Field Reports

In Pursuit of New Paradigms: Actions in the Field

The Convergence of New Paradigms Themes on a National Scale

The New Paradigms project has revealed principles and themes that are beginning to guide change within the transit industry. Almost simultaneously, the same themes have emerged from ongoing assessments of change affecting the highway community. The National Dialogue on Transportation Operations, a two year old program initiated by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is exploring a shift in focus from project-oriented construction activity to more effective operation and management of the overall highway network, a clear paradigm shift.

Together, the New Paradigms project and the National Dialogue on Operations are beginning to define a new mission for transportation organizations - customer-based management of multimodal system performance, built on new collaborative relationships and enabled by state-of-the art information technologies.

Advancing New Paradigm Themes on the Local Level

There is mounting interest in shifting the 40 year old mission and focus of transit organizations from traditional operation of services and assets, to managing mobility on behalf of customers, irrespective of whose assets are being used.

The vignettes that follow provide a brief glimpse of the steps being taken by a few transit agencies to pursue a new paradigm at the local level. As this interest grows, new reports will be added to this portion of the website to help others formulate plans to embrace a 21st century transit paradigm.

In several regions of the country, actions have been taken within the last two years that may well result in the emergence of a new paradigm that closely parallels the themes and principles outlined in the project to date. In each of the areas and agencies described below, dramatic change is occurring, creating potential models for moving toward a new paradigm in a very short space of time.

Rationales for the changes taking place vary from one agency to another but the changes underway in each case reflect closely the themes and principles that have emerged from the New Paradigms project. Each agency is attempting to make fundamental changes in one or more of the six critical dimensions noted earlier. The status in each case is summa­rized both in text and in the accompanying diagram that was used earlier to describe how fundamental change might be tracked over time.

The CAT System and the Community

The "CAT" system serves Chatham County and Savannah, Georgia, and currently carries 3.7 million passengers a year on 21 routes. The paradigm shift anticipated in Chatham County involves fundamental changes in several key dimensions that today fall, for the most part, between conceptualizing and formally planning for change. The emphasis has been placed on mission shift and rethinking organizational structure, as indicated below.

Motives for Fundamental Change

A major impetus for pursuing fundamental change in how transit services are designed and delivered arose through a recent Transit Development Plan (TDP) process and a syn­thesis of community input that revealed to both the CAT staff and the board that deliv­ering and extending current services in traditional ways could not meet the needs of the city, county, or the outlying region that are increasingly interdependent. It also became apparent that the current organizational structure and traditional business practices offered little or no opportunity to adapt to this new reality. As an outgrowth of the TDP process, and with visionary leadership at both the staff and board level, a radical redefini­tion of the CAT mission, scope of activity, and business practices has been embraced. The changes envisioned are truly fundamental and are being actively pursued and supported broadly throughout the community among an ever-broadening range of partnering agen­cies, community leaders, and allies.

Fundamental Changes across the Dimensions

Mission. Although formal language may not yet reflect the fundamental nature of the shift in mission that has been embraced by CAT, the common understanding and concept used to describe the emerging mission is that the organization will become a "mobility enter­prise," and that it will expand its role beyond Chatham County to serve the four-county, two-state region surrounding Savannah.

Customer. The impetus for a shift in mission and scope of activity clearly reflects updated knowledge about changing customer needs in the larger four-county region and a broadly shared commitment to meet those needs through an expanded set of services that appears seamless to the customer. Approaches to defining in more detail the measures to be used in assessing the quality of the customers’ experiences lie in the future.

Collaboration. The effort to dramatically shift the CAT mission to one of mobility man­agement over a multi-state region has involved a wide spectrum of organizations, inter­ests, and community leaders across the several jurisdictions involved. Support for the overall concept manifested itself in the formation of an organizing committee that has prepared draft enabling legislation for consideration by both the Georgia and South Carolina state legislatures. Collaboration to date in support of a paradigm shift has involved the government, private, and non-profit sectors, providing a broad base for future partnerships and alliances as the process moves forward.

Integration. Because the paradigm shift envisioned is in its early stages, the opportunity to literally integrate roles, responsibilities, functions, or services lies largely in the future. The recent initiation of CAT water ferry service with connections to downtown shuttle services, deployment of accessible taxi services, and development of a convention-based service plan jointly with the business community, however, provide a clear sense that a larger range of constituent and provider organizations are, in fact, willing to pursue inte­gration on various levels necessary to support the larger paradigm shift anticipated.

Information Technology. The essential enabling role of state-of-the-art information technol­ogy is well-recognized as a critical aspect of the transition to a mobility enterprise. CAT plans within the next six months, subject to funding availability, to begin creation of the communications backbone that will be necessary to support the mobility enterprise. Ini­tial efforts are likely to focus on wireless communications and AVL applications that can both link the mobility enterprise to its partners as well as to customers.

Organizational Structure: The most dramatic aspect of the paradigm shift underway at CAT is the structural change planned for the current county-centered organization and system. The organizing committee that was mentioned earlier has framed and defined the mobility enterprise concept and drafted a compact that is expected to lead to enabling legislation that must be acted on by the state governments in Georgia and South Carolina to bring the new mobility enterprise into formal existence. Under the current notions, the new mobility authority would have a strategic, regional responsibility for the full spec­trum of surface transportation systems and services.

Status and Expectations

Support for what promises to be a paradigm shift for CAT is broad and strong. Tangible progress is in the early stages across most dimensions. The exceptions are the firm com­mitment that has been made to the "mobility enterprise" mission, and the consensus that has been built around a compact that will guide formation of a new organization. Although the unfolding strategy begins with dramatic organizational change, early indi­cations are that state governments may not take up the proposal in the immediate upcoming legislative session where limited time is likely to be committed to critical budget problems facing almost all states.

For more information contact:
Scott K. Lansing, Executive Director
 Chatham Area Transit Authority
P.O. Box 9118
Savannah, Georgia 31412-9118
(912) 236-2111

The ValleyRide System and the Community

The Regional Public Transportation Authority, now known as ValleyRide, was created in 1998 to serve people throughout the two-county Treasure Valley region. The Treasure Valley is home to more than 450,000 residents, three-quarters of whom live in one of 14 incorporated communities, of which Boise is the largest with a population approaching 200,000.

In the period from 1995 to 2025 the state of Idaho is projected to be the sixth fastest growing state in the nation, which has raised concerns over how to best accommodate continuing rapid growth and provide mobility and access without jeopardizing the qual­ity of life in the Treasure Valley.

