 hired operators. From the 162 operators we retain 52.5% or 85 of our new hires. The remaining 47.5% or 77, hikers slash trainees were lost during training. One of the reasons they were lost during training is due to resignation. There was 68.8% or 53 of the 77 hires or trainees that resigned. Some of the reasons that they resigned was due to no call no show, pay rate and scheduling for suit of other employment, childcare issues, and license requirements CLP license the other 31.2% or 24 of the 77 higher reach slash trainees were separated due to attendance, misconduct, accidents and violation of drug and alcohol policy.
Based on these percentages during this July 22 to July 23 period, we lost 6.4 trainees per month of the new hire new hire operation operators. So we lost 6.4 Each month estimated of our trainees. So in order for Samar to reach our staffing goal of the 400 Fixed Route operators and 145 paratransit operators, we have to add this attrition rate this 6.4 to the equation along with other reasons, why we do not have the remaining 147 operators. We need to look at the areas of resignations, retirements and terminations. During July 2022 through July 2023. We had 85 resignations I operators, we had 17 retire and 48 terminations. Monthly. This comes out to 7.1 resignations, 1.42 retirements and four terminations. This adds up to a total amount attrition, monthly total average operators loss to attrition between June 2022 through July 2023 is 18.2
employees that we lose monthly.
So with this
attrition rate of 18.92 added to the monthly rate in which we need to hire operators, which would be 12.25. So we would need 12 operators hired every month in order to get to that 147.
That we need to hire 31 people a month
I was getting any of that. No I the 147 divided by 12 equals to 12 point To find the 12 that we need to hire, we have to include the attrition rate of the 18.92. Because that has to be a part of the equation. As I said earlier, it has to be a part of the equation because that's what we're losing. And so when you add them together, we need to hire 31 point 17 operators every month, in order to reach our goal of 400 Fixed Route operators, and 145. paratransit operators. If we do not reduce this attrition rate, if we don't reduce this attrition rate, that 31 point 17 is what we would have to tune. Currently, our average hiring rate for operators is
2323 operators a month.
So if we
would that inadequacies and attrition rate, we would only be hiring four operators a month. For if we, if we stick to the way we're doing things right now, he did four operators a month, which means it will take us about three years to reach our goal of 406 route operators. And 145 paratransit operators. And so this information represents, we do have an issue with retention, that is a huge issue for us. Huge. And so that is some areas that we need to work on. And that is our goal. That's what this presentation is presenting giving some numbers, and figuring out how we're going to reach the goal of those 400 Fixed Route operators, and 145 paratransit operators. So, before I finish, I do want to indicate from these numbers, it shows recruitments work, recruitment, it's where we're getting applications. From that standpoint, we are getting application is what happens beyond that, it is what we have to work on. So Madam Chair, that's the goal. That's the goal here to increase our retention rates. So we can cut the attrition rate and have been the operators we need within a shorter amount of time than the three years it would take if we continue to work the way we're working right now.
I'd like to add something to that. Assuming that the assuming that the attrition rate stays the same, we have to hire 31 people a month to come out of training. So what we're also looking at simultaneously, and one of the reasons why we've made some restructuring as it relates to operator training, is to increase the bandwidth of training. Part of what our challenge has been is the throughput. In other words, how many people can we get through training at a timeframe. And so we're working right now to try to be able to increase that if we can increase. Now I agree with Miss Jackson that trying to bring their attrition rate down. Obviously, that's something you want to do. And hopefully as we get through the negotiations, and what have you that will help. But in the anteroom, we've got to increase the number of people that we have. Now, I'll also say that there, if you can go back a slide
go back one more way. The reasons for terminations is what I'm looking for.
Right here. So the
issues below the items that cause people to not stay here, particularly the childcare, and the pay in schedule, people know how much they're making when they come here, but the schedule is broken.
