by Ken Stewart
The task of achieving compliance with the federal mandate for announcements of public transit bus stops is a monstrously difficult one, not only for consumer activists but for transit officials themselves.
As I reported in “The Carrot Takes a Bus Ride” (“The Braille Forum,” July 1998), I have been generally supportive of New York City transit officials’ valiant attention to that goal. They have put more than 100 “checkers” on their routes to ride buses anonymously and record the announcement performance of the bus operators. Bus depots with good statistics are rewarded the “carrot” with cash toward amenities at the depots to benefit the deserving employee teams.
At a quarterly meeting of the ADA Compliance Coordinating Committee for New York City Transit, I expressed my continuing appreciation of management’s dedicated efforts to achieve satisfactory compliance, and I commended their approach. However, this was not the first quarterly meeting to hear me accentuating the positive. I decided it was time to ratchet up the pressure, so I added another dimension to my spiel:
“The riding public,” I said, “needs to have evidence that there is something being done about the worst offenders too.”
I gave notice at the session that I would be expecting reports on disciplinary statistics too at the next quarterly gathering of the ADA Committee.
Sure enough, at our meeting three months later, the most recent as I write this, the director of bus department customer relations approached me with some numbers even before the group was called to order. He reported that two drivers had been suspended from work for violating the requirement to announce major stops and junction points, and he reported a substantial increase in the number of bus drivers who have been directed to receive re-training because of less egregious violations of the regulation.
At the same time, the customer relations director ushered me across the room to meet the company’s employee relations director. I believe that was his way of reminding me of the reality that employee discipline is not the unilateral province of management alone. The introduction also made the reality of an attentive riding public a more tangible concept to this employee relations man as well as his union.
Several weeks ago as I trundled down Ninth Avenue on Manhattan’s M-11 bus, I noted there were no stop announcements. I began composing a scolding script to deliver to the driver as I departed at my stop — planning that my words would include an attempt to get his badge number, so I could report him more efficiently. (I knew from past experiences the driver would likely be unwilling to identify himself, and I would be forced to get the large vehicle number painted on the outside of the bus.)
But before the time came for me to unleash my tongue-lashing, I began to notice how friendly the driver was to his boarding customers, and how he made extra effort for them, “curbing” the bus and “kneeling” it for folks with limited agility. I modified my strategy from angry confrontation to pleasant recognition of his considerate impulses. I concluded by making a suggestion that announcing stops would be one more way to show consideration for his riders. He responded favorably to me.
In my discussions with transit managers, I have found that, by and large, they regard announcement-compliant behavior as a very tough nut to crack. The customer relations director associates the problem with the longevity of “old habits.” I am inclined to identify a more basic problem, a problem illustrated by the contrast between the compliance level among subway conductors and bus operators. I contend that a person who applies for work as a conductor understands the essence of the work to be providing service to riders — for example, dispensing information. I would expect, in contrast, that the typical applicant for a bus driving job is pursuing a career mainly focused on the safe and efficient manipulation of a huge piece of machinery.
Many transit officials view new technology as the only reasonable long-term solution to non-compliance with bus announcements. I personally have been skeptical of that silver bullet, partly because I think that a high-tech gadget is only as good as the human being who remembers to activate it and maintain it in functioning condition. I am reminded of the many times I confronted a particular New York City bus driver for not making stop announcements. His excuse was, “The mike’s not working.”
A recent ride around Anchorage on a local transit bus with automated stop announcements has warmed me up a bit. During the two-hour loop, which by the way was quite a sightseeing bargain at the 10-cent handicapped fare, there was a loud and clear voice at every stop. Presumably the announcements were properly linked to each location either by driver activation, infrared triggering at each bus stop, or by pre-programming. Of course, as a first-time Alaska visitor I was in no position to evaluate their appropriateness to sites.
Just a few days ago I had occasion to use the local bus system in Westchester County twice. On the second leg of my trip I experienced for the first time external speaker announcements of the bus route. That technology also seemed quite effective. The automated voice pronounced both the route number and the destination, “Number Six to Yonkers.” It was repeated after a pause. The first announcement came as the door opened to receive passengers, the second just before the door closed again. During the entirety of my bus trip, I could hear the announcements from the external speaker, and I could confirm both the loudness and the complete coverage of all stops.
There is also technology on the horizon which will feature announcements from a speaker at each bus stop which will be activated by and simultaneously identify each approaching bus.
All these devices now give me encouragement, but I am still a believer in vigorous advocacy for compliance from the humans behind the wheel while we eagerly await technological salvation. Rewarding good driver behavior with both incentives from management and expressions of gratitude directly from appreciative riders is fine. Discipline for the violators of regulations must figure in the equation too. The carrot and the stick make good travel companions.