As part of the effort to plan and provide transit services, ValleyRide has taken over opera­tion of the Boise Urban Stages, "the BUS," a fixed-route service carrying more than one million trips a year in Boise. A variety of other transportation services exist in the Treasure Valley, however, and ValleyRide was formed in large part to coordinate services throughout the two-county area. As part of this process, a Transportation Development Plan and a Strategic Plan were recently completed along with preliminary analysis of a rail corridor. The move toward coordinated multimodal services in a regional setting has set the stage for the paradigm shift now underway in the Treasure Valley.

Motives for Fundamental Change

Community leaders in the Treasure Valley foresaw the need to enhance, expand, and more closely coordinate transit services throughout the area in the face of increasingly rapid growth and development. Following state legislature approval in 1994 of a law to allow citizens to vote on the formation of public transportation authorities, residents of Ada and Canyon counties voted 70 percent in favor of the formation of a regional transit authority.

Broader concerns about development and growth management in the valley also have been pursued in parallel with the formation of a regional transit authority. Emerging interest in smart growth has had two noteworthy outcomes. The first is broader recogni­tion of the link between growth management strategies and transit and transportation investment strategies. The second is a higher positive profile for transit when it is associ­ated with a broader growth management agenda designed to preserve and enhance qual­ity of life and the character of communities.

Fundamental Changes across the Dimensions

Mission. The mission of ValleyRide is "…to move people throughout the Valley by coordi­nating and providing convenient public transportation services" (emphasis added) with the purpose of providing "access to transportation choices…" to "support a livable and healthy community." These ideas were broadly formulated to provide the core of the recently completed ValleyRide Strategic Plan and were conceived with the explicit desire to place ValleyRide in a mobility management role across the two-county region.

Customer. Although the transition from traditional transit operations on a community scale to mobility management on a regional scale is continuing, ValleyRide is clearly focused on the quality of the customer experience as a fundamental measure of perform­ance and success. Although explicit measurement systems have not yet been put in place to monitor performance in customer terms, ValleyRide has identified seven principles to guide their activities. One of the seven is customer service, described this way in the Strategic Plan:

"To make the customer the focal point of our processes, and to assure that the ease of use, flexibility of service, and satisfaction of the customer is of obsessive concern to ValleyRide, the providers, and other partners."

Collaboration. The statement above also signals the endorsement by ValleyRide of a con­cept fundamental to the pursuit of a new paradigm; i.e., that heightened customer focus invites and, indeed, requires the involvement of more than the traditional transit provider in serving mobility needs. This principle implies that partners and providers other than ValleyRide are an integral feature of the emerging institutional arrangements for enhancing mobility, and that ValleyRide, as an organization, has a core responsibility the management of these relationships and the performance of the partners.

During the formation of ValleyRide and preparation of the Strategic Plan, positive col­laborative arrangements and associations have been built with major stakeholders and constituencies with an interest in mobility throughout the Treasure Valley, including rep­resentatives of local units of government and the counties, the county highway districts, the Idaho Transportation Department (ITD), the Community Planning Association of Southwest Idaho (COMPASS), existing providers, the private development community, the Treasure Valley Partnership, and others. State agency staff, business leaders, political leaders, employers, and other service providers all participated directly in development of the Strategic Plan. The importance of developing and sustaining partnerships is one of five priorities cited in the Strategic Plan and is reinforced in another of the principles noted in the Plan, that of "teamwork":

"To work in collaboration with our partners, stakeholders, and the public by demonstrating and practicing our willingness to continually improve how we work together for the benefit of our customers."

Finally, a third principle in the Strategic Plan acknowledges the importance of open, direct, and constant communications in sustaining effective partnerships and pursing the broader mobility management mission.

Integration. While formal operational integration of functions, services, and resources lies in the future, the Strategic Plan calls for the formation of a ValleyRide Management Council. Formation of the Council will institutionalize oversight and monitoring of ser­vice integration initiatives. The full spectrum of providers and partners will participate on the Council that will provide a mechanism to, "…co-develop operational policy and proce­dures, seek efficiencies and optimization of existing services, collaborate on development of new ser­vices, and create the real meaning of ValleyRide through extraordinary customer focus."

Integration will also be supported through "cross-business operational teams" composed of staff members from various provider organizations. The teams will support efforts to integrate across major functions, including marketing, customer relations, training and development, maintenance, and scheduling.

Information Technology. ValleyRide and its partners recognize the role and importance of state-of-the-art information technology in carrying the mobility management mission for­ward. Without a dedicated funding source for ValleyRide, however, resource constraints dictate that near-term investment priority be given to critical capital requirements and operating expenditures. One of the ValleyRide Strategic Plan priorities, however, is to secure stable funding and a series of four goals have been established to guide pursuit of this priority. Additional resources will enable ValleyRide to move more aggressively to deploy the technologies that can support the new mission. It is likely that the work of the "cross-business operational teams" noted above will also clarify where and how new information technologies can be most useful and effective.

Organizational Structure. The organizational structure adopted by ValleyRide echoes the new, three-tiered organizational paradigm introduced earlier in the report. ValleyRide as an organization will set overall policy, managing and overseeing the provision of coordi­nated services. Direction will be provided by the ValleyRide Board of Directors through a Management Committee, supported by the Treasure Valley Management Council (described earlier), the Director, and the administrative staff. Primary functional respon­sibilities lie in four areas:

  • Operations, which will focus on integration of multiple services and providers;

  • Planning, which will focus on programming, technology, and land use coordination;

  • Market Development and Community Outreach, where attention to customer con­cerns is lodged; and

  • Administration, including centralized human resources and finance.

The various operating agencies and service providers represent the resource that ValleyRide hopes to manage in serving customer needs.

Status and Expectations

The organizational foundation is in place on which to build an agency that embodies the themes and principles identified in the New Paradigms project and a wide range of actors and stakeholders in the Treasure Valley have accepted the basic tenets of the new para­digm in transit design and delivery. ValleyRide has been structured to build and sustain partnerships at every opportunity with customer service as the focal point. The immedi­ate agenda for ValleyRide is organizational - to get the various parts of the organization established and working and to get bring new skills to new positions that are critical to the mission (i.e., in marketing and community relations) and in project coordination. In addi­tion, emphasis will be placed on exploring dedicated funding sources and related legisla­tive initiatives to underwrite ValleyRide in the long term.

