Trimet Safety Final Report

Final Report
TriMet Safety & Service Excellence Task Force

10/20/2010

TASK FORCE ON SAFETY & SERVICE EXCELLENCE
October 19, 2010
Mr. Neil McFarlane, General Manager
TriMet
4012 SE 17th Ave
Portland, OR 97202

Re: Final Report

Dear Neil:
Enclosed please find the final report from the task force you appointed shortly after becoming
general manager in July of this year.
The tragedy of April 24, 2010, drove the direction and intensity of the task force’s work. This
fateful occasion was clearly the darkest night in TriMet’s history. The focus of our
recommendations is to help you migrate TriMet to the highest level of safety performance, so
that such an event never happens again.
Your staff, K&J Consultants, members of the public and TriMet employees contributed greatly
in shaping our views. Ultimately, the attitudes, ethics and input of your operators are the most
important. Together with your leadership, these dedicated individuals will be instrumental in
elevating safety as a cultural value at TriMet.
Please accept our appreciation for the opportunity to serve you with these recommendations,
and our willingness to provide further assistance.

Sincerely,

Tom Walsh
Chair, Task Force on Safety & Service Excellence
SSETF Final Report Page 2
Table of Contents

Page
1. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………….........4
i. Charge . …………………………………………………………………………………………………..4
ii. Process . ……………….…………………………………………………………………………………4
iii. Direction .. ……………………..………………………………………………………………………..4
iv. Purpose . …………………………………………………………………………………………………5
v. Problem Statement .. ……………………………………………………………………………….5
vi. Principal Recommendations . ………………………………………………………………….5

2. Detailed Recommendations and Observations . ………………………………………………….6
i. TriMet Culture . ……………………………………………………..………………………………..6
ii. Communications and Engagement . ………………………………………………………..6
iii. Accountability, Empowerment and Support . ………………………………………….7
iv. Tools, Systems and Processes . ………………………………………………………………..9

3. Concluding Remarks………………………………………………………………………………………….10

4. Appendices and Attachments . ………………………………………………………………………….11
i. Appendix A: Task Force Members ………………………………………………………..12
ii. Appendix B: Summary of Meetings ………………………………………………………14
iii. K&J Phase I: System Safety Review and Evaluation of Policies,
Procedures and Training (Attachment)
iv. K&J Phase II: System Safety On‐Site Assessment (Attachment)