Childcare,
when you have a job, like a bus operator, that's a tough thing, because that's not an eight to five kind of job. So if you thought maybe you could do it or you were dependent upon a family member or something in order to be able to help you do that and that fell through, then that's an issue. The other thing is, is that we are being aggressive, inconsistent about the other four items, accidents. If you're not doing well and training with accidents, we're not going to retain that just stands to reason. If you have an attendance problem and training, we're not going to retain
same thing with
misconduct complaints and All sorts of things. So we're, we're being aggressive in terms of making sure that we weed out people, which, in some instances, it makes, it increases the attrition rate. But the alternative have far greater ramifications to the organization, particularly in the space of safety. So, in my comment, in my general manager's report, I said that this was a complex issue. That it's just not a singular thing. And so, we are our ability to be able to increase the bandwidth to be able to increase the number of people that we can train helps. And those are all things that we are discussing now to try to be able to address. Should
we can take some questions at this juncture? I'm Miss Jackson. Okay. So first off, congratulations. That is the the recruitment, as you say, is working. And that 143% increase, you know, is really is really good to see, in your experience. Are any of those percentages as a relates to the training? The people who don't pass the training, and then the attrition rates? Is it typical for this type of industry? Is it like, how does your what do you make of it in terms of the experience that you've seen in other places up for light, I guess the same for you in terms of, you know, transit agencies,
for incoming employees that have to go through a training program, it's typical. It's difficult.
It is, for bus operators in particular, it is becoming more of the industry norm. It wasn't always that way. But there are, let me put it this way. Part of the changes that have happened in the country over the last however many years is there, there's a more diverse, more diverse, diverse workforce. And more people have responsibility for their children. And the hours that they have to work as a bus operator, in particular, are not conducive to traditional hours, if that makes any sense. And that is an absolute challenge that we as an industry have to try to deal with. You know, most childhood, I'll give an exam, most childcare is posted six o'clock. If you're an operator, you're not getting off sixth slot. So what do you do with your kids? And, and if you have somebody who you're depending upon to keep your child, I have my own example, when I started as a bus operator, there was a period of time when I was divorced with a kid. If I had primary responsibility for my son, I would have had to have another job, or I would have been dependent upon my mother or someone else to pick my kid up from school. That's just the reality. And that's what's happening today. That's just this is one of the issues.
And the attrition rates is that
Ford retirement seems low to me. But is it dependent on the industry that's among about the same, the resignations are high. Right. That's That's not typical terminations. terminations for a month average.
from an industry perspective, those numbers are usually reversed. They're usually more people who get terminated and quit. But, again, the things that cause people to quit is not about pay as much as it is about, I'll tell you what, what we will try to do next month is give you an idea of a schedule for an operator coming out of training, to see the hours that he or she has to work in the first in the first month or so, if you're on the extra board. And when you see that you can see, would you do it?
And you all start on the extra board.
Yes, that is a seniority based and so the extra board are the people who don't have assignments who wait for somebody else to, to not to not come in, but when you see that you'll have an idea of what it's like you know, to have your life up ended for lack of a better term,
because I might be on the extra board working in the evening and then be called in to work in the morning
right so I may I have an assignment today that gets off at midnight and has an assignment tomorrow that goes work six o'clock in the morning. And then the next day, I may be doing something in between and it's just something different every day so it's not so How much about it being different every day, but it is different as it relates to some days I get off at midnight and some days I get off at five o'clock this field
and correct me if I'm wrong, the extra board is also something that's collectively bargain. That is correct. Thank you,
Madam Chair, just a point of information, the 68.8% of the 53, the 77 that resign the trainees that resign out of that number 53, only four had listed pay as a reason,
okay, only for
healing all those problem.
Opportunities?
Well, you know, they're the problem, why sometime we don't have enough people to work because they're important issue a child care, you know, those it's important thing came to my mind is some other transportation in the nation facing same problem, how they deal with it, we need to be open to study in see, because those are some important issues. You know, if I have a kids, I need to have a job to provide them with good living. But I have to take care of them too. In the same time, I can be working on a schedule two graphs, explore to pick them up from the school instead of the supervisor telling me I have to work through them. We need to find how other organization dealing with those issues, and try to debate those issue with you in the board here and try to find solutions. I mean, we can give up because it's difficult situation, we have to face the difficult situation, we find solution in nature, our organization, provide good job that does not affect the standard of living for normal family.
So so there are some things that as an organization, we're exploring, particularly as it relates to childcare, I can tell you that there are a couple of organizations, but they have a single facility, they actually have a daycare in there. We've got multiple facilities. So it's a little more of a challenge. But we are open to trying to partner with entities that will perhaps expand hours or keep longer hours if we subsidize them, so that our employees can go to work. So I mean, it's it's there are some things out there that we're trying to explore, that will address that particular issue. Where there are things that organizations are doing, that are successful in retaining talent that we can adopt those that we can we do those that have to be negotiated, we negotiate. And so that's, that's, that's where we are. And so as far as childcare is concerned, those are things that we're trying to do, because it's it's in the best interests of the organization to be able to thrive, for our employees not to worry about who's going to keep my
kid. Any other constraints. You Madam Chair,
appreciate it. Miss Jackson, thank you so very much for the information. It just wanted to follow up with regards to some of the aspirational metrics versus some of the more adequate staffing levels that we're looking at. You talked about our goal of up 400 Total operators. Is that represent the total number of drivers
served? Yes.