For more information contact:
 Kelli Fairless, Executive Director
ValleyRide
830 North Main Street, Suite 230
Meridian, Idaho 83642
(208) 846-8547

The UTA System and the Community

The Utah Transit Authority (UTA) manages and operates nearly all public transit services throughout a six-county area that is home to 1.7 million residents in 70 incorporated municipalities surrounding Salt Lake City, Utah. In a service area of 1,400 square miles, UTA operates 150 bus routes and two TRAX light-rail lines serving 20 stations, carrying nearly 116,000 riders a week. The purchase in January 2002 of 175 miles of rail corridor will add future commuter rail services to the regional system.

As host to the 2000 Winter Olympics, the Salt Lake City region, the State, and the federal government invested aggressively to expand and enhance the region’s transportation system. The result is a transit system and services that were acknowledged to be one of the best ever in Olympic history, and now provide local residents and visitors a unique, fully-integrated, multimodal network of transit options that continues to grow with strong local support.

The success of the Olympic initiatives and a continuing series of major achievements in the expansion and use of the UTA system might, in times past, have served to reinforce continuation of the status quo in transit and transit management in the region. The UTA board and senior managers, however, have chosen these successes as a launching pad, embarking on a dramatic program of fundamental organizational change - a paradigm shift - for the UTA organization and the region. In January 2003, after a year and one-half of preparation involving a committee of 31 employees from throughout the organization, the UTA has fundamentally reshaped itself in ways that directly reflect the themes and principles that have emerged from the TCRP new paradigms work. The most significant change has been in organizational structure as the UTA has transitioned from a traditional monolithic operating agency to an organization with a "corporate" strategic business unit that oversees the activities of quasi-independent operating units defined by both geo­graphic and modal responsibility and authority.

Motives for Fundamental Change

The motives for embarking on the types of organizational change described below included:

  • The shift from a bus-only organization to a multimodal operating agency with major construction responsibility;

  • Recognition that the organizational structure of a bus operating agency no longer fit what UTA was becoming;

  • Board direction to enhance senior management’s role at a strategic level;

  • An acknowledged desire to bring operational decision-making closer to the customer; and

  • A desire to "flatten" the organizational structure and streamline decision-making on behalf of customers.

Fundamental Changes across the Dimensions

Mission. The UTA mission is to offer "relevant" transportation across the six-county region, defined by the Federal Transit Administration as "…safe, technologically advanced public transportation which enhances all citizens mobility and accessibility…" (emphasis added).

Customer. A large impetus for organizational change at the UTA has been the commit­ment to improve responsiveness to the customer by moving decision-making and service design closer to customers whose needs vary considerably in subareas around the region. A new, sophisticated market research effort has been initiated to establish a more detailed basis for defining and monitoring progress in meeting changing customer needs.

Collaboration. Through its Olympic system planning and development phases, UTA has established itself as well-regarded, high-profile institution in the region. The focus pro­vided by the Olympic effort combined with the ongoing vision and commitment of com­munity leaders has fostered a close collaboration between the UTA, Salt Lake City, surrounding counties and municipalities, the regional MPO, and the State. In addition, the wide-ranging participation by UTA staff and employees, including labor officials, in the one and one-half year re-organizational planning effort represents a level of internal collaboration that has contributed greatly to the success of the new, emerging organization.

Integration. Because UTA has been historically the region’s transit operating agency, the issues surrounding integration of functions, services, and resources under the new reor­ganization have focused largely on determining which functions should remain regional in scope, strategic in character, and centralized under the surviving UTA "corporate" business unit and which should be delegated to the new, largely independent business units. The redefinition and rearrangement of roles, responsibilities, and functions is described below under in the section on organizational structure. Perhaps the largest integrative challenge, however, and one that has been successfully met, was the necessary reassignment of personnel from within a centralized monolithic organization to and among the several new business units.

Information Technology. Like most major transit systems, UTA would be more aggressive in the deployment of state-of-the-art information technologies if adequate funding were available. UTA has a web-based trip planner that is integrated with its GIS system and its information call center. In addition, UTA has installed electronic message signs at all of the TRAX light rail stations that provide riders with real-time train arrival information and verbal announcements based on GPS. Bus and light rail services are coordinated for the customer’s benefit through a "Connection Protection" system that alerts bus drivers at stations when trains may be delayed, allowing buses to wait for passengers without requiring passengers to wait for the next scheduled bus.

Organizational Structure. The traditional monolithic agency structure has been reorganized dramatically to define and separate functions that are regional in scope and strategic in nature from functions and responsibilities that are localized and operational in nature.

The new "corporate UTA" business unit includes the following functions and responsibilities:

  • General Manager;

  • Board coordination;

  • Organizational development;

  • Strategic Think Tank;

  • Chief performance officer;

  • Regional public relations and marketing;

  • Capital planning and programming;

  • General council/legal;

  • Audit; and

  • Civil rights.

A "central support" unit carries out the following functions:

  • Financial management and services;

  • Comptroller;

  • Information technology;

  • Customer service;

  • Central maintenance and purchasing;

  • Human resources;

  • Training; and

  • Security.

Four separate operating business units have a high degree of autonomy in planning and operating services and maintaining assets, including:

  • Salt Lake City bus services;

  • Provo/Orem bus services;

  • Ogden bus services; and

  • Rail services.

This organizational structure closely matches the three-tiered model found in other industries and other organizations in the transportation sector and is perhaps the most pronounced example to date of a new organizational paradigm that is consistent with the themes and principles that have emerged in the TCRP research.

Status and Expectations. UTA has embarked on a broad-based and fundamental restruc­turing that closely parallels the approach that has emerged in the new paradigms work. It is expected that the fundamental reorganization of the UTA will both increase efficiency and cost effectiveness of service delivery and assure that the delivery of services will be far more responsive to local customers. Within the new organizational scheme, it is worthwhile noting the formal responsibility at the corporate level that has been estab­lished for strategic thinking, marketing, and performance management. In combination these functions, more clearly defined as strategic in character and regional in scope, rein­force a paradigm shift that promises to be more customer-driven and adaptive than under either the past organizational structure or than is currently hinted at in the UTA’s broadly worded mission statement.

For more information contact:
 John M. Inglish, General Manager
UTA
3600 South 700 West
P.O. Box 30810
Salt Lake City, Utah 84130-0810
(801) 262-5626

The Metropolitan Transit Systems (MTS) and the Community

The former long-standing institutional structure of transit planning and development in San Diego County was unique and widely considered to be one of the most effective arrangements in the country. The principal actors have included:

  • The San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the MPO, which has managed county-wide planning and the allocation of revenues received from county-wide sales tax receipts dedicated to a mix of transit and roadway improvements;

  • The Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB), which grew into the de facto role of mobility manager for the city of San Diego and the south county area with responsibility for oversight of wholly owned operating subsidiaries (San Diego Transit Corporation and the San Diego Trolley, Inc.), management of major capital investment planning, transit system planning, contract service provision, and taxi regulation; and

  • The North County Transit District (NCTD), which has had responsibility for transit operations in the north county area.