Introduction
TriMet’s most serious collision in its history occurred on April 24, 2010, when a bus hit five
people in a crosswalk, killing two and seriously injuring another. The agency immediately
launched a top‐to‐bottom safety review with the assistance of an expert affiliated with the
National Safety Council, as well as a line‐by‐line assessment of every bus route to improve
safety.
Shortly after the launch of this initiative, Neil McFarlane took over as TriMet’s general manager,
making safety and service excellence the focus of his first months in office. His first step was to
create a 12‐person Task Force on Safety and Service Excellence. Members of the task force
included stakeholders with key areas of expertise such as public safety, traffic engineering,
professional drivers, pedestrians, bicyclists, private business and TriMet bus and rail operators.
Charge
Mr. McFarlane suggested that organizations with the highest level of safety performance are
also organizations that deliver excellent customer service. His charge to the task force:
How to migrate TriMet to the highest levels of safety performance, and thereby improve
performance in all areas of its business.
Process
The task force built upon the work of TriMet’s top‐to‐bottom safety review, including a review
of the technical safety reports provided by K&J Safety and Security Consulting Services, Inc. It
examined many facets of the agency’s organizational culture and structure, including how
TriMet sets and communicates priorities and how decisions are made that affect safety
outcomes.
The task force reported directly to the general manager, and held nine meetings between July
29, 2010, and October 20, 2010, including four sessions open to the public and five work
sessions. All public sessions included time for public comments from stakeholders, employees
and outside experts.
Direction
TriMet can migrate to the highest levels of safety performance, and thereby improve
performance in all areas of its business by creating a culture where safety is not just a priority—
it is a value.
TriMet’s success in this migration will depend on the general manager taking ownership and
acting as the driving force. Commitment from the board of directors will also be key. The
recommendations in this report are provided to the general manager to help implement this
cultural shift. To achieve success, TriMet will have to build upon the observations and
recommendations of the task force, and implement them in a way that is sustainable over time.
Many of the recommendations presented by the task force are by necessity general in nature.
Its mission was not to produce detailed action plans; rather, directional guidance that TriMet
can utilize to ensure the safety of people in and around TriMet. Some recommendations might
lead to relatively quick adjustments in programs and activities, while others are more structural
requiring greater time for implementation.
The task force will be available to reconvene to evaluate and comment on TriMet’s progress, if
it would be of value to the general manager.
Purpose
The purpose of this report is to provide the general manager with guidance for further action.
What follow are recommendations in four major areas that are intended to help TriMet’s
general manager improve the safety performance of the organization.
Problem Statement
Testimony from employees, management staff, the public and K&J Consulting helped the task
force to develop the following problem statement:
Safety at TriMet is one of a number of priorities that compete for limited time, attention and
resources. TriMet’s commitment to safety and service excellence across its many divisions
and vertically through its ranks is uneven.
Principal Recommendations
To help TriMet create a culture that structurally and practically places safety at the forefront,
the task force arrived at four principal recommendations:
1. TriMet Culture: Make safety a value, not just a priority, by transforming TriMet’s culture.
2. Communication and Engagement: Empower operators to be active participants in their
work as the face of the agency to the public. Engage the community in helping TriMet be
successful in an ever‐growing complex operating environment.
3. Accountability, Empowerment and Support: Elevate and expand the Safety Department by
appointing an Executive Director of Safety, who will be responsible for developing and
implementing a comprehensive safety program, enhanced tools for accountability, and an
employee support structure.
4. Tools, Systems and Processes: Develop metrics for driving performance and make better
use of safety data to inform decision making.
Detailed Recommendations and Observations
TriMet Culture
Safety needs to be an organizational value—evident in all aspects of the agency’s work—not
just a priority subject to competition for resources, time and attention.
1. General manager’s call to action
The general manager should clearly articulate safety as an organizational value to the
board, the public and TriMet employees, and provide leadership that models the shift in
elevating safety to the fundamental value of the organization.

In doing so, every decision should be viewed through a safety lens. This includes
development and implementation of policies and procedures, scheduling of routes,
allocation of resources in TriMet’s annual budget and more.
Communications and Engagement
2. Employee engagement
More opportunities are needed for employees to engage leadership in frank discussions
about safety. TriMet should consider holding meetings on a regular basis where employees
are able to provide feedback to managers and leadership. Topics should reach beyond
specific issues of safety to include service excellence and TriMet culture.
3. Strategic data sharing
TriMet should make safety performance data readily available and visible in employee
common areas to help draw broader attention to safety performance and to drive
awareness of it as a critical measure.
4. Community advisory committee
TriMet cannot achieve the highest levels of safety performance without engaging the entire
community. The task force heard from operators that the rules of the road and the physical
environment in which they operate don’t always accommodate a conflict‐free environment.
Members of the public have described their need for more collaboration between TriMet
and its customers and partners both in decision‐making processes and in response to
identified issues.
Community conversations will be required to harness the knowledge of all constituents and
thereby improve the safety of the region’s public transportation for everyone. TriMet
should consider a community advisory committee that would allow TriMet’s customers and
partner stakeholders the opportunity to weigh in as TriMet makes decisions. It would also
provide an opportunity for customer engagement on the agency level beyond the
limitations of current public testimony to the board. Engagement with the community
should also include an improved process for collecting and responding to safety issues that
are identified by the public.
5. Engagement with partner organizations
TriMet should continue to strengthen its work with partner organizations in the
identification of hazards. Metro’s new transportation safety committee may be a resource
for TriMet.
6. Language and definitions
Within TriMet there is no common definition of safety or universal understanding of what it
means. There is limited ownership of safety in the language TriMet uses, e.g., the frequent
use of “accident” when referring to collisions and the perceived comfort with “non‐
preventable” as a description.
TriMet should eliminate the term “accident” from its vocabulary to the extent practicable,
and instead use words that are descriptive of the event in order to highlight the predictable
and preventable nature of most collisions and injuries.
Additionally, TriMet should shift emphasis to the concepts and terminology around “hazard
identification” from accidents, which underlines a more proactive approach to safety.
Accountability, Empowerment and Support
7. Executive Director of Safety
The Phase I K&J Report identified the need for a director of safety who reports directly to
the general manager. The task force believes this position should be elevated to the level of
executive director to ensure that the person selected is engaged in leadership conversations
and decision making at the executive leadership team level.
This individual would be responsible for breaking down silos and uniting all aspects of
operations to support a comprehensive safety program. His or her work would include the
oversight and implementation of many of the recommendations in this section.
8. Hiring and training practices
The hiring process should be evaluated to ensure that safety is instilled as a value from the
moment a person becomes an employee of TriMet. TriMet should evaluate and identify
desirable qualifications in recruiting new employees, based on safety performance and
service excellence.
TriMet needs to emphasize safety in its ongoing training efforts. The relationship of the
Safety Department and the Training Department should be examined and consideration
should be given as to what organizational structure maximizes the relationship between the
two departments.