And then as a follow up to that with regards to the 300 operators, would that meet the needs for today's schedule? So we had 300 individuals,
and we're able to
how would those three those 300 operators would help us establish and meet a number of the headways and objectives that we have with regards to our routes as they are today?
You're asking with the 300? Yes, you'll get the 300? Yeah, no,
no, no, that no, the 300 that we have. We, our schedules are such that if we had 300, we'd be able to reach the schedule that we're providing now. Gotcha. Obviously not pre pandemic. Yeah, no way. But the most recent service reductions that we made took into consideration the staffing level that is current, not aspirational, but what we could what we knew that we could deliver.
Appreciate it. No, Miss Jackson, very much appreciate your insights not only with regards to the the incredible achievements by you and your team with regards to getting the word out there and seeing the increases with regards to the number of applicants that are coming into the system. Undoubtedly, we're trying to adapt that in a way that will usher people through that system and provide more safeguards for put Central employees and our existing employees. So I'm, you know, a job well done to you and your team. And undoubtedly we as a board will continue to do anything that we can not only to help us, you know, achieve that. And when we look at it, you know, as currently situated, do we have enough operators to meet today's schedule?
Based on
it, that's a yes. No, no. Okay. So, yes, based on the scheduling the way it is right now to accommodate the number of drivers we have. But the ultimate goal in order to reach the full capacity, I'll say it that way, we need the 400.
I'll come anybody else have any questions or comments? Okay, thank you again.
So we'll move on to item number B, the flex report, Mr. Whitehouse
welcome.
Madam Chair, there we go.
It's working now. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the board. So I'll just give a brief update on our SmartFlex service. Mel. Got me presentation. So you can see some figures that we have for you. All right. So I want to start talking with ridership. So since I last reported to you, we have seen a steady increase in ridership. So we are now nearly 30,000 rides a month. So about four months ago, we were just under 25,000 Miles 25,000 rides a month and we have skyrocketed up a part of this or most of this is due to more driver on boardings from via as in more shift claims. So more services, more vehicles on the road at any given time, able to provide more service. So now the next thing we've been talking about is kind of the the the cost of the service. So Malpica switch. So wanted to give a brief update on or showcase the cost per ride. And how as rides have gone up, hours have gone, gone up, we are providing rides at a lower cost per ride. And this figure is across the entire Flex System. So DeAndre next. So then the next question probably for the board would be well is this to endure response times. So unfortunately, we have seen a slight increase in response time, about a minute to a minute and a half longer for average response time with those 5000 rides that have been increasing over
the last few months.
To offset the
response time or to make sure that the reset response time stays within a acceptable level. Our staff has gone more in depth on a day to day basis, and is monitoring the deployment of vehicles throughout the entirety of the day, and has been more active in moving vehicles from zone to zone to make sure that wait times are evenly distributed between the zones. And so we're monitoring this going forward. As we've been more active in the recent months and with the rides going up. This is just an ongoing monitoring to see what what extremes we need to do and how we consistently move vehicles across the zones. On January next, as you can see with the utilization our goal when we launched this pilot was to provide two rides per hour. And we continue to meet that Pontiac is month after month about three rides per hour while almost every other zone is meeting the two rides per hour goal that we had set forth January next slide. Ride rating has remained consistent even with the increase in rides. And as the next slide is going to show kind of what the satisfaction is. We really do believe that as we have more hours claimed more shifts claimed were bringing more operators in that that's what kept the service levels appropriate and kept riders who are using the service and satisfied with it to that level.
January next slide.