Transit in San Diego County serves 2.9 million people in a 4,200 square mile area that includes widely varying travel characteristics that are changing constantly, along with constant pressures from new growth and development. Under MTDB guidance, San Diego Trolley operates 47 miles of highly successful light rail and San Diego Transit Corporation operates 74 local and 15 express routes. MTDB also oversees a host of con­tract services operating on varying geographic scales. NCTD operates 34 routes in the north part of San Diego County and contracts for the operation of the Coaster commuter rail service. Aggressive rail expansion is planned or underway in the north county as well as on the San Diego Trolley system serving San Diego and the south county area.

Despite the long history of successful transit planning and development in San Diego under these unique institutional arrangements, state legislation enacted in September 2002 required the consolidation of SANDAG, the MTDB, and the NTCD. The consolidation is underway with two major milestones:

  • Assumption by the consolidated agency of planning and programming functions of the MTDB and NCTD by July 1, 2003; and

  • Assumption by the consolidated agency of project development and construction-related responsibilities by January 30, 2004.

With the exception of direct operating responsibilities, which are to remain with current operating entities (SDTC, SDTI, and NCTD), functions and responsibilities in addition to those above may also be consolidated under mutual agreement. The result of these actions is a new organizational model that in many ways reflects the themes and princi­ples of the new paradigms research. It makes a clearer distinction between regional, strategic planning responsibilities and more localized operating responsibilities; it implies closer collaboration and more timely decision-making between elected officials in the county; and it promises closer integration of transit-related functions and services.

Motives for Fundamental Change

The overt motives for consolidation under SB 1703 are to introduce greater efficiency in both transit planning and decision-making by reducing redundancy in agency functions and personnel and by streamlining the governance of transit planning, development, and operations through the actions of a single decision-making body. In addition, the consoli­dation was framed in a way that can provide a stronger, unified voice in managing regional affairs while retaining the responsibility for service delivery at a level that can remain responsive to the varied needs of subarea constituents, interests, and markets.

Fundamental Changes across the Dimensions

In many respects, the institutional arrangements in San Diego that preceded the current consolidation had evolved - well ahead of others in the industry - to reflect many of the themes and principles that have arisen in the new paradigms research, as noted above. The MTDB, for example, oversaw but did not directly operate most of the services in San Diego. Rather it planned, assisted implementation of, and monitored the performance of a host of providers, some as subsidiaries and some as contract providers, while it also regulated for-hire providers as part of a multimodal responsibility. The most noteworthy aspect of the consolidation, however, is the willingness to embark on a fundamental structural change despite a past history of highly effective transit development.

Mission. The statute authorizing the consolidation, SB 1703, states that the mission of the new agency is to plan, program, undertake project development, and construct transpor­tation infrastructure in ways that improve the efficiency and effectiveness of implementa­tion, and "…provide for a focus on meeting the mobility needs of the region" (emphasis added)1.

Importantly, the view of the consolidated agency as a means to enhance comprehensive regional planning is described more specifically and in broader terms in the statutory goals established for the agency; i.e., among others, "…reducing traffic congestion, lim­iting sprawl, and improving the quality of life for San Diegans."2 In other words, there is a clear expectation that the mission extends beyond simply planning and programming transportation investments to influencing land use and development in ways that change the traditional patterns of suburban sprawl.

Customer. In the last two years leading up to the consolidation, the MTDB completed a strategic planning exercise that included an extensive market research program. The market research looked beyond socioeconomic indicators to the detailed characteristics of travel modes and traveler behavior as a basis for service planning and design. The framework developed through the research allows operators to target changes in the char­acteristics of service in ways that will appeal directly to riders who share common per­spectives and expectations. This represents a first step toward possible development of a monitoring system that more rigorously assesses the quality of the travel experience, a key principle from the new paradigm research.

Collaboration. Transit and transportation planning, programming, and implementation in the San Diego has been highly collaborative in the past, although coordination of services across jurisdictional boundaries within the county has proven to be an ongoing challenge. The consolidation of SANDAG, MTDB, and NCTD will bring responsibility for transit and transportation decision-making under a single set of elected officials acting through the board and committees of the consolidated agency.

Integration. Integration of various operational aspects of transit service delivery has been a hallmark of transit operations in San Diego for sometime. Service standards, including flexibility for variations locally, have been in place along with fare integration for some­time. Far more extensive integration of organizational functions and responsibilities will be immediate and direct under the consolidation. The first phase will involve integrating "planning" and "programming" functions, as defined in the enabling legislation; the sec­ond phase will involve integrating "project development" and "construction"-related activities and responsibilities among the three agencies.

It is expected that integrating and combining responsibilities in these areas will result in more complete and comprehensive integration in several dimensions:

  • Integration of services at the boundaries of service areas;

  • Integration between transportation modes, including modes of transit and highways; and

  • Integration of transportation decision-making with land use, development, and eco­nomic development decisions.

Information Technology. Transit services in San Diego County have been among the most effectively planned and managed in the county due, in part, to well-paced strategies that have kept San Diego at the forefront of new developments while minimizing the risks of moving too quickly into large investments in unproven technologies. With respect to the deployment of new information technologies, travel on the Metropolitan Transit System already can be planned through a web-based trip planning system.

A more recent technological initiative is the planned deployment of a regional smartcard system. In September 2002, the MTDB announced an agreement that will allow access to full the MTS network - buses and the San Diego Trolley, North County buses and the Coaster commuter rail system with the use of a single electronic proximity card or smart­card. There is discussion of eventually expanding the use of the technology beyond tran­sit, to pay parking fees or even to provide ballpark admissions. Because the same vendor is designing and deploying a similar system in the Los Angeles region, it is conceivable that a single smartcard could eventually provide transit access throughout all of Southern California.

