Signals July 2002


	July 3, 2002

OPERATIONS:

End of Shift Responsibilities: When you return to base to park your bus at the end of your shift, please close all windows and roof vents. Also walk through your bus and pick-up any transfer slips, rubbish or lost items. Doing the above will make the laneworker’s life easier when they clean and refuel your bus. (George)

Can You Name That Tune? Do you recognize the melody that it displayed on the sides of units 960 and 961? It’s a very popular transportation tune. (Hint: it’s not the same as unit 959.) If you think you know it, see Barb or George for “fabulous” prizes. (George)

State Roadeo Results: Congratulations to Chris Wisher for finishing first in the large bus category at the state Roadeo held on June 21^st in Davenport. Paul Klimesh finished second in the large bus category and third in the mini-bus category. Eric Williamson finished fourth in the large bus category. Overall, CyRide did very well at this state level competition and is indicative of the caliber and quality of our drivers. Job well done! (George)

CyRide Safety Achievement Award: The American Public Transportation Association’s (APTA) Bus Safety Award competition awarded CyRide the certificate of achievement award. Each year APTA awards transit systems with superior safety records five awards. These awards are presented in four competitive groups, based on the number of passengers carried per year. In the one million to four million passenger’s category the winners were as follows:

Gold Award – National City Transit, National City, CA
Silver Award – Alexandria Transit Company, Alexandria, VA
Improvement Award – Kalamazoo Metro Transit System, Kalamazoo, MI
Certificate of Achievement	–	Ames Transit Agency, Ames, IA
	–	Duluth Transit Authority, Duluth, MN
	–	Iowa City Transit, Iowa City, IA
Certificate of Improvement	–	Madison County Transit, Granite City, IL
	–	Sprints Transit, Colorado Springs, CO
	–	VOTRAN, South Daytona, FL

We are one of the top five safest bus systems for our size in the U.S. Next year we plan to win the top award the "Gold Award." This award is presented to the transit system with the best overall safety record. So keep in mind "safety first" when you are out there driving. Incidentally, we have won the "gold award" (which used to be called the "silver safety award") two other times and have been a finalist for the award three other times. (Barb)

Complaints, Attendance, Accident Statistics: The statistics show below are for the fourth quarter (April, May, June) and are compared to the same period last year.

Total complaints for the quarter was 12 compared to 18 last year at this time. The types of complaints were: 3-Rudeness, 4-System, 2-Service, 1-Passed Passenger, 2-Driving. We also received 4 compliments this quarter.

Attendance this quarter is not as good as last year. We have had 19 drivers report late for work and 11 no shows. Last year at this time there were 15 late drivers and 4 now shows.

CyRide was involved in 15 accidents during this period. Fourteen of these were preventable. This is about the same as last year with 16 accidents, eleven of which were preventable. (Karen)

HIRING AND TRAINING:

New Hirings: With all the new faces here at CyRide, I wish to thank everyone for extending a warm welcome to all who have been hired in the last few weeks. There will be many more new faces here before the Fall Schedule begins. We are still looking for qualified applicants. If you know people who may be interested in working here at CyRide, encourage them to apply. (Brent)

MARKETING:

Fare Free: Fare free starts August 12. Only six short weeks away!

Census Data: The 2000 census data has arrived regarding commuting habits of Ames and Iowa. There are nine metropolitan areas in Iowa. Ames had the highest percentage of residents (6.1%) commuting to work via public transportation. Iowa City had 5.3% and Des Moines 1.6%. Ames also had the lowest percentage of people commuting to work alone in private vehicles -- 65.4%. Iowa City had 68.2% and Des Moines had 81.8%. Ames also had the highest percentage of people who walk to work with 13.2%. For people who love to look at numbers and trivia, go to http://www.silo.lib.ia.us/specialized_services/datacenter/.

SHOP:

Used Orion Vs: We have received five 1990 Orion Vs from Madison, Wisconsin. We will be working very hard to bring these buses up to CyRide standards by the start of school this fall. We are not going to paint them. We are however putting our 8" yellow stripe on and touching up the rest of the body. (Terry)

New Mini-Van: Thomas Bus Sales has been awarded the mini-van bid. This means that the new mini-van will be an Activan by El Dorado. This van will be equipped with dual, manual sliding side doors and right side wheelchair entry. We expect this mini-van to be delivered within thirty days. (Terry)