Kitsap Transit
Bremerton, Washington
Review of Route Identification
and
Stop Announcements
April 21-24, 2008
Summary of Observations
Prepared for
Federal Transit Administration
Office of Civil Rights
Washington, DC
Prepared by
Planners Collaborative, Inc.
and
TranSystems
Final Report: May 11, 2009
Kitsap Transit –ADA Fixed Route Service ReviewFinal Report
CONTENTS
1.Introduction......
1.1Overview of the Review......
1.2Overview of Kitsap Transit......
1.3Consumer Input......
2.Summary of Findings......
A.Stop Announcement and Route Identification Requirements......
B.Stop Announcements......
C.Route Identification......
3.Stop Announcement and Route Identification Compliance Efforts......
3.1Policies and Procedures......
3.2Operator Training......
3.3Monitoring Procedures......
3.4Operator Discipline......
3.5Stop Announcement and Route Identification Equipment......
3.6Findings......
3.7Recommendations......
4.On-Board Stop Announcement Performance......
4.1Consumer Comments......
4.2Bus Operator Interviews......
4.3Review Team Observations......
4.4Findings......
4.5Recommendations......
5.Vehicle/Route Identification Performance......
5.1Consumer Comments
5.2Bus Operator Interviews
5.3Review Team Observations
5.4Findings......
5.5Recommendations
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment AOn-Site Review Schedule
Attachment BDocumentation of Kitsap TransitPolicies and Procedures RegardingStop Announcements and Route Identification
Attachment CKitsap Transit Training Materials Related to Stop Announcementsand Route Identification
Attachment DAnnual RideCheck and Return-to-Work RideCheck Form
AttachmentERecord of Internal Guest Rider Monitoring from March 16, 2008 through April 21, 2008
Attachment FSummary of Recent External Guest Rider Monitoring and Form Used for External Guest Rider Monitoring
Attachment GPre-Trip Inspection Report Form
Attachment HExample of Schedule A Preventative Maintenance Work Order
Attachment IOn-Board Stop Announcement Assessment Form Used by Review Team
Attachment JOn-Board Stop Announcement Observation Detail
Attachment KDetail of Review Team Observations of External Route Announcements
Kitsap Transit –ADA Fixed Route Service ReviewFinal Report
1.Introduction
1.1Overview of the Review
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is responsible for ensuring compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (ADA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) regulations (49 CFR Parts 27, 37, and 38) that implement this civil rights law. As part of its compliance efforts, FTA, through its Office of Civil Rights, conducts periodic reviews of fixed route transit services operated by grantees. In a letter dated March 3, 2008, FTA notified Kitsap Transit that a fixed route review had been scheduled and would be conducted within 120 days of the date of the letter. The FTA notification letter also explained that the review would consider:
- On-board stop announcements
- Route identification efforts
The requirements for stop announcements and route identification are set forth in 49CFR§37.167:
(b) On fixed route systems, the entity shall announce stops as follows:
(1) The entity shall announce at least transfer points with other fixed routes, other major intersections and destination points, and intervals along a route sufficient to permit individuals with visual disabilities to be oriented to their location.
(2) The entity shall announce any stop on request of an individual with a disability.
(c) Where vehicles or other conveyances for more than one route serve the same stop, the entity shall provide a means by which an individual with a visual impairment or other disability can identify the proper vehicle to enter or be identified to the vehicle operator as a person seeking to ride on a particular route.
Planners Collaborative, Inc. of Boston, MAand TranSystems of Medford, MA conducted the review. Russell Thatcher of TranSystems served as the review team leader. David Chia of Planners Collaborative served as a second review team member. Monica McCallum, the FTA Civil Rights Officer in the Region X Office, also assisted with the review.