Organizational Structure: The new organizational structure being put in place in San Diego directly reflects a set of requirements set out in statute passed by the state legislature and signed by the governor. It dictates the overall form of the new, consolidated organization, the placement of key functions within and among the current organizations and consoli­dated agency, and it defines the structure, responsibilities, and membership of the con­solidated agency board and committees. The overall framework and assignment of functions very closely parallels the three-tiered model that has emerged from the new paradigms research:

  • The consolidated agency will have a decidedly regional scope and strategic agenda;

  • It will serve as an oversight and management organization focused on service integra­tion with a customer orientation;

  • Actual transit service and operations will be performed by current operating agencies, or contractors;

  • It will consolidate planning and programming functions, as well as major project development activities and oversee major construction projects; and

  • It is likely that other functions now being performed at varying levels by MTDB, SANDAG, or the operating agencies will also be transferred to the consolidated agency to the extent they are considered critical at the regional scale and to the strate­gic mission.

The detailed transition of functions and personnel and the ultimate shape of the consoli­dated organization is being planned in detail with the full involvement of staffs and policy-makers representing each of the major organizations involved.

The governance structure includes predominantly local elected officials. A Transportation Committee is charged with providing direction and oversight for all planning, pro­gramming, and funding decisions affecting transit and transportation in the region.

Status and Expectations

The timetable for the consolidation is set out in the state enabling legislation. It requires that the planning and programming functions be integrated and operational in the con­solidated agency by July 1, 2003, and that the project development and construction func­tions be integrated and operational by January 30, 2004. In both cases, transition plans are required on a specific timetable by the legislation and transition planning is on schedule.

For more information contact:
Thomas F. Larwin, General Manager
MTDB
1255 Imperial Avenue, Suite 1000
San Diego, California 92101-7490
(619) 231-1466

The MTA System and the Community

The Los Angeles County has 88 municipalities and more than 16 million residents whose travel needs are served by 17 transit operating agencies, of which the LACMTA is the largest, and the five-county Metrolink commuter rail system. The MTA service area cov­ers more than 1,400 square miles and nine million county residents. Each day there are nearly 1.6 million transit boardings, county-wide, including 1.2 million on MTA buses, 240,000 on MTA rail, and 107,000 on municipal systems. The MTA is the lead transporta­tion agency in the county and serves as the planner, designer, builder, and operator of an increasingly multimodal network. MTA responsibilities include:

  • Bus, heavy rail, light rail, and paratransit operations;

  • Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system development and operations;

  • HOV system development;

  • County-wide planning, programming, and funding responsibility that includes local road and highway improvements, bikeways, pedestrian facilities, demand reduction strategies, and Transportation System Management strategies (TSM), including land use and smart growth;

  • Partnering in an aggressive Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) program;

  • Joint management of the Metro Freeway Service Patrol and Call Box system with the California Highway Patrol; and

  • Management of the Alameda Corridor freight rail project.

The MTA was created in 1993 from consolidation of the former Los Angeles County Transportation Commission (LACTC) and the Southern California Rapid Transit District (SCRTD) and has operated for most of its existence as a traditional monolithic transit operating agency. In recent years, MTA roles and responsibilities have expanded either as dictated by state law (e.g., congestion management and funding allocation) or through locally negotiated program and project partnerships (e.g., Freeway Patrol and Alameda Corridor).

Over the past two years, however, the traditional organizational structure of the MTA has been dramatically reshaped. Fundamental changes are in progress across each of the six key dimensions of change identified in the New Paradigms project. The emerging organi­zation now resembles, in large part, the three-tiered model described earlier. The creation of five "community-based transit service sectors" serving as local bus operating subsidi­aries has created a clear separation between strategic roles and responsibilities to be exer­cised on the county-wide or regional level, and local service planning and operating responsibilities to be exercised largely at the subregional level through a potentially wider spectrum of operating arrangements, including direct service provision as well as contract services.

Motives for Fundamental Change

The principle motive for the separation of strategic regional responsibilities from more localized operating responsibilities arose from a broad acknowledgment that uniform design and provision of services on a county-wide basis does not provide the flexibility, adaptability, or efficiency to meet the needs of a region as large and diverse as Los Angeles County under constantly constrained resources. Service planning and develop­ment - and associated accountability for operations and service quality - must be more responsive to local goals, perspectives, travel demand, and circumstances. In addition to heightening customer orientation, the service-sector model is expected to yield greater efficiencies in the delivery of services.

Fundamental Changes across the Dimensions

Mission. The 2001 25-Year Long-Range Plan clearly broadens the mission of the MTA by speaking directly of the MTA responsibility to address "future mobility needs" through multimodal actions. The reference to improved mobility, in turn, is tied directly to an emphasis on transit’s role in meeting other higher order regional goals:

"The mission of the MTA is to improve the quality of life and the eco­nomic well-being of the residents, workers, and visitors of Los Angeles County through transportation investments the improve mobility, air qual­ity, and access to opportunity" (emphasis added).

Customer. The reorganization of the MTA, as described below, is being undertaken with a clear goal of increasing responsiveness to customer requirements and expectations. While attention to the quality of the customer experience is gaining importance with the reor­ganization, customer-related measurement and monitoring activities continue to be focused in large part on equity issues that arose out of concern and court action to assure a balance in rail and bus system investment. The delineation of systems, services, and facilities to be operated centrally versus those to be operated by the community-based service sectors has also triggered a review of basic MTA service standards that is currently underway.

Collaboration. Many factors converge in Los Angeles County to necessitate a high level of sustained collaboration between agencies, organizations, and stakeholders in transporta­tion and transit decision-making. First, the institutional complexity of Los Angeles County is extreme, like most major metropolitan areas. Second, transit and transportation policy and investment decisions are high-profile actions in Southern California. Third, MTA has acknowledged in its Long-Range Plan that the MTA acting alone cannot achieve the region’s goals and that partnerships and collaboration on a broad scale on issues out­side MTA’s immediate control are essential for future progress in enhancing mobility.

"MTA can be a catalyst for bringing people together, for forming partnerships, for getting things done. We have a huge responsibility to work with our part­ners. MTA can’t do it alone."

CEO Roger Snoble
Mobility 21 Summit: Los Angeles County Moving Together
November 2002

Collaboration with local officials, citizens groups, other service providers, the business community, labor interests, the freight community, and state and federal lawmakers is taking place on a sustained basis, and was a strong focus of deliberations and planning that led to the reorganization now underway. In addition, individual MTA program and project initiatives are providing increasing opportunities for collaboration. In February 2003, the MTA launched a series of five contracted transit pass programs to expand transit relevance and ridership. They include two variations of annual photo-ID employer pass program, an Institutional Pass Program available broadly to a wide range of large organi­zations or groups, a weekly Juror Pass Program, and a Visitors Pass Program that links the MTA with a range of organizations and that facilitate business and casual visitor travel to and around Los Angeles County.

