Agenda Item # 7
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Date: |
March 15, 2007 |
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Committee Meeting Date: |
April 11, 2007 |
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Board Meeting Date: |
N/A |
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ACTION
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DISCUSSION
X
| INFO
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BOARD MEMORANDUM
| TO: |
Committee for Transit Accessibility |
| | Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority |
| | Board of Directors |
| | | | THROUGH: | Michael T. Burns |
| | General Manager |
| | | | FROM: | Donald Smith, Jr. |
| | Chief Operating Officer |
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| SUBJECT: |
Mobility Device Securement Update |
FOR INFORMATION ONLY
Prior to the policy’s January 1, 2007 implementation, VTA retrofited all of its buses with new securement equipment and provided mobility device securement training information to all operator and field supervision personnel. VTA staff were deployed to transit centers and bus routes to interact one-to-one with customers traveling with the assistance of mobility devices. In an effort to assist with the securement of mobility devices of interested customers, VTA Accessible Services staff developed and offered a mobility device marking and tethering program. As of the writing of this memorandum, more than 50 customers have had their mobility devices marked or tethered.
The purpose of this memorandum is to present an update concerning the implementation of the mobility device securement policy by assessing various field operations data since January 1, 2007 as presented in Attachment A.
Discussion:
Attachment A presents mobility device securement and lift operating data. Total system bus ridership is also presented for the months reported. As shown for the first two months of Calendar Year 2007, only 8 occurrences have been reported where passengers have refused the securement of their mobility devices and have refused to deboard the bus. Seven occurrences, all in January, have involved a passenger deboarding upon their denial of mobility device securement.
The data also shows an improvement between January and February in VTA’s ability to provide both lift and securement related services. In January, there were 46 lift calls involving a passenger with a disability. In February, these calls declined to 26.
In regards to functioning of the securement equipment, the data shows the number of securement equipment inoperable occurrences dropping from 23 in January to 1 in February. Operator ability to secure is also shown to have improved. In January, there were 12 instances of an Operator being unable to secure a mobility device. In February, the number of these occurrences had dropped to four. The critical importance of this data is that service cannot be denied to a person if VTA, either because of equipment or operator ability, cannot secure a mobility device. The decline in these two measures of inability to secure shows the response of VTA’s maintenance and field and/or division supervision providing support and retraining to allow operator staff to perform their mobility device securement responsibilities.
There have been a total of five reported incidents of customer injury and physical damage to mobility devices from January 1 – February 28, 2007; as of the writing of this memo no claims have been filed by customers.
Finally, Accessible Service staff’s contacts with customers and operators have resulted in a sense that operators are committed to the need to secure the mobility devices of their customers. Both customers and operators have expressed appreciation of the brief interactions they have with each other during the securement of a mobility device. Customer Service complaint data reviewed by Accessible Services staff shows the receipt of 22 concerns expressed by customers regarding either operator behavior related to the mandatory securement policy or the policy itself.
VTA’s effort to provide safe transport to its customers through the implementation of the mandatory securement policy is ongoing. Operator training and coaching will continue as will administrative review of securement related information in consultation with the Mobility Device Securement Task Force and the CTA. Customers are asked to let VTA know of any problems related to or concerns they wish to express about the mandatory securement policy by contacting VTA Customer Service at (408) 321-2300 or (408) 321-2330 (TDD only) or by submitting a comment via VTA’s web-site at vta.org. Customers interested in having their mobility devices marked and/or tethered are invited to call VTA’s Accessible Services Department at (408) 952-4249 to request an appointment time and date.
Attachment A Mobility Device Securement / Lift Data
Total Bus Ridership was 2,527,827 for January 2007 and 2,375,636 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 4,903,463.
Bus Ramp and Lift Boardings were 8,362 for January 2007 and 6,756 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 15,118.
Total Passengers Declined securement and refused to deboard were 5 for January 2007 and 3 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 8.
Total Passengers Declined Securement and deboarded coach were 7 for January 2007 and 0 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 7.
Claims Information
Injury were 2 for January 2007 and 2 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 4.
Damage to Mobility Device were 1 for January 2007 and 0 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 1.
Note: VTA’s third party claims adjuster mailed Government Code 910 Claims forms to all customers, but no claims have been filed as of the writing of this memo.
Total Count of Lift Call- involving person with a disability was 46 for January 2007 and 26 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 72.
Total Count of Lift Call- not involving person with a disability was 4 for January 2007 and 0 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 4.
Total Count of Mandatory Securement-Operator unable to secure. Coach equipment inoperable was 23 for January 2007 and 1 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 24.
Total Count of Lift Road Call-Will not Deploy was 15 for January 2007 and 9 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 24.
Total Count of Lift Road Call-Lift Drifts was 0 for January 2007 and 0 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 0.
Total Count of Lift Road Call-Lift Broken was 5 for January 2007 and 4 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 9.
Total Count of Lift Road Call-Will not stow was 29 for January 2007 and 29 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 58.
Total Count of Lift Road Call-Miscellaneous was 8 for January 2007 and 13 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 21.
Total Count of Mandatory Securement-Unable to secure-device was 15 for January 2007 and 7 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 22.
Total Count of Mandatory Securement-Operator unable to perform securement task was 12 for January 2007 and 4 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 16.
Total Count of Mandatory Securement-Miscellaneous was 49 for January 2007 and 21 for February 2007, for a Calendar Year to date total of 70.
| Prepared by: | David Ledwitz |
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