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Operations and Maintenance; <br />Administration; <br />Finance; and, <br />Market Development. <br /> <br />In the following sections, the organizational alternatives are examined and a recommendation <br />made for a management structure to be used for the initial service period. <br /> <br />Alternative Organization Strategies <br /> <br />· Operations and Maintenance <br /> <br />This is the largest and most visible part of the transit delivery system. The actual operation of <br />the vehicles includes the hiring of drivers, the negotiation of wage rates and work rules, the <br />daily management of personnel, and the assignment of work. <br /> <br />This element of the overall delivery system has the most clearly defined organizational <br />alternatives. At one end of the scale the transit agency employs all the necessary individuals, <br />trains them, and assigns them work. The personnel, payroll, and benefits program, then, are <br />all the responsibility of the public agency. The opposite of this approach is the alternative <br />whereby the agency contracts with a private company to provide the services (specified by the <br />designated agency) and employ the personnel to do the work. <br /> <br />In the first alternative, the largest transit agencies in the county fit this model. However, even <br />these systems are being altered by policy boards who are seeking closer community control <br />and lower operating costs. The contract operations are growing rapidly as agencies seek to <br />find a balance between control of the service and the most efficient means of delivery. <br /> <br />The contract operations model may be the most appropriate means to begin the integration of <br />services, in that it treats all operators of service as contractors. This approach, used in <br />Phoenix, Az~ for example, permitted the transit agency to have non-profit organizations such <br />as the Red Cross operate services that were coordinated with fixed route bus lines and <br />volunteer driver dial-a-ride services. <br /> <br />Even the contract operation option has many variables. The following matrix (Figure l) <br />illustrates the most widely used options for ownership and management of the variety of <br />elements of operations and maintenance. <br /> <br />fiunnett Fleming <br />ENGINEERS AND PLANNERS <br /> <br />49 <br /> <br /> <br />