The task force heard that all newly hired bus operators enter the agency as part‐time
operators. This may limit the talent pool and could present other challenges. This issue
should be examined.
TriMet should also look at ways to nurture mentorship opportunities between senior and
new operators.
9. Health and wellness
TriMet should focus on programs that create an environment where employees can be
healthy, well‐trained, successful people. Addressing health and wellness, advancing training
goals and providing professional development opportunities will foster a supportive and
healthy environment for TriMet’s employees, better equipping them to provide a safe and
rewarding transit experience to TriMet customers.
10. Recognition programs
TriMet should evaluate existing recognition and incentive programs and align them with
safety as an organizational value. These programs should be constructed in a way that
rewards achievement in safety and service excellence, and motivates employees to improve
their performance.
11. Union engagement
TriMet should use its best efforts to garner the support of ATU leadership, as
representatives of TriMet’s frontline employees, in instilling safety as a value at TriMet.

Tools, Systems and Processes
12. Safety “Dashboard”
Safety must be measured from a known baseline to improve performance. Currently,
TriMet does not sufficiently “mine” or analyze data to support the identification of hazards
and to proactively work towards incident prevention.
TriMet should develop a safety “dashboard,” comprised of key metrics that can be used to
continually monitor and report on safety performance.
13. Data analysis in support of hazard identification and incident prevention
TriMet should use in‐house resources to evaluate safety‐related data. Data that are
collected should be analyzed and distilled into information that can readily inform operator
training, service planning, line risk assessments and response to operator feedback.
The new Executive Director of Safety should be responsible for ensuring that the safety
program includes a comprehensive framework and methodology to identify risks and
hazards, and minimize or eliminate those hazards to prevent incidents. This would include
making sure that all operator feedback, incident reports, customer comments and
supervisor observations must be communicated in a way to support the safety agenda.
14. Yellow Card program
The Yellow Card program (operator feedback) and the Service Improvement Process
(customer feedback) should be reviewed to ensure that safety issues are addressed in a
timely manner and that operators are notified of the evaluation/action taken. Further,
TriMet should consider wholly rebranding the Yellow Card program to ensure that any
improvements are not overshadowed by baggage that may come with its previous title.
15. Systematic “hot spot” review
TriMet should use data to determine where safety “hot spots” may exist or are likely to
develop over time, and take a systematic approach to evaluating and treating such “hot
spots.” Based on employee comments to the Task Force, the Portland Transit Mall is a “hot
spot” in need of review.
Such a review would require working with partner organizations to address the relationship
between three spheres of influence over safety on the street: (1) the operator and bus
equipment; (2) the roadway, track way and related infrastructure; and (3) other users, such
as cyclists, pedestrians and motorists.
TriMet’s recent evaluation of its bus and MAX lines that was part of its top‐to‐bottom safety
review is an example of such review and partnership, and TriMet should develop this
concept into an ongoing process.
16. Employee safety committees
The new Executive Director of Safety should elevate the importance of employee safety
committees. This would improve employees’ sense of ownership in the working
environment, tapping those who are closest to the work and in the field the most for
valuable information.
Presently, the members of the safety committees are frustrated with their inability to affect
change, and the structure of the committees suggests that they have been marginalized
over time.
17. Scheduling and safety
The task force heard frustrations from some employees about bus operating schedules.
Based on this testimony, there may be a tension between the pressure to achieve on‐time
performance and safety. While maintaining schedules is certainly a priority for TriMet, it
should never be at the expense of safety. Follow up work may be necessary to ensure that
the process of developing schedules involves input from the safety and training
departments and operator feedback.
18. CCTV use with operators
Numerous properties have installed CCTV cameras that show the operator’s compartment,
and video has been used to enhance safety and customer service. We concluded that the
role of CCTV should be further evaluated by TriMet for the purpose of enhancing safety,
training and customer service.
19. Improved emergency plans
TriMet should look at emergency plans to improve support structures and communications
for employees and riders during emergency situations, including severe weather.
Concluding remarks
The task force thanks the many employees who spoke candidly about their concerns and
offered their suggestions, the staff who provided information, and the public who gave
testimony both passionate and constructive. We are hopeful that this report will form the
foundation for ushering in a culture where everyone at TriMet is a “steward of safety.”
List of Appendices/Attachments
A. Task force member roster
B. Summary of Issues Covered
C. K&J Phase I: System Safety Review and Evaluation of Policies, Procedures and Training
(Attachment)
D. K&J Phase II: System Safety On‐site Assessment (Attachment)

APPENDIX A.
Safety & Service Excellence Task Force Members
Robert Burchfield
Robert is the city traffic engineer for the City of Portland, and manages Portland's Traffic
Operations Division, including traffic investigations, parking control and data collection.
Greg Butler
Greg has been with TriMet for 13 years, first as a bus operator and as a MAX operator since
2003. He operates the “extra board,” meaning that he works on all lines across the service day,
with a great deal of experience on the system. He was voted Rail Operator of the Quarter by his
peers during 2009, safe operation is an important component of receiving this recognition.
Jan Campbell
Jan works for Multnomah County Aging and Disability Services, and is the chair of TriMet's
Committee on Accessible Transportation, a citizen advisory committee to the TriMet Board of
Directors that represents seniors persons with disabilities. Jan is also Vice‐chair of Disability
Rights Oregon, Commissioner on the City and State Disability Commissions, Co‐Chair of Women
with Disabilities Health Equity Coalition, a member of the NW Regional ADA Steering
Committee, and a member of the Connecting Communities Coalition.
Shirley Carter
Shirley has been a TriMet bus operator for almost 18 years, and looks forward to retiring in the
fall. Shirley is a favorite amongst her riders, and often receives commendations for her
customer service and attention to providing stop announcements for persons with visual
impairments.
Dorothy Elmore
Dorothy is a 25+‐year veteran of the Portland Police Bureau, including serving as an Assistant
Chief. When selecting her for the AC position, former Chief Foxworth said he chose Captain
Elmore because of her demonstrated leadership ability, commitment to community policing,
and drive to continue to look for ways to improve the Police Bureau’s process for recruiting and
training the most highly qualified police officers.
Tony Mehalovich
Tony is a 26‐year veteran of UPS, and is currently their corporate schools facilitator, responsible
for facilitating corporate training. Prior to this role he was UPS’ health and safety manager for
the Oregon district, and an operations manager.
Deb Meihoff
Deb is principal and owner of Communitas LLC, with experience in planning, development,
construction, and economic development. Deb holds a master’s degree of Urban and Regional
Planning from the University of New Orleans.
Roger Pringle
Roger is the founder and leader of The Pringle Company, an executive search and consulting
firm. Roger serves on the boards of directors of four companies, and as an advisor to the board
of directors of Tillamook Cheese and to the CEO of OptionIt.
Stephanie Routh
Steph is director of the Willamette Pedestrian Coalition, a non‐profit community‐based
membership organization in the greater Portland, Oregon area dedicated to promoting walking
and making the conditions for walking safe and attractive.
Rob Sadowsky
Rob joined the BTA as executive director in June 2010. Previously, Rob served as executive
director of the Active Transportation Alliance in Chicago, Illinois for six years from 2004 to 2010.
He has over 23 years of non‐profit advocacy and management experience working on issues of
affordable housing, community economic development and transportation policy. He serves on
the board of the Alliance for Biking and Walking and the League of American Bicyclists.
Tom Walsh
Tom is president of Tom Walsh+Builders, Inc. and has 50 years of experience in the construction
industry. Tom also served as TriMet General Manager from 1990 to 1998.
Amy Weeden
Amy is a practice director at ACME Business Consulting. She assists clients in the design and
implementation of process change initiatives related to corporate transactions, organizational
design, change management and internal administration.