So next I did want to show a quick slide on what the top rationale is for the ratings for riders comfortable ride. And so as we've been putting new vehicles out there, you know it's a comfortable ride working air conditioning in the summer. They're able to fit in the vehicle comfortably. Smooth routing, so easy transitions, easy booking a quick pickup. So as we saw the average wait time although at 23 minutes is still an appropriate time. and other people are willing to wait. And a lot of driver satisfaction drivers have been engaging and you know, caring about the riders and showing just their commitment to the service. We have learned a lot during these past few months by doing more driver town halls and engaging the drivers and learning more about the rider patterns, and what riders look for in the service. But more importantly, what the drivers look for, why, you know, what brings them to work every day, but the FLEX program. Next slide Deandre. So next thing I didn't want to touch on is a few months ago, the board was gracious enough to approve an increase in Wave vehicles, I did want to touch back on that and show where that progress is. So we'll start with Wave driver training, our commitment has been to have all driver partners with via go through wave training, to ensure that they can all handle and provide wave equipped service. And so you see, at the end of April, we had 68 driver partners that completed the training, you see that to date, we have 69. Now that doesn't kind of make sense. But what we have learned was through driver attrition and more on boardings, that's why the numbers have kind of got continued to the level we want. But that via does have training scheduled August and going forward to provide more wave trainings. As far as the updates, the vehicle update goes, right now we have 20 Wave vehicles in the flex fleet. And they have a plan to bring 10 more on in the next month and a half, which would bring the number to 30. And I think our ultimate goal is have 32 vehicles in service are available to to the service. And so last thing I did want to show was we did a recent rider survey. And we got some feedback from riders on why they liked the service. And so if you go move to the next slide, some of that feedback is captured here.
And so with
that, I will entertain any questions that madam chair you or the Board may have.
Thank you. Thank you very much, Danny,
I have a question. How many? And I will say anecdotally and you can't do anything about it anecdotally. But it's amazing how many people have commented to me recently about the increased number of flex vehicles
they see. People are flex riders and fixed route riders. So overlap or they're different audiences.
There is overlap. Yeah, we do provide a lot of first last mile service providers in the flex zones, as well as a lot of movement within the zone itself.
The other questions from the board. Well, thanks again. Very, very helpful. Nice report. Okay, so we'll move on to new business. Item Number A, I'll take a motion for a resolution on the smart fiscal year 2023 5310 Place support have been supported. And so this is more about 5310. Yes,
thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. Staff is recommending Board approval of the resolution authorizing the fiscal year 2022 and 2023 5310 program of projects. Smart applies on behalf of its sub recipients for FTA section 5310 funding annually. 5310 For those that may not know are programs that directly benefit older adults in persons with disabilities. The FTA requires a program of projects be submitted with the 5310 grant application. This program includes capital, mobility management and operating projects that were approved during a recent RTA 5310 call for projects and MCA section 5310. Total of 6,289,128 is included in smarts program of projects
available for questions.
Will the
new maps on the urbanized area have any effect though some of the funding?
I think it does affect the amount that comes into the area totally. But we don't know exactly what that change will be. But yes it will affect that going down the road.
I've seen the draft maps for Monroe County which are being offered by some cog right now. Particularly I was concerned about the Bedford area and I Su do see a D I think a decrease in the urbanized area. Hey there, and I was looking at the funding the pass through, which was around $42,000. I'm just concerned that, you know, the amount of dollars might decrease for some of these
programs
do know FTA is working with the work with Congress to increase the total amount of money that goes into 5310. So it would help to cushion some of those reduction in the
shipper. Any other questions? Okay, thank you. All those in favor.
Aye.
Any at all us. Resident citizen approved. Moving on to item number B, we'll take a motion to approve a resolution on end that's five year vehicle accessibility playing sport. It's been moved and supported. Mr. White House.
Good afternoon again,
Madam Chair and members of the board. I'm here today again on behalf of smart staff requesting that the Board approve a submit a proof smart to submit a five year V Accessibility Plan as required by Amazon. Smart submits a yearly VX vehicle Accessibility Plan which describes the demand and response services provided by smart directly as well as the community partnership programs. The five year plan which is required by MDOT provides greater depth of information and many topics including services, fairs, as well as service areas for all those providers. Smart recently had their five year plan reviewed by the smart Advisory Council in June, which followed the same process is completed with the yearly vehicle vehicle accessibility. I'm available to answer any questions about the report or the submittal.
Are there any questions? This is a list of the Local Advisory Commission. Individuals right as head for this.
That's correct. Yes.
See, no questions. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Resolution is approved. Item number c I'll take a motion on a resolution for S A S management software training and consultant services agreement. So moved and moved and supported. Mr. Evans.
