Broward County Paratransit Services Paratransit Questions

Transcription

1 Page 1 of 5 Broward County Paratransit Services Paratransit Questions Response from New York City Transit Authority Objective: Collect more specific information from paratransit agencies in the country that use a centralized call center to find out how they handle things like no shows, late arrivals, etc. Questions (referring to both client and vehicle no shows): 1. What happens when a client isn t picked up (for whatever reason), the vehicle has come and gone, and the client calls and demands to be picked up immediately? 2. Do clients call the call center for where s my ride? calls or do they call the provider? 3. How does the call center handle it from there? Name of Responding Agency: MTA New York City Transit Paratransit Division Department of Buses 130 Livingston Street Brooklyn, NY Carrier (Vehicle) No-Show: If an Access-A-Ride (AAR) vehicle has not arrived 30 minutes after the scheduled pick-up time, the customer may call NYC Transit s Paratransit Command Center to receive trip status. A customer information agent will contact the carrier to find out the AAR vehicle s estimated time of arrival. The customer information agent will also advise the customer when the scheduled vehicle will arrive or whether New York City Transit (NYCT) will dispatch an on-call vehicle to pick up the customer. If the vehicle is AVLM equipped, the agent will give the customer its exact location and estimated time of arrival to the pick up as determined by the ADEPT system. If the scheduled vehicle or an on-call vehicle (accessible as necessary) is not available to pick up the customer within a reasonable period of time, and the customer is able to arrange to take the trip with a taxicab or car service, NYCT will authorize the customer to do so. NYCT will reimburse the customer for the cost of the taxicab in accordance with NYC Transit s Taxi Reimbursement Policy. NYCT reserves the right to also offer customers conditional authorization for taxicab or car service. Conditional authorization is given to customers subject to verification that the same day pick up problem is the responsibility of NYCT. If, upon investigation, NYCT determines that the problem was the responsibility of the customer, then the taxicab or car service fare is at the expense of the customer, i.e., NYCT will not reimburse the customer for that particular trip. If NYCT determines that the problem was the responsibility of NYCT, then the customer will be reimbursed upon receipt of the necessary documentation. If the customer does not have money for a taxi, the customer may be offered Black Car Service. There is no out-of-pocket expense to the customer other than the $2.00 fare. Depending on where the customer is going to, he/she is given the telephone numbers of two

2 Page 2 of 5 Black Car service providers contracted with NYC Transit under its voucher-based car service program. The customer arranges the ride directly with the black car service company. If the first company cannot accommodate the ride, the customer can contact the second car service company. The successful company calls the Command Center to get trip confirmation. This applies to carrier no shows only. Customer No-Show: When the vehicle arrives at the pick-up location within the 30-minute pick-up window, waits the required 5 minutes and the customer does not board the vehicle it is classified as a no-show and recorded as a missed trip. Customers whose missed trips are excessive, as defined by NYC Transit s No-Show/Late Cancellation policy, may be suspended for a reasonable period of time. Notifications of suspension are sent to the customers along with information about their right to appeal.

3 Page 3 of 5 Paratransit Call Center Questionnaire Response from New York City Transit Authority Please note: If any of the information requested below is addressed in either your solicitation document or a contract, you may attach copies of those documents rather than having to duplicate the information here. 1) What brought about the need to explore the idea of a Paratransit call center? What were the positive aspects and the potential negative aspects that were considered in the decision to move toward a call center? The primary purpose of the Paratransit Command Center was to centralize the reservations, scheduling and dispatch functions in an to provide better coordination and accountability, save on costs, increase productivity, improve response time to customers and correct problems with the service while in progress. 2) Describe the procurement process you used secure a call center provider. Please attach a copy of your RFP, RLI or other type of announcement used to seek proposers/vendors. If you decided to do it in house, rather than use an outside contractor please explain why this method was selected. A Request for Proposal (RFP) 3) What startup costs and prospective expenses for operating a Call Center were considered when making the decision to move toward a call center? How did your cost/expense estimates compare to actual costs and expenses you experienced after your first year of operation? 4) Who was selected to perform the call center functions? What type of agency are they (e.g., for profit, another governmental agency, etc.) and are they one of your service providers that perform the on-street Paratransit service? First Transit was and is the contractor that provides staff to handle reservations, scheduling and same-day service problems in the Paratransit Command Center, under the direction of NYC Transit management. However, they do not provide the transportation portion of the paratransit service. 5) What is the actual scope of service provided by the call center (e.g., reservations, complaints, scheduling/routing, dispatching, etc.)? If you have a document that describes these tasks and functions, or an actual contract, please provide this as an attachment. Reservations Schedule trips requested by Access-A-Ride (AAR) customers and provide accurate information in response to any trip reservation inquiries.