APPENDIX B.
Safety and Service Excellence Task Force Meetings:
Summary of Issues Covered
This is a summary of the comments and discussion by topic of task force meetings held
between July 29 and October 13, 2010. It is intended to provide context to the
recommendations reached by the taskforce. There were three public meetings, one employee
meeting, four work sessions, one executive session talking with task force member Tony
Mehalovich about the UPS experience and one meeting with Pollie Sengstake, general manager
of human resources for Les Schwab. A portion of the October 6 and the entire October 13
meeting were devoted to preparing final recommendations. Those discussions are reflected in
the final report.
1. Work Culture
Safety is a constant process, requiring continuous effort for continuous improvement.
A transit agency should have safety culture woven into the fabric of the agency, where
everything is viewed through a safety lens.
Safety is a mentality not a value.
In five years, TriMet should be considered in league of its own because of its safety first
attitude; safety trumps on‐time performance; need to create an environment where
operators are in charge, at the top of the pyramid.
Safety should be a value, not a priority; a way of thinking about an operation; values
don’t change.
Safety should be value and a priority.
There should be a zero accident culture at TriMet; the commitment to safety should be
on the first page of the Working Wage Agreement.
Safety is quality of service, systems need to be in place to improve service quality.
TriMet needs brand management; focus needs to be at the top.
Actions speak louder than words.
The general manager needs to create the culture.
The environment has changed dramatically. There is more complexity but the systems
have not changed to deal with the environment—bikes, pedestrians, traffic, etc.

Two experts who have been involved in successful workplace transformation shared their
experiences with the task force. The UPS experience, as described by task force member Tony
Mehalovich, is included throughout this summary. In addition, Pollie Sengstake, currently with
Les Schwab, was invited to share her experiences. Both indicated that supervisors play a key
role in helping frontline employees translate and understand an organization’s vision. That was
echoed by TriMet employees in their comments.
Pollie Sengstake, Les Schwab
There is too much focus on the “what” people do in an organization and not enough on
the “how.”
Organization needs to say the right things, do the right things, develop value statements
and “operationalize” them.
Employees do not need to be happy with change, they need to know how to be
successful with the change.
Have to be willing to let people if they are unwilling to change or they are barriers to the
new culture.
Performance management is a critical piece of ensuring vision is realized; people will
disregard what you are not measuring.
People need to find a team connection where they can be successful.
Hiring, training, awards and compensation are critical in cultural change.
The process of transformation:
o Define the “what” and “how.”
o Identify formal and informal leaders.
o Define the desired values, priorities and strategies.
o Link values to priorities.
o Hire the right people.
o Align performance management system (compensation and rewards) with desired
behavior; link individual performance with company performance.
o Hold celebrations of success.
o Tell the story of “how” externally.

2. Communication and Engagement

Employee Communication
Communication on safety must be top down and bottom up.
UPS has a “Concern Log” at each worksite to show hazards and management’s progress
at resolving them; UPS operators report hazards to their managers for resolution.
Reroute and construction information is available in an operator’s “pouch.”
Relevant safety data should be shared with all employees and used more proactively.
Seems to be a disconnect between what management/staff think and what operators
think—is it just a breakdown in communication?
TriMet needs more transparency; have people like Ms. Sturdy and Mr. Sale talk with
operators.
Focus should be on bystander safety; need to give operators the tools they need to
change their attitudes; have safe drivers talk to other operators.
Find more methods (like Operators’ Report) to communicate with employees.
There should be more presence of transit police, management and administrative
employees in the “bull pen.”
Need to work on communication around hazards and incidents. What is the tolerance
level for these?
Need improved communication and more trust between drivers and management.
Lack of understanding of safety and lack of definition of safety; tolerance for lack of
safety.

