I've had several discussions with many of the nation's top Transit CEO's and have been asked, "How would you address the upcoming fiscal cliffs"? My answer has always been that it all starts behind the wheel. As a former bus operator in Pittsburgh, I have seen how a good, polite, well trained, respected and valued operator makes a huge difference. Statistics say that most people who do not utilize public transit say that it is not safe to ride. How do you fix that and how does this help with funding? It all starts behind the wheel!
Training your operators on proper crisis awareness/de-escalation techniques taught by a qualified instructor will help change this trend.
Imagine these two scenarios;
Someone is on the bus (male or female) along with 15 or so other customers when someone stands up and starts to scream loudly as they move about the coach. In the first scenario the bus operator has not been trained on how to recognize someone who may have be experiencing a mental episode so they say nothing and keep driving the bus. Everyone on board is scared and worried about what this person may or may not do. This behavior continues for most of the ride. Eventually the passenger causing the disturbance gets off without incident. The customers who remain on the bus are relieved that nothing happened, but they question why the operator never said anything to this person. At this point whatever the operator may say to them, nothing will satisfy their concerns, but when they get home, (almost all of them) will tell who they interact with about what happened on their ride home and how it was handled. If they happen to attend a party that evening, or join a group of friends at happy hour, many will no doubt hear about this incident and will say "that's why I will never use public transportation! Someone could have been hurt, it's not safe on there"! Scenario number 2 is the exact same situation, but this operator was properly trained on how to spot and handle these types of issues and calmly reaches out to the passenger and is able to defuse the situation using his training and calmly asking them to have a seat up front near them so they can have a conversation until they get off. Now, all of those same customers go home (party,etc..) and tell a completely different story about how the operator did an amazing job defusing the situation and made them feel safe. Now the group conversation may well be, "huh, maybe it is safe to ride".
Granted, not all situations will end this way, but with the proper training, it will greatly increase the chances for a successful and safe outcome. Operators have the hardest job in the agency, and just like police officers, fire and all first responders, they just want to go home to their families every day at the end of their shift.
The reason this can help obtain funding is that if people feel safe, ridership will increase and you can present those numbers to your elected officials to show how important public transit is to the community and it's growth.
Let's give your operators what they need.
Curious what your thoughts are, both operators (current and retirees) and management.
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Comments
Great read! Thank you for sharing!
Michael this is long overdue. I found it to be well thought out and wish when I was an operator we had had this kind of platform.
I have never been a bus or train operator - frankly, I doubt I have the patience or skills required. Instead, I have spent my public transit career in maintenance. What started as a good job after college has grown into a great affinity for public service.
Having had the privilege of traveling to various transit agencies across the country for work, PRT included, I am consistently impressed by operators. The intrapersonal skills required to serve the public are too often overlooked.
Happy to see this blog and hope to see it grow beyond belief!