The stop announcement and route identification fieldwork began Monday, April 21, 2008, and continued on Tuesday, April 22. The opening conference took place on Wednesday, April 23, 2008. The following individuals attended the opening conference:
Richard HayesExecutive Director, Kitsap Transit
Jeff CartwrightHuman Resources Director, Kitsap Transit
Trudy StacyCustomer Service Manager, Kitsap Transit
Colby SwansonVehicle and Facility Maintenance Director, Kitsap Transit
Rob RinerTraining and Education Coordinator, Kitsap Transit
Jeff McGarveyTraining Specialist, Kitsap Transit
Ellen GustafsonDirector of Access, Kitsap Transit
Monica McCallumCivil Rights Officer, FTA Region X Office
Russell ThatcherTranSystems Corp.
David ChiaPlanners Collaborative
David Knight of the FTA Office of Civil Rightsin Washington, D.C.participated in the opening conference via telephone.
Mr. Knight opened the meeting by thanking Kitsap Transitfor being available on short notice to assist with the review. He noted that the review team had been on site since Monday, April 21. He explained that reviews of on-board stop announcements were conducted by providing a general timeframe for the review, having the review team make initial observations, and then notifying the agency and requesting an opening conference. This process was used to ensure that the patterns of stop announcements would not be influenced by the transit providerknowing when the FTA review team was on site.
Mr. Knight summarized the purpose of the review. He noted that the review team would make every effort to not disrupt Kitsap Transit’s services and invited Kitsap Transit staff to contact him directly if there were any questions or concerns.
Mr. Knight noted that FTA viewed the review not just as part of its overall ADA compliance effort but also as a chance to provide technical assistance on ADA issues. He indicated that the on-site team had significant experience with the implementation of ADA transportation requirementsand was available to answer any questions from Kitsap Transit staff or to offer suggestions on addressing any issues that Kitsap Transit might have.
Mr. Thatcher summarized the activities of the review team for the previous two days. These activities consisted of field observations of stop announcements onKitsap Transit bus routes. Activities also included waiting at stops used by multiple bus routes and observing route identification efforts. Mr. Thatcherthen presented a proposed schedule of meetings with Kitsap Transit staff for Wednesday and Thursday, April 23 and 24. Attachment A includes a copy of the review team’s on-site schedule.
During the remainder of that day and the following morning, review team members met with various Kitsap Transit senior staff to gather information about Kitsap Transit policies and procedures for stop announcements and route identification. They interviewed staff regarding operator training, operator performance monitoring, and operator discipline. They reviewed procedures for maintaining public address and stop announcement equipment. They interviewed staff about the process used by Kitsap Transit to record rider comments and complaints and examined recent comments and complaints regarding stop announcements and route identification. They also interviewed 10 Kitsap Transit bus operators.
On April 24,review team membersfinished compiling the data from their field observations and prepared preliminary findings for presentation at the exit conference that afternoon. Those present at the exit conference were:
Richard HayesExecutive Director, Kitsap Transit
Jeff CartwrightHuman Resources Director, Kitsap Transit
Trudy StacyCustomer Service Manager, Kitsap Transit
Colby SwansonVehicle and Facility Maintenance Director, Kitsap Transit
Rob RinerTraining and Education Coordinator, Kitsap Transit
Ellen GustafsonDirector of Access, Kitsap Transit
Monica McCallumCivil Rights Officer, FTA Region X Office
Russell ThatcherTranSystems Corp.
David ChiaPlanners Collaborative
David Knight of the FTA Office of Civil Rights participated in the exit conference via telephone. Mr. Knight began the exit conference by thanking Kitsap Transit staff members for their cooperation and assistance with the review. He indicated that a draft report would be prepared and forwarded to Kitsap Transitfor review and comment. Kitsap Transit would have 30 days to comment on the draft report. Kitsap Transit’s comments on the draft would then be incorporated into a final report. Mr. Knight noted that once the report became a final document, it would be subject to release in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and posted on FTA’s website.
Mr. Knight noted that the draft report would contain findings as well as recommendations. The findings would need to be addressed by Kitsap Transit. The recommendations would be included for Kitsap Transit’s consideration in addressing the findings. Since the process of finalizing the report would take several months, Mr. Knight encouraged Kitsap Transit to begin addressing findings that were presented at the exit conference.