Integration. Services, facilities, and systems that support the design and delivery of transit services in Los Angeles County are being continuously integrated. The integration is occurring across jurisdictions within the county, across agencies on a multi-county regional basis, and through combined resources committed to joint programs and projects. The principle vehicles supporting integration are the MTA’s county-wide programming process, the initiatives underway to expand deployment of state-of-the-art information technologies, and the MTA’s own effort to sort out and link internal functions and busi­ness processes as part of the creation of the community-based service sectors.

Programming, prioritization, and funding decisions are guided by the MTA with the involvement of a wide spectrum of agencies around the county who must apply five broad criteria to assure that prospective investments in eight multimodal project catego­ries are adequately integrated. The criteria include:

  • Regional significance and intermodal integration;

  • Project need and benefit to the overall transportation system;

  • Local match;

  • Cost effectiveness; and

  • Land use and environmental compatibility.

The deployment of state-of-the-art information technologies, as discussed below, is by nature an integrative exercise that benefits both the customer and the service providers. The MTA has in place a web-based trip planner and introduced in September 2002 a monthly Regional EZPass. Part of the MTA vision is to see use of the Regional EZPass extended to Orange County and potentially to San Diego County to create a truly inte­grated network of services throughout Southern California.

Finally, the reorganization effort focuses on issues of integration through the delineation of responsibilities to be shouldered by the MTA corporate office and those to be carried out by the service-sector operating units. These distinctions are described in greater in the discussion of organizational structure change below.

Information Technology. The MTA is aggressively pursuing creation of a "seamless" system of services across the county and is advancing various information technologies as a core strategy. MTA already has in place a web-based trip planner, "Metro Trip Planner," that covers a four-county area. Plans are underway to expand the scope of the system begin­ning in July 2003 by increasing the participation of other transit operators in the county.

The MTA also has underway an Advanced Transportation Management System (ATMS) initiative that will provide each bus with radio communications, automatic vehicle loca­tion capability (AVL), automatic voice annunciators, universal fare system capability, automated passengers counters, video surveillance, and vehicle health monitoring capa­bility. The resulting "smart bus" will provide both customer and management benefits. Plans are to have the full bus fleet ATMS-equipped by the end of 2004. Additionally, the BRT system being implemented includes real-time bus arrival displays at each stop.

In addition, the launch of the Regional EZpass program in late 2002 represents the first step toward implementation of a smartcard-based universal fare system that will be intro­duced within the next three years. The monthly EZpass provides for unlimited travel on MTA bus and rail services as well as on the bus services of 11 other municipal systems. Efforts are underway to expand the system to other providers, including the Metrolink commuter rail system and possibly to other counties in the region.

Organizational Structure. At the core of the MTA’s recent change initiatives is the effort to move management and oversight of bus operations out of the MTA corporate structure and into five community-based service sectors. The goal is to provide greater responsive­ness to transit needs at the local level. The service sectors are semi-autonomous and each is headed by a general manager with broad authority to shape and design service. The first two sectors began operation in July 2002 in the San Fernando Valley and the San Gabriel Valley.

The mission of the service sectors is to:

"…improve bus service; increase agency accessibility and responsiveness; pro­mote greater coordination; maintain an employee-supportive work environment; and create a more efficient and customer-focused management structure for the delivery of bus service."

The following principles have been adopted to guide management of the service sectors:

  • Localize control;

  • Maintain a single point of contact for route-level service issues;

  • Balance responsibility with authority;

  • Streamline the decision-making process; and

  • Support agency policies, plans, and safety initiatives.

Creation of the service sectors has required revisions to and added clarity in the delinea­tion of responsibilities that are to remain with the corporate unit and those that are to be shifted to the service sectors.

The corporate business unit of MTA will retain the following responsibilities, guided by the MTA Board:

  • "Tier One" interregional service operation, including Metro Rail, Metro Rapid (BRT), Rapid Bus, and Express Bus operations;

  • Budget and capital planning;

  • Collective bargaining agreements;

  • Fare policy and service standards;

  • Performance monitoring and tracking for all programs;

  • Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS);

  • Communications and community relations for corporate bus and rail service actions;

  • Government relations;

  • Construction management; and

  • Finance.

The individual service sectors have broad responsibility to plan, deliver, and monitor ser­vices, including:

  • Operating budget development;

  • Administration of annual operating budgets;

  • Route planning and service improvement initiatives;

  • Management of maintenance and transportation, including dispatching, personnel, accounting, safety;

  • Contracting for services, both administrative and operational;

  • Service coordination in conjunction with MTA corporate staff and other service sectors;

  • Administrative support, monitoring, and reporting operating and financial performance;

  • Community relations and public affairs for Tier 2 and 3 services; and

  • Legal and regulatory compliance in operations, including compliance with collective bargaining agreements.

In each service sector, Sector Governance Councils are being established to assure that service design and delivery is fully responsive to local needs. Each Council will be com­posed of nine members appointed by the MTA board from a local nominating process. The Sector Governance Councils will oversee service planning and delivery, including:

  • Sector budget review;

  • Sector program plans and implementation;

  • Performance monitoring and oversight;

  • Policy compliance;

  • Public involvement and oversight; and

  • Communications with MTA headquarters, executive staff, and Board.

The reorganization of the MTA reflects very closely the themes and principles identified in the TCRP New Paradigms effort. Strategic regional responsibilities have been distin­guished from local operating responsibilities; a major portion of the responsibility for the provision and management of capacity has been moved closer to the customer through establishment of independent, semi-autonomous service sectors; collaboration on and integration of services and functions is expanding; and programs are underway to intro­duce state-of-the-art information technologies to support a heightened customer focus and the expanding partnerships that are in place or planned. All of this is being done with a commitment to improve mobility and access across one of the largest, most dynamic and most auto-dependent regions of the country.

Status and Expectations

All five service sectors have been established and general managers appointed for each. Sector Governance Councils are being appointed and corporate-level initiatives and pro­grams are continuing to hasten the establishment of seamless services across Los Angeles County. The expectation is for greatly heightened responsiveness to localized mobility needs and eventual cost savings and efficiency increases from the move to a new paradigm.