Public Education/Partnerships
Only measurement tool known in transit that measures public awareness campaigns is
reductions in incidents in targeted groups; successful techniques by other transit
agencies include: blogging, public chat rooms, weekly safety outreach efforts in schools
and community user groups; other approaches can include partnering with DMV to
further educate young drivers.
TriMet has conducted a number of public outreach safety campaigns. These efforts have
included: integration of safety messages in existing communication tools and channels,
materials for grade, middle and high schools, outreach at venues other than schools for
kids (movie ads, skate parks, etc.), partnerships with BTA, partnerships with Operation
Life Saver. TriMet spends $40‐$50,000 annually on these campaigns; TriMet does not
routinely measure the impact of these campaigns, but anecdotal information suggests
recall of safety messages is high.
It was suggested that the newly formed Technology Advisory Committee might be a
good forum for municipal collaboration.
Better communication with traffic division and police.
Need a public awareness campaign as well as law enforcement on the Mall.
Need to work with the public and with people who have been impacted.
Have operators make announcements when the bus is turning.
Need to build trust, reinforcement of being heard and follow‐up on customer
involvement.
More interaction between the operators and the people they serve.
Possibly partner with PDOT to communicate safety and communicate with partners on
sharing the road.

3. Accountability, Empowerment and Support
Organizational Structure/Relationship
The cooperative and collaborative link between TriMet’s safety and training
departments appears to be culturally unique; seems like Training Department is an
extension of Safety Department at TriMet; Safety Department should be considered
consultants, not cops and should be staffed in a way to provide assistance and help.
Safety Department needs to take a more proactive role.
Concern about the structural separation of safety and training.
Not enough oversight from the top.
Do a performance improvement process for safety operations.
ATU shares management’s concern and commitment to safety.
Union and management need to have common ground where both are committed to
safety.
Hiring/Training
Training is an effective way to raise awareness of hazard analysis.
Emphasis has been placed on driving and customer service experience; some drawbacks
to the operators having to start as part time per the WWA; training is looking at profiles
of successful operators to help in selection criteria.
Initial training for operators is six weeks, followed by six months of probation; no
recertification process for bus operators; refresher training classes are offered to
operators throughout their careers; an annual 8‐hour training class was suspended due
to budget limitations; trainers ride with operators once a year; videos from accidents
are used to train operators.
Need to be a “people person” to be a successful operator.
UPS has a higher ratio of hiring from inside than outside; UPS focuses on driver skill,
visibility, good communication and eye contact to reduce risk; UPS provides annual
recertification training.
It is important to look for best practices in the transit industry and outside of it.
Needs to be a better connection between safety and training.
Need to measure the qualities of people TriMet brings on.
The use of part‐time operators could be contradictory. The part time operators don’t
know where they fit in the organization; best candidates may be screened out since only
part‐time is offered.
Morale/Teamwork/Recognition/Celebration
General feeling is that employees are proud to be employed by TriMet.
Operators have a number of recognition programs, most of them have accident criteria.
Morale is low and that impacts safety.
Operators do not feel appreciated.
Need to celebrate and have “fun events.”
Provide greater respect to operators, they are the backbone.
Need to improve public perception of operators.
A person who is focused on safety and doing a good job, doesn’t need a reward.
Create a teamwork opportunity for operators around a specific line and develop best
practices; it was suggested that the Transit Mall might be a good area to do a line
review.
TriMet needs to go beyond shelving things as each new general manager wants his/her
own changes; don’t need to reinvent the wheel – just fine tune it.
Change needs to be operational and someone’s job.
Operators need to be well‐trained and healthy.
UPS philosophy is that operators need to have a healthy lifestyle and the company has
invested in a health and wellness program.
There is an opportunity in the bullpen to build advanced training, professional
development opportunities, health/wellness, higher education. Create an operator
involvement program.
Relationship between union and management is strained, need to identify the key
issues for both and find common ground.
Operators said they felt disconnected, not like a family.
Employees need to feel engaged, involved and excited about their jobs.
Employee Support/ Supervision
Encourage managers to spend more time in the field and become more available to
frontline employees.
Need to depend on supervisors and managers to ensure cultural change; people look for
confirming behavior from their managers and leaders; leadership at the supervisory
level is key.
Need a mentoring program for operators; need to get tips and advice from senior
operators.
There should be grief and crisis counseling for operators.
Supervisors need to be supportive and have better training in communication.
If TriMet puts well‐trained operators on the job, what is in place to support them? Need
to put systems in place so they don’t become complacent.
Safety performance is getting better, incidents are going down. Need to expect that
people will err. Need to have failsafes ready to deal with this. If a driver is overloaded, it
makes it harder to deal with stuff.
Need better support for operators during weather emergencies.
Performance Management
Operators are given a yearly summary of their performance.
For first preventable accident there is review with an operator; second there is a
retraining.
Operator pay is determined by the WWA, pay is not based on performance.
There is a formalized procedure for accident review and corrective action, operator is
subject to termination after four preventable accidents in a two year rolling period;
there is a grievance process, and it can be challenging and lengthy.
If you say you value performance, but everyone gets the same compensation, it doesn’t
show you are a performance culture; not addressing poor performers is one of the most
destructive elements in an organization ‐ sends a powerful message to strong
performers.
“Mystery shoppers” are sometimes used to evaluate operators; UPS uses observation
rides, secret shoppers; customer satisfaction index to assess performance; more
emphasis is placed on anticipating problems.

4. Tools, Systems and Processes
Measurement/Data Analysis
Key to a safety‐first culture is hazard identification by all employees at all levels of the
organization; must identify and address hazards; safety benchmark is not the number of
accidents, but rather the number of hazards that are identified and mitigated;
understaffed safety department makes it hard to do this analysis; transit police can play
a role in hazard analysis; suggested that TriMet collect pre‐incident data and use “near
miss” data to focus mitigation efforts.
TriMet collects a lot of data in the ACID system, but it is not always routinely queried
and analyzed to look for trends.
Station management monitors individual operator performance and tries to provide
support and coaching. If expectations are not met, progressive discipline is used.
Information is not available that shows which bus routes have the highest number of
crashes; need to identify performance measures and use data more effectively. Need to
have three quick indicators for managers about safety.
Need more data to make specific recommendations.
Create a quarterly report of the break‐down of safety data—hours of lost time, injury
crashes, etc.
Have people who operate the line work with the people who get the data, both will then
become more aware.
Safety “dashboard” is needed.
The general manager should be talking about the baseline, goals, and how TriMet is
doing against the goal; get the employees rallied around the goal.
TriMet should be able to pull information on the top three lines with the highest
number of incidents—use community policing model.
Look for patterns in accidents to help identify future problems.
Need to know how many hazards there are and how many have been resolved.
Schedules and Safety
Run cuts (schedules) should take into account the hazards on each route that might
impact safety; TriMet should develop an annual recertification program for bus
operators; the security training should be reviewed and updated.
Need to create a schedule for “average” operator and typical day; BDS data provides an
accurate record of each schedule; scheduling staff tries to get out in field and observe
runs; room for more interaction with operators.
Conflicting views from staff and operators as to the role of on‐time performance and
whether schedules are accurately written.
Concerns that operators are feeling pressured to keep schedules and that may impact
their safety; operators who are concerned about schedules cannot operator safely;
operators have a lot of control over safety and customer satisfaction, but not over
schedule and external factors.
Customer expectations for making schedule may create pressure for operators to meet
those needs.
Schedules and safety need to be looked at.
Schedules are too tight.
Operators said schedules create a lot of pressure. Scheduling people are looking at data
but not talking to operators to see if schedules are working or if operators have any
issues with schedules.
Other
“Yellow Cards”: The “Yellow Card” process for operators to provide feedback on safety
and scheduling is viewed as a “waste of time” because issues don’t get resolved and
information back to employees is not consistently shared; Yellow cards need reviewed;
Yellow cards need to be used proactively as a way to flag problems and improve system
operations—they need a process flow review; Operators become the customer when
they file a yellow card and need reinforcement and trust that their issues will be acted
on and there will be follow‐through—yellow cards need to be resolved in a timely
manner.
SOPs: Main deficiency identified in the K&J Report was TriMet’s distribution of Bus
SOPs. K&J recommended TriMet establish a process for effectively distributing Bus SOPs
and provide the necessary training to ensure bus operators know and understand the
content and applicability of the SOPs.
Safety Committees: Invite Service Planning and Scheduling staff to attend Safety
Committee meetings; UPS has three minute safety meetings every day; each UPS site
has a safety committee; Safety Department should play more of a leadership role in
Safety Committees; Used to be three safety committees, one at each bus garage, now
there is one combined committee; Talent and commitment on the Safety Committee.
Closed Circuit Television Cameras (CCTV): Brief discussion after reviewing material from
other transit properties; could be some value to further review CCTV as a way to provide
additional information for training and coaching purposes.


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