Transit Part 6: Key Hub Features

Within the current para-transit industry, there are times when a driver is taking a passenger to the edge of a service area because the passenger is traveling into the area covered by a different provider.  Currently, the driver of one area must sit and wait for the driver from the other area to arrive so that a “hand-to-hand” transfer of the passenger can be made.  This is required because there are so many valid reasons why para-transit passengers cannot be left alone at one of these transfer points.



Under my program, there would be a room located in the center area of each hub where these “special needs” passengers can be held and watched in between the time one bus drops them off and another comes to pick them up.  This will allow the buses and drivers to continue moving as part of helping to improve overall customer service and increase the number of passengers per hour the service is able to safely transport.

During much of the business day, the Hub will be staffed with at least one Hub Assistant.  The Hub Assistant is not the same as a Supervisor.  The Hub Assistant would help each bus to stop at the correct Hub Docking Station (load / unload ramp) and would also assist with loading and unloading passengers to and from each bus.  Hub Assistants would not need to be able to qualify for driving the bus or even be able to map their way around the service area.  They would simply need to be able to do the job required at the Hub as far as assisting drivers and passengers.

Road Supervisors could be stationed at various Hubs around the service area.  This would reduce the time needed to respond to incidents or accidents.  Road Supervisors would also be in charge of making sure each Hub is operating properly and that Hub Assistants are performing as expected.

Except under special conditions which require that a driver be relieved while out on his or her route, the driver would be relieved from his or her route at a Hub.  By replacing drivers at a Hub where possible, we also limit the number of times passengers are given cause to wonder why the driver being replaced could not finish driving.

Because drivers are replaced at Hubs several times a day for breaks and when their shift is done, passengers would not be as inclined to think negatively about it.  Currently, if a driver has to be replaced during a route, some passengers will be prompted to wonder why.  Was the driver being safe?  Did he or she do something wrong?  Was he or she getting too tired, and if so, why was he or she still driving?

However unlikely these questions may or may not seem, at least some of our passengers do have the potential to worry about anything and everything.  Replacing drivers at the Hub would reduce the number of times that worry-prone passengers are given a reason to ask questions they do not need to ask.

It is also possible to plan so that each bus keeps going, and when a driver needs to take break or their shift has ended, that another driver takes over the bus after conducting a minimum required inspection checking for potential new damage and so forth.  In this case, the items checked should be so as to not cause concern for the passengers or an interruption of passenger service.  The lift and other equipment on the bus can go “down” at any point.  Thus, my thought is to have the driver taking over a bus during operations check only for signs of new damage.  This would keep the buses moving while allowing drivers to get their breaks and lunches on a more regular schedule.
Thank you for taking time to read my program.  Obviously, if I didn't believe in my own program, I would not have published it for others to read and ponder on.

An Opinion Article by Dave Kemper
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It has been said that: "One definition of insanity is to do the same thing, the same way, over and over and over again, each time expecting to achieve a different result."
Therefore, we must either CHANGE the way we live, or we bind our future to our past as if with CHAINS.
"I do not consider myself to be better than anyone else.  But I do believe in exercising my right to not stay stupid."

David W. Kemper, Author
© Copyright 2014 by David William Kemper.  All right reserved
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