For more information contact:
 John Catoe, Deputy CEO
One Gateway Plaza
Los Angeles, California 90012-2932
(213) 922-6000

Other Examples

The Transit Authority of River City (TARC) in Louisville, Kentucky, has held two retreats for board members and senior staff focused on new paradigms themes and their implica­tions. An issue paper has been drafted on future organizational principles for delivery of transit services in the region and the role of mobility management in serving regional travel needs. The issues growing out of the new paradigms effort have risen in importance in Louisville as the January 2003 consolidation of Jefferson County government and the City of Louisville is implemented. The new "regional city" will become the 16th largest city in America, creating a heightened focus on managing transportation investment and develop­ment on a regional scale. The merger of city and county units of government is still under­way and the ultimate role of independent organizations like TARC remains somewhat undefined. The new political structure, however, already provides for a degree of separation between strategic policy and oversight and operational functions. It provides as well for a clearer focus on regional service needs beyond the city-county boundary and for greater integration of regional policy-making across jurisdictions.

The newly elected metro mayor was responsible in an earlier term as the Mayor of Louisville for introducing into city government action-oriented, cross-departmental busi­ness and problem-solving processes that were a model of integrated, customer-driven public service delivery at the time. Those prior experiences suggest that receptivity to the themes and principles growing out of the new paradigm work should be high under the new, consolidated governance arrangement. Four deputy mayors will serve the newly elected metro mayor. Each will have responsibility for specific functional areas of govern­ance and service, including one deputy with a cabinet secretary specifically responsible for public transportation and community development. The integration of the transportation and community development functions is one of the greater opportunities and pre-requisites for effective mobility management, as has been pointed out earlier, and has the potential to bring transit and development policy into synch in a more effective way than has been the case in the past.

For more information contact:
J. Barry Barker, Executive Director
TARC
1000 W. Broadway
Louisville, Kentucky 40203
(502) 561-5100

The Ann Arbor Transportation Authority (AATA) in Ann Arbor, Michigan, has long been an industry leader in testing and deploying state-of-the-art information technologies that are an essential element in the pursuit of fundamental organizational change. The same vision and leadership that has sustained the exploration of new information tech­nologies recently led to the development of a new strategic plan that has shifted the AATA mission to a commitment to "contribute to the management of mobility" in the region (emphasis added). Recognizing the fast changing realities of travel demand in the Ann Arbor region and the higher order mission to broadly manage mobility, AATA has con­tinued to embrace fundamental change in most of the key dimensions associated with a shift in the traditional transit paradigm. AATA continues to test and deploy state-of-the-art information technologies including, most recently, an Interactive Voice Response sys­tem (IVR) to provide information to customers more effectively and efficiently.

The scope of AATA’s responsibility is also being expanded both geographically and in a multimodal sense. The agency has assumed responsibility for a commuter rail planning initiative and at the same time is expanding its service planning and delivery role region­wide. Expectations that the AATA can continue to be successful in broadening its mission and approach have been borne out, in part, by its success in partnering to provide a county-wide brokerage function and its ability to serve as a fleet management resource to providers across the region. Collaborative partnerships are also in place that will lead to service integration with a comparably-sized system operated by the University of Michigan, the provisions of custom services for major regional employers and joint devel­opment of a new, mixed-use downtown transfer center in collaboration with the city and the Downtown Development Authority.

For more information contact:
Gregory E. Cook, Executive Director
AATA
2700 South Industrial Highway
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104
(734) 973-6500

Public transit services throughout Delaware are operated and managed by the Delaware Transit Corporation (DART First State), an operating subsidiary of the Delaware Department of Transportation. In recent years, development pressures have prompted growing concern about the balance of highway, transit and other transportation options across the state. Because the markets and communities served are so varied and the scope and reach of DART services is so broad, multimodal planning and management and the integration of services has become a growing focus of attention at DART. Among the first steps taken by DTC to advance its interest in service integration was to commission the development of an "Atlas of Transit Resources in Delaware," a first-ever attempt to identify the full range of potential partners in the service integration effort.

DTC and its various partners are expecting to advance the partnering and collaborative agenda in the months ahead.

For more information, contact:
Mr. Raymond C. Miller, Executive Director
(302) 739-2040
rmiller@dtc.dot.state.de.us

Metro Transit in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, was reorganized as an operating subsidiary of the Metropolitan Council, the region’s MPO, in 1994, providing an early example of the separation of regional strategic planning, management, and programming responsibilities exercised by the Council, and the daily transit operating responsibility car­ried out by Metro Transit and five independent operating agencies in suburban commu­nities. The structure in place today has much in common with the three-tiered model described earlier and transit decision-making is enhanced through the Metropolitan Council’s long-standing role in framing regional growth and development policies. As the multimodal nature of Twin Cities transit has expanded with construction of light rail, institutional collaboration and system integration has continued to increase among the Council, transit operating agencies, county-level rail authorities, the Minnesota Department of Transportation (MnDOT), the local business community, and the University of Minnesota.

At the regional, strategic level, the Metropolitan Council allocates available transit funds to Metro Transit and the community operating agencies and monitors service quality through a regional framework of service standards that features distinctions in geographic areas, service types, and service characteristics. New technology is being planned and deployed to support both the strategic and operational missions of collaborating agencies and organizations. Although regional fare integration among multiple providers is in place to a limited degree, a regional smartcard system is planned for initial deployment in 2003 and is defined as a regional responsibility and function. Operations and perform­ance data will be reported centrally through a Local Area Network (LAN) based in five Metro Transit garages and 11 other facilities. A transit information center already inte­grates customer information for Metro Transit, the community systems, and contract ser­vice providers on a GIS platform, and AVL is being added to the entire transit vehicle fleet, also as a regional initiative.

In the Twin Cities, the broader mission of managing mobility through a seamless regional system of transit services has evolved as a focus of responsibility for the region’s MPO while traditional transit operating agencies and other providers concentrate on providing capacity to meet travel needs and serve longer term regional goals.

For more information contact:
David Christianson
Metropolitan Council of the Twin Cities
230 East 5th Street
St. Paul, Minnesota 55101
(651) 602-1737

In October 1998, legislation was passed in the Province of British Columbia, with the concurrence of local officials, to reorganize the institutions responsible for transportation and development in the Greater Vancouver region. The Greater Vancouver Transportation Authority, or "TransLink," was created as the umbrella agency with strategic responsibility to oversee planning, finance, budgeting and performance of the regional transportation network, including regional transit, roads, travel demand management and air quality emissions management programs. TransLink oversees the activities of subsidiary agencies, corporations and partnerships that carryout operational roles in these areas. By "wiping the slate clean" institutionally, Vancouver is one of the few areas that has taken the bold step toward a new paradigm in transportation by reconfiguring organizations, missions and business practices from the top down.

The Vancouver case study is important, therefore, for the scale of the reform that has been attempted. In a rare example of true multimodal implementation, the transit agency has been combined with the agency responsible for the regional roadway system, and carries an unusual level of power for environmental strategies. Because of the scale of consolidation attempted, TransLink provides a living case study of the institutional implications of the kind of unified regional transportation organization appropriate for a widened paradigm of transportation management.

Recent review of the Vancouver experience by the New Paradigms project team indicates that the need for multi-jurisditional cooperation does not disappear, however, even with the success of wholesale institutional restructuring. Over the past year, the budget of TransLink was put in jeopardy when the Provincial Government failed to impose a vehicle excise tax that had been agreed upon by all parties as part of the budgetary planning for the restructuring.

This setback emphasizes the fact that the creation of wide-ranging programs and new institutional arrangements to improve transit (or in this case, to finance all modes of urban transportation) often rely on the actions of several layers of government for their implementation. Although the transportation agency is independent, it is in fact reliant on decisions made outside the agency. Its budget must be ratified by the overall metropolitan governing body, the Greater Vancouver Regional District (GVTRD). A recent Auditor General’s report described the situation this way:

"In effect, then, there is a shared governance structure: that is, TransLink’s key decisions require either GVRD ratification or provincial government support to be implemented. This is a difficult environment in which to make decisions efficiently and with certainty."

For more information see:
The full report (quoted above) of the Office of the Auditor General of British Columbia, entitled Transportation in Greater Vancouver: A Review of Agreements Between the Province and TransLink, and of TransLink’s Governance Structure at http://bcauditor.com/AuditorGeneral.htm.

The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) in Washington, D.C., has in many ways emerged as a leader in pursuit of a new paradigm in transit service design and delivery. WMATA is leading the effort to define the larger role that transit must play in the region and the broader mission that WMATA itself must play in assuring mobility and access. A recently completed Strategic Plan is based on these imperatives and lays out goals and strategies to better balance WMATA’s responsibilities as a tradi­tional operating agency with its ability as the only regional-scale operating agency to serve as an integrator on several levels.

Part of this transformation has been an ongoing "culture change" initiative designed to engage the full WMATA staff in consideration of what the organization may become and how organizational structure, business processes, and communications might be altered in the future. WMATA was one of the first agencies to sponsor in-depth discussions of the new paradigms themes and principles in sessions with its top 60 senior managers and in its quarterly senior management meetings involving 250 senior managers. The new Strategic Plan advances many of these themes.

WMATA also has enacted significant changes that echo and reinforce new paradigms themes:

  • A new position has been created at the Assistant General Manager level for long-term and strategic planning to heighten corporate focus on key new paradigm themes including market research and customer knowledge, service integration at the regional level, and collaboration with a host of other organizations in the region also commit­ted to economic growth, enhanced mobility, and improved quality of life.

  • The SmarTrip smartcard system in use on Metrorail was one of the first large-scale deployments of smartcard technology in the country. The plan is for the system to be expanded to the Metrobus network as well as to other rail and bus operators in the region. Testing of the SmarTrip card on bus fareboxes is currently underway.

  • A real-time train arrival signing system has been installed on Metrorail and provides customers with constant real-time reporting of next train arrivals as well as other important public service messages about system operations.

  • An effective web-based trip-planning system is in place that integrates schedule and route information from providers throughout the region.

In a complex, politically challenging, multi-jurisdictional urban setting, WMATA is making advances and pursuing fundamental changes that, taken together, place them at the new paradigm frontier.

For more information contact:
J. Roderick Burfield
WMATA
600 Fifth Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20001
(202) 962-1004

New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NYMTA) has recently proposed a fundamental reorganization that reflects, in key ways, progress toward a new paradigm in the nation’s largest transit network and most transit-intensive metropolitan area. Institu­tional arrangements and the transit organizational structure already in place in New York reflect, to a degree, the three-tiered new paradigm model, with policy, programming, and oversight responsibility exercised by the MTA and operations conducted by the various MTA subsidiaries. Under this scheme, however, various subsidiaries had common mis­sions, performed similar activities, and/or maintained parallel staff capabilities (i.e., were organized largely to supply capacity in their respective service areas).

The reorganization, announced in October 2002, will take place over a two-year period and involves a realignment that will result in the formation of five distinct companies, each having a single transportation mission:

  • MTA Rail (formerly the Long Island Rail Road and Metro-North Railroad);

  • MTA Subway (including the NYCTA subways and Staten Island Railway);

  • MTA Bus (formerly NYCT buses, MaBSTOA, and Long Island Bus);

  • MTA Bridges and Tunnels; and

  • MTA Capital, a unit in charge of overseeing system expansion projects for all companies.

The merger of the commuter railroads is intended to reduce redundancy in administrative functions; increase efficiency in inventory, equipment maintenance, and customer rela­tions functions; and to allow a more regional strategic approach to be taken toward com­muter rail service.

The merger of bus operating entities will provide a single focus on regional strategies to uniformly enhance the quality of the customer experience on the bus network. It also will provide in the future an organizational unit through which better integration with other regional bus operators can be pursued.

The creation of a separate entity to manage major system expansion projects such as East Side Access for LIRR and the Second Avenue Subway for NYCT provides an important distinction between the mission of preservation and maintenance, which must necessarily be undertaken constantly on a day-to-day basis focusing on existing and widely varied capital equipment and physical plant, and the mission of expanding the reach and capac­ity of the network on a regional scale.

In addition to the organizational restructuring, the MTA has moved aggressively to har­ness new information technologies to enhance the customers experience and ease of access to the system. Introduction of the MetroCard on the NYCT subway system and buses, as well as on Long Island Buses and New York City private buses, and the E-Z Pass on MTA bridges and tunnels as part of a multi-state regional initiative, have already profoundly influenced travel choices, travel behavior, and system performance in the region in ways that are fully consistent with the expected consequences of new information technologies as noted in the new paradigms research.

For more information contact:
 Christopher P. Boylan, Deputy Executive Director
MTA
347 Madison Avenue
New York, New York 10017
(212) 878-7160

A host of similar stories can be told about areas and agencies as diverse as Detroit, subur­ban Chicago, Tulsa, and Las Vegas among others. In each instance, fundamental change is taking place or is planned along one or more of the dimensions that can eventually lead to a truly new paradigm in transit service governance, design, and delivery.

Invitation

If your organization or community is interested in hosting a presentation and discussion of new paradigms in designing and delivering transit services, or if you would like more information about the project and related materials, contact any of the individuals listed in the Contact section.

1 SB 1703 Senate Bill Enrolled, Chapter 3, Article 1, 132350.1(c). back to text
2 SB 1703 Senate Bill Enrolled, Section 1. back to text

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