Good afternoon, Madam Chair and board. Staff recommends Board approval for the resolution authorizing the Software as a Service Management Consulting training and software agreement at a cost not to exceed $279,350 for a five year contract. This contract is funded by the state by a state of Michigan grant. Smart is in the IT management consulting, training and consulting training and software to assist with the management of its technology support for a five year period. The solution is a software as a service platform with a mobile apps that will help to support 300 Plus users with 12 agents. I'm here to answer any questions.
So is this a new software solution? Yes, it is. So we have this is the first time we use this. And what I'm sorry, mostly you're just telling me exactly what it's for
is to put it in more layman's terms is Help Desk software to allow staff to be able to submit requests and we can track it and under will also assist with management of the of their local device meaning their laptops, wherever they are connected to the internet. We can work with them, track it, support it and be able to access it.
Okay, no, no further questions here. Any other questions? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Any oppose? This resolution is approved item number D I'll take a motion on a resolution authorizing to award a contract or outside legal services for five legal practice areas.
Madam Chair support
and supporting
fun Welcome.
Thank you Madam Chair. Good afternoon members of the board.
Staff recommends Board approval of the resolution authorizing contracts to the multiple bidders listed in the agenda for the five different practice areas for RFP 2337 85. For outside legal services, determined these contracts shall be three years with two additional one year options that may be exercised at Smart sole discretion. The five practice areas include general in vehicle liability, general corporate practice, workers compensation, labor and employment. And finally matters related to 49 USC 5333 B, which is also known as Section 13 C of the Federal Transit act, RFP 2337 85 was advertised and posted in that on the Michigan intergovernmental trade network, a total of 12 proposals were submitted 10 of those 12 proposals were deemed to be responsive, and were therefore evaluated by the selection committee. The firm's didn't deem to be most advantageous to smart, I recommended and are listed in the table in lagenda. These contracts are paid from the authorities general fund, and I'm happy to answer any questions you guys have.
Thank you. So are these law firms that have a roster that
we would utilize and a need B basis? Yes,
it'd be as needed. Yes.
And then selecting them based
on their area of expertise selected based
on that series? Yeah, under the five different practice areas, depending on the issue, if it falls within one of those five practice areas, we'd select them to the list below. Have you ever looked at that agenda there?
It's when was the last time we went out for bid on 2018. Further questions, any any other questions?
Could you just refresh my mind matters related to 49 USC not being an attorney, but it seemed to be kind of a something I hadn't remembered before. And what that An example might be,
is that the third thing you see is revision. This is the 13th supervision. Yes,
yeah. That's a labor specifically. There's a here's a provision taking go into the technical details, but every transit system has to have a lawyer like this on both because of the 30 simple vision as it relates to collective
bargaining. Okay.
Any questions? Yes.
Any other questions? All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? And there was a downward motion on a resolution authorizing to award a contract for circuit board repair, to move, support and movement. Yes, by out and supported by gateway. Thank you. So Mr. Burt. Welcome. Good afternoon, Madam
Chair, my board of directors General Manager, barrel Deputy General Manager, Gunther, smart staff and participating members of the public. It is a recommendation that the board adopt the attached resolution authorizing the award of a contract for circuit board repair to the gigantic Corporation. This is a three year contract with two one year renewal options at a cost not to exceed $150,000.
Any questions?
Where are these circuit boards
that the second one is actually on a bus?
That's great. Thanks. Appreciate that.
Geez, these are like, you know how you get an alternator rebuilt or something? That's what this
is this. Yep. For the refurbishing of circuit boards that we use on multiple systems on the bus. Is there
is there some reason that we had to go to New Jersey to get this just curious that somebody in Michigan might have bid on this.
Actually, I believe this was the sole. This is the incumbent for the past. Actually two contracts actually been with smart almost close to 15 years.
No questions. All those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Motion is approved. Item number f take a motion to on a resolution authorizing to award a contract for painting and power washing services.
So move Madam Chair. The board
is a recommendation that the Board adopted a tax resolution authorizing a war to contract for painting and power washing services to decimal LLC located at 16870. shaper, Detroit, Michigan. This is a three year contract with two one year options and a total cost of $400,000.
questions. Any questions? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Any opposed? And the resolution is approved. I'll take a motion to go into executive session to support really supported do we take a vote roll call Roll call, please. Yes chairperson? Chairwoman Hillary teen by Vice Chairperson fo ananas Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Taking over yes