The review team then presented the preliminary findings and recommendations from the on-site visit. Section 2 of this report summarizes the review team’s findings and recommendations. Section 3 describesKitsap Transit’s efforts to comply with the regulations, including written policies and procedures,operator training, compliance-monitoring efforts, and equipment and equipment maintenance procedures. Section 4 presents the review team’s observations, analysis, and findings related to on-board stop announcement performance. Section 5 includes observations, analysis, and findings regarding route identification performance.
A draft report was sent to Kitsap Transit on January 15, 2009. Kitsap Transit responded with proposed corrective actions on February 13, 2009 and did not have any comments on the draft report.
1.2Overview of Kitsap Transit
Kitsap Transit is a Public Transportation Benefit Area Authority (PTBAA) established by the voters in 1982. Kitsap Transit’s initial mission was to provide public transportation services in the greater Bremerton and greater Port Orchard areas of KitsapCounty. Since its formation, Kitsap Transit has expanded through a number of annexations to cover the entire county. Included in the service area are the communities of Bremerton, Port Orchard, Silverdale, Poulsbo, Suquamish, Indianola, and Kingston, as well as BainbridgeIsland. The National Transit Database (NTD) profile for Kitsap Transit shows that the service area is 396 square miles with a population of 237,000 people.
Kitsap Transit provides a variety of transit services. These include:
- Fixed route bus service that operates on 44 routes
- Paratransit service (known as ACCESS)
- A Rideshare program composed of worker/driver buses (subscription or bus pool service), vanpools, a county-wide Rideshare vehicle registration service and participation in the Regional Ridematch Program
- A park-and-ride lot system with approximately 2,459 spaces
- A passenger-only ferry (“foot ferry”) service between Bremerton and Port Orchard
- Transit-oriented developments to produce the best and highest transit use of real property and to contribute to the smart-growth development of KitsapCounty, especially the urban areas
Kitsap Transit, as the Transit Demand Management lead for KitsapCounty, also works actively with local governments and state agencies to promote its service and other alternatives to the single occupancy vehicle, including pedestrian/bicycle facilities, transit-preference signal pre-emption and land-use patterns that support non-motorized travel and transit.
The agency is governed by a Board of Directors whose members include three County Commissioners (one from the north part of the county, one from the central, and one from the south), the mayors of Bremerton, Port Orchard, Bainbridge Island or Poulsbo, and two members of the Bremerton City Council.
Kitsap Transit is funded primarily by a local sales tax, which made up 83 percent of funding in 2006. Farebox revenues accounted for 11 percent of funding. Other income accounted for the remaining 6 percent.
The fixed route bus service is directly operated by Kitsap Transit. Kitsap Transit maintains three garages—Poulsbo in the north, Bremertonin the central county, and Port Orchard in the south. The agency’s headquarters are at 60 Washington Avenue in Bremerton.
The fixed route bus system is divided into four operating areas—the South County area, which includes Port Orchard, Manchester and Southworth; the Central County area which includes Bremerton and Silverdale; the North County area, which includes Poulsbo, Suquamish, Indianola and Kingston; and Bainbridge Island. The fixed route bus system connects the major communities in the county and also links the communities to five ferry boat terminals.
Kitsap Transit’s fixed route bus service has 10 transfer centers. This includes the Bremerton Transportation Center (BTC), East Bremerton Transfer Center (EBTC), West Bremerton Transfer Center (WBTC), and Kitsap Mall in the CentralCounty area. In the SouthCounty, the transfer centers include the Port Orchard Ferry Dock, Town Square Mall, and Southworth Ferry Terminal. In the NorthCounty area, there is the PoulsboTransferCenter and the Kingston Ferry Terminal. And on BainbridgeIsland there is the Bainbridge Island Ferry Terminal.
The fixed route system also includes seven advertised transfer points. These are at the Annapolis Ferry Dock in Port Orchard, the Port Orchard Wal-Mart, the Agate Pass Park and Ride and the Suquamish Park and Ride in Suquamish, the McWilliams Park and Ride in Bremerton, the George’s Corner Park and Ride on Hansville Road near Kingston, and the Christ Memorial Park and Ride in Poulsbo.
