Michael Eshleman (senior planner, SamTrans, operations planning department) discusses how to stimulate innovative transit planning through friendly competition at the first-ever Remix Conference in San Francisco on October 7, 2015. Find out more at http://getremix.com/

1. Planning Competitions
How to Alienate Your Staff
Remix User Conference
10.7.15

2. Agenda
 SamTrans at-a-glance
 SamTrans Service Planning Process
 New Opportunities
– Regular Service Management
– Service Bench
– Planning Competitions

3. SamTrans at-a-glance
 Formed 1976 as special district
– Consolidated 11 different transit services
– Appointed Board (nine members)
– Also administers TA and JPB
 305 total vehicles (including contract)
– 265 needed for peak service
– Five bases (three contract)
– 670 employees

4. SamTrans at-a-glance
 42k riders/weekday, 12.5 million/year
 On-time Performance at 85 percent
– 0-5 minutes from scheduled time
– 100% sample
 Fewer than 10 missed trips/month

5. SamTrans Service Planning
 Intermittent Comprehensive Efforts
– COAs in 1999 and 2014
– Drastic cuts in 2009
 Lack of clear budgeting parameters
– “We want to have X drivers”
– Primarily respond to constituents
– Service creep
 Driven by scheduling

6. SamTrans Service Planning
 Performance Measurement
– Daily service monitoring
– Weekly staff updates
– Monthly reports to Board
– Annual service evaluations

7. New Opportunities
 Regular Service Management
 Comprehensive review of entire system annually
 On-time performance
 Productivity
 Cycle times
 Deadheads
 Pay to platform
 Are current terminals/connections working?
 Are break locations working?
 Etc.

8. New Opportunities
 Service Bench
 What happens if money falls in our lap?
 What happens if it all dries up?
 Create “bench” of service enhancements and
reductions
 Prioritize using productivity, transit need, etc.
 Update quarterly as necessary based on new
numbers
 Take steps to address performance shortfalls on
“reductions” list

9. New Opportunities
 Planning competitions
 Re-think service in a community or sub-section of
the service area
 Give interns and staff something fun to do
 Create parameters (area boundaries, service
hours/miles, drivers, buses, etc.).
 Go separate ways and be secretive
 Use visuals to illustrate routes/schedules/resources
 Meet back up and publicly shame each other

10. Planning Competitions

11. Planning Competitions

12. Planning Competitions

13. Discussion
Let’s Talk!
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