4 Page 4 of 5 Scheduling Review schedules to add new subscription customers to the service, manually schedule trips when necessary, review past day route performance for problems that would indicate changes where needed, re-batch trips for any number of the days within the current window including producing the necessary documents. Customer Information Agents Dispatch Center Ensure timely pull-out of assigned routes and enter pull-out information into the system, monitor routes to ensure on-time performance, complete timely entry of every customer s trip pick up and drop off as well as carrier and customer no-show times, handle timely transmittal of information and instructions to drivers regarding customers on their routes, enter trip log entries regarding customer trips and handle add-ons, trip cancellations and trip moves. Paratransit Customer Information Center Provide expedient information to customers for, but not limited to, requests for estimated time of vehicle arrival, alternate ride arrangements, taxicab/car service authorizations, general information (ascertain particular need and transfer to applicable area), and complaints. 6) Can you provide a brief description of the day- to- day operation of your call center, describing such things as call volume, types of calls taken, computer system used, phone system used, reports generated, extent of reservation taking performed by call takers, extent of dispatch functions performed at call center, manifest printing etc. If this is described in your contract, then you may simply attach a copy. Paratransit Command Center staff oversees the daily operations of the AAR paratransit service. The Command Center is divided into Reservations, Scheduling, Transit Control (Customer Information Agents) and Automatic Vehicle Location and Monitoring (AVLM). Reservationists reserve trips requested by Access-A-Ride customers, Scheduling manages trip schedules, Customer information agents handle same-day service problems, carrier dispatchers work with Customer Information Agents (in order to bring dispatch closer to the customer) and AVLM staff is responsible for operation of the AVLM system. 7) Did you experience any division and/or overlap of responsibilities when you went to a call center? If yes, describe your experience. 8) Did you experience what could be considered duplication of administration costs or added bureaucracy when you went to a call center? If yes, describe your experience. 9) In your experience, what are the greatest positive and negative impacts of a call center on the folks using service (paratransit riders)?

5 Page 5 of 5 It is a better, coordinated process, reservations are confirmed on the phone at the time of the customer s call and customer service is improved through better communications between the centralized call center and customers 10) In your experience, what are the greatest positive and negative impacts of a call center on the Paratransit service providers (Paratransit operators)? There are better reservations, scheduling and dispatch coordination, increased vehicle productivity and operators can obtain assistance with on-street service issues/problems while in progress 11) In your experience, what are the greatest positive and negative impacts of a call center on the Paratransit Staff and Administration? There s a cost savings due to increased vehicle productivity and centralized staffing provided by a private contractor, communications between operations and administrative staff are improved, the reservations, scheduling and dispatch coordination helps the process to flow more efficiently 12) In your experience, how does the call center handle rider no-shows, rider late-cancels, disruptive riders, and other operational concerns that effect overall provision of service? What is the day to day level of interaction between the call center and service providers? As needed What is the day to day level of interaction between the call center and County/RTA? 13) What cost savings benefits do you believe can be attributed to use of a call center? Can you attach any documentation to help support your position? Save money by increased vehicle productivity and centralized staffing provided by a private contractor 14) In your opinion, what is the greatest benefit and shortfall of the call center system vs. other methods of reservation and communication with riders? More efficient reservations, scheduling and dispatch coordination as well as improved customer service We thank you very much for taking the time to assist us. Your input is greatly appreciated!