Kitsap Transit operates a fleet of 93 fixed route buses. A total of 3,496,659 unlinked passenger trips were provided on fixed route buses in 2006. The Rideshare program, which includes 116 active vanpools, 41 active VanLink vans, with 199 vans in the fleet, carried 303,971 passengers in 2006. Another 26 Worker/Driver routes, subscription bus service with 32 buses, carried 362,080 in 2006. The contracted ferry boat service operates with two boats and transported 453,462 passengers in 2006.
1.3Consumer Input
In the experience of the FTA Office of Civil Rights, input from people who use transit, such as riders of Kitsap Transit’s services, and particularly those who rely on stop announcements and route identification, can be helpful in conducting reviews. The input assists the reviewers in identifying specific problem areas to be addressed during the course of the review. In addition, the input provides anecdotal support for observations made by the reviewers and conclusions drawn from the reviewers’ analyses. The review team gathered consumer input from three sources: (1)formal complaints on file with FTA, (2) consumer and agency representative interviews, and (3)Kitsap Transit’s customer comment/complaint records.
Formal Complaints
There were no formal ADA complaints on file at FTA regarding the fixed route service operated by Kitsap Transit.
Agency and Rider Comments
Prior to the on-site visit, review team members conducted telephone interviews with 10individuals who use the Kitsap Transit service or who work for agencies that serve persons with disabilities who use the service. This included five persons with vision disabilities who ride the system and five representatives of agencies that serve persons with vision, cognitive or other disabilities.
The input received regarding on-board stop announcements is detailed in Section 4.1. Input on vehicle/route identification is provided in Section 5.1.
Kitsap Transit Complaint Process and Complaint Review
Customers wishing to file a comment or complaint can call one of Kitsap Transit’s Customer Service Offices. One office is located in Bremerton and the other is in Port Orchard. Customers can also file a comment or complaint by filling out a Customer Comment Form throughthe Kitsap Transit website. They can also send an e-mail to the Customer Service Office. Comments and complaints are also sometimes received by staff in other departments.
All comments and complaints received through the Customer Service Offices or filed online are forwarded to the customer service manager. She reviews them and then forwards them to the appropriate departments for investigation and handling. It was noted that comments and complaints regarding stop announcements are typically forwarded to the Operations Department.
Kitsap Transit’s goal is to perform an initial review of all complaints within five to seven days and to make initial contact with complainants within a week. A further goal is to investigate and develop a final resolution to each complaint within 15 working days.
When complaints are forwarded to departments, they are first reviewed by administrative staff. A staff member checks route, bus, time, or other information that allows for identification of employees involved. This then allows the correct supervisor to be identified: one of the three area managers (North—Poulsbo, Bainbridge Silverdale; Central—Bremerton, Silverdale; or South—Port Orchard, Manchester). The complaint is then forwarded to the appropriate supervisor to be handled. Supervisors have discretion to investigate and handle complaints as they deem most appropriate. Supervisors typically re-check the time, route, and bus information to be sure that the correct employee (if applicable) has been identified and typically speak with the vehicle operator involved and review agency policies regarding stop announcements. The receipt of complaints might also trigger monitoring of an operator’s performance. If necessary, the supervisor contacts the training staff to arrange for appropriate retraining. Retraining might involve take home exams about specific policies or one-on-one reviews of policies and procedures. Issues raised frequently are also made a part of “Advanced Driver Training” or other retraining efforts.
A cover sheet is attached to all complaints received. This cover sheet indicates the date received, the deadline by which it is to be handled, and the date that contact is made with the complainant. At the time of the on site review, Kitsap Transit staff noted that they were working on linking databases in the Customer Service Office and in other departments to better track all complaints from receipt to final resolution.
Responses can be by phone or in writing. Typically, personal responses by phone are made. The staff person who contacts the customer typically apologizes for the problem encountered, notes what has been done to address the problem, and indicates that the agency will try to do better in the future. Discounts on the next monthly pass are also sometimes offered.
Kitsap Transit received a total of 338 complaints in calendar year 2006 and 377 complaints in 2007. It also received about 150 commendations each year. Since 2006, two of these complaints have been related to stop announcements or route identification: