AATA board receives preliminary report

Findings reveal TheRide compares favorably to peer organizations

Preliminary findings of the internal organizational review and peer analysis were presented to the TheRide’s board of directors at its meeting tonight by Jack Doolittle of McCollom Management Consulting of Darnestown, Maryland, the consulting firm that conducted the review over the past few months.

The comprehensive review was conducted in an effort to inform TheRide’s Chief Executive Officer Michael Ford and board of directors about the current performance of the organization and to identify opportunities for improvement, as well as to provide an assessment of the organizational requirements necessary to realize a shared vision for public transportation in Washtenaw County.

“I’m pleased these initial findings have demonstrated that TheRide is on track with its mission of offering the region affordable, efficient and environmentally sound transportation alternatives,” Ford said. “This report is a critical component to helping us assess our organization as we work to help shape a long-term public transit plan in Washtenaw County.”

Doolittle’s report stated that “the organizational structure and senior management team are sound and well qualified to carry TheRide forward to meet the near term challenges of the agency. The core functions of transit operations and maintenance of the fixed route service are excellent.”

The staffing levels of the agency were described as appropriate to the current mission, but with the recommendation for additional road supervision. Also, recommended was additional staffing to expand financial and operating planning and analysis, to upgrade and support the maintenance information technology system and to increase communications and public outreach efforts, in preparation for the expansion of services throughout Washtenaw County.

The consulting firm also identified 12 peer transit systems, located in Durham, NC; Grand Rapids, MI; Kalamazoo, MI; Lansing, MI; Lexington, KY; Little Rock, AR; Madison, WI; South Bend, IN; Syracuse, NY; Tallahassee, FL; Toledo, OH; and Urbana, IL.

The peer agencies were chosen based on their similarities to TheRide in 1) total operating expenses, 2) number of passengers carried and 3) miles of service provided. In addition to these criteria, the consultants also considered as important factors whether the peer transit agencies operated in a university community and whether the agencies faced a similar funding and economic environment.

The presentation showed that TheRide’s financial and operating statistics are within expected ranges of those of its peer systems. In terms of total operating expenses, management decisions over the past several years have resulted in controlling costs so that the average annual rate of increase is about 1.4%, or well under inflation – while the average peer system experienced cost increases of 4%.

The peer review also identified that the cost per service hour, which TheRide has focused on recently, is virtually the same as the peer average when adjusted for Regional Price Parities that reflect the overall costs of living in urban areas across the country.

TheRide has increased its ridership per hour of service from 22.8 passengers in 2003 to 31.2 in 2008, when it passed the peer group average and became 4 percent higher than the average. Over that five-year period, TheRide’s bus ridership increased from four million to 5.9 million passengers. At the same time, the cost per ride decreased from $3.39 in 2003 to $2.37 in 2008, or at an average annual decrease of more than 5.4 percent.

Doolittle noted that “TheRide provides an extensive family of paratransit services that are in excess of the requirements of the American with Disabilities Act,” which are above and beyond services provided by the peer systems.

The consulting firm also studied how TheRide and its peers make use of federal Section 5307 formula funds which are distributed to urbanized areas throughout the country. The presentation showed that TheRide uses its capital funding (for facilities, buses, etc., not operations) at about the same as the average rate of the peer systems and that its capital needs are being met. It was also noted that TheRide is prudent in its use of federal formula funds for preventive capital maintenance on its buses and facilities to extend their useful life. TheRide uses 40 percent of these funds for preventive capital maintenance compared with the peer average of 67 percent.

The consultants will include their recommendations in a final report due to be completed in June.

McCollom Management Consulting of Darnestown, Maryland, has conducted organizational reviews for more than 50 organizations over the past 20 years, most recently in Dallas and El Paso, Texas. The firm supports the Federal Transit Administration’s National Transit Database (NTD) by training agencies on how to file NTD reports and by reviewing new start applications for the development of new rail lines.

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