The following is the list of proposed Service Standards that the =
Standards Committee approved on Wednesday night, 20 January. What do =
you think? Please comment to the list or back to me or David Pilpel =
directly.
Note: This is now on the web at www.rescuemuni.org/svcstds.html.
Andrew
Proposed Muni Service Standards
The following is a set of Service Standards (formerly the Customer =
Bill of Rights) Proposed by the Muni
Standards Committee on January 20, 1998. This will be discussed as =
potential RESCUE MUNI policy at the next
Steering Committee meeting on January 28.
Your comments are welcome. Please send them to Andrew Sullivan (the =
author) or David Pilpel (the Standards
Committee representative on the Steering Committee).
Note: The "status" element in each section is our assessment of where =
Muni is today. The SRTP is Muni's
Short-Range Transit Plan, a document that Muni publishes annually to =
discuss its goals and results.
Service Level - Reliability - No Missed Service - =
Cleanliness & Maintenance
Accidents - Crime - Customer Service - =
Accountability
1. MUNI MUST SCHEDULE A GOOD LEVEL OF SERVICE TO ALL NEIGHBORHOODS.
Muni shall schedule service to all neighborhoods at a minimum of once =
every twenty minutes from 5 a.m. to 1 a.m.
and service on key corridors 24 hours a day. Particularly during =
heavy commute hours, but throughout the day as
well, this service must be scheduled at a level to meet demand. =
(Objectives 1.1 and 1.2 of SRTP) If riders are forced
to wait beyond the normal frequency due to overcrowding when =
substantially all scheduled vehicles are running, then
schedules on that route must be revised to meet demand.
Standard: Muni must revise its public schedule based on accurately =
forecasted demand every three months.
Status: Muni updates its public schedules twice a year, and is not =
today scheduling to meet peak demand. Riders
must frequently wait more than the normal interval due to =
overcrowding (not to mention delays).
2. MUNI MUST RUN ON TIME.
Muni must publish a dependable schedule and meet it.
Measure: Muni vehicles must not depart early and must leave no more =
than three minutes late from every scheduled
time point to be considered "on time." (This is similar to SRTP =
Objective 3.5.)
Standard: 70% of trips must be run on time (London standard).
Status: In 1995 and 1996, 53% of bus trips ran on time by Muni's =
measurement. (Muni did not report light rail or
cable car performance.) By comparison, the buses in London, England =
ran on time almost 70% of the time the
previous year, in substantially worse traffic than that of San =
Francisco. Muni must set its goals at least this high.
3. MUNI MUST PROVIDE THE SERVICE ADVERTISED.
Muni must advertise a level of service that can be provided and =
provide sufficient vehicles and operators to meet
schedule requirements every day.
Measure: Missed hours of service (Objective 3.2 and 3.4 in SRTP).
Standard: Muni must miss no more than 1% of its scheduled service =
(1995 standard).
Status: In FY 1996-97, Muni reported 3.7% of scheduled service as =
missed. Of this, 3.2% of missed hours were due
to "lack of operators" - when the rate of absenteeism (scheduled and =
unscheduled) was 24%.
4. MUNI MUST KEEP THE SYSTEM CLEAN AND IN GOOD WORKING ORDER.
This means keeping vehicles and facilities well maintained and free =
of trash and graffiti. Riders should not be affected
by breakdowns or be forced to ride dirty vehicles.
Measure: Trips operated with no "road calls," i.e. failures requiring =
service.
Standard: 99.5% of trips must be completed without a mechanical =
breakdown.
Status: No data are available from SRTP, but this can be easily =
calculated.
Measure: Muni tracks the frequency at which vehicles are cleaned in =
SRTP Objective 1.6. A better measure of actual
cleanliness (not implemented today) would be frequent independent =
spot checks.
Standard: Vehicles must leave the yard clean and free of graffiti.
Status: Muni claims that it cleans vehicles daily and washes them =
twice a week. Our committee members expressed
skepticism that this goal is really met, since we ride dirty buses =
and streetcars often.
5. MUNI MUST KEEP ACCIDENTS TO A MINIMUM.
Muni must proactively work to reduce all accidents involving Muni =
vehicles.
Measure: Accidents per day (derived from accidents per million =
miles), SRTP Objective 3.6.
Standard: Muni must reduce the number of accidents every year, =
towards a near-term goal of no more than 5 per day
on average.
Status: Muni's accident rate declined slightly in 1995-96 (the latest =
year for which data are available) to 120 per
million miles, which translates to 240 accidents per month, or over 7 =
per day.
6. MUNI MUST PREVENT CRIME.
For riders to feel safe on the system, Muni must show zero tolerance =
for crime and harassment of passengers and
operators.
Measure: Assaults on operators and passengers, SRTP Figure 4.18.
Standard: Muni must make steady progress in reducing the crime rate, =
towards a near-term goal of less than 5 crimes
per month from the current 17.
Status: Muni did not publish complete crime statistics in FY 1996-97. =
17 per month is the most recent cumulative
figure, from 1995.
7. MUNI MUST PROVIDE GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE AND ACCURATE INFORMATION.
Muni must provide accurate information on service availability, =
particularly in cases when service is changed due to
construction or emergencies. Muni must also be responsive to customer =
input and resolve problems quickly.
Measure: Hours of operation for information line and time to reach an =
operator.
Standard: The information line should be open at least from 6 a.m. to =
midnight (Muni's normal hours) and an
operator should answer the phone in less than 3 minutes.
Status: The help line is only open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., but hold times =
have been short lately.
Measure: Customer complaints (the closest thing to satisfaction =
measures). SRTP Figure 4.5.
Standard: Muni must make consistent progress in reducing the number =
of complaints to national benchmarks.
Status: In FY 1996-97, Muni received around 10,000 complaints for the =
year, or over 800 complaints per month.
This increased substantially from the previous fiscal year.
8. MUNI MUST BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE.
This is the goal on which all of the others depend. Muni must track =
all statistics discussed here, publishing them on
a much more regular basis. Selected data (reliability, customer =
service) should be audited by an independent firm on a
regular basis to ensure accuracy. Most importantly, Muni staff and =
management must be evaluated and retained or let
go on the basis of Muni's performance - something not done today.
Measure: Frequency with which Muni publishes performance stats.
Standard: Muni needs to publish all performance data monthly, on the =
World Wide Web and in print, and announce
them to the Public Transportation Commission. Data compiled daily =
(e.g. missed runs) should be published daily.
Status: All data used in this discussion are over a year old, since =
they are only published once a year.
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This page was posted by Andrew Sullivan.
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Last updated 1/23/98.