MTA replies to on-time complaint
Getting There thanks Terry Owens, spokesman for the Maryland Transit Administration, for his prompt reply to the complaint about the No. 1 bus route registered by rider Youssef Mahmoud. Here goes:
We appreciate input from our passengers. We are also proud of the fact that the MTA moves over 350,000 people every day with the majority arriving at their destinations on time. However, when someone like Mr. Mahmoud experiences a service delay we understand his frustration, and seek to resolve performance issues to the best of our ability.
We have heard from Mr. Mahmoud often in recent months via social media and your blog. His concerns are being taken seriously. I have asked our Service Quality Division to investigate his latest issue with MTA Local Bus Service.
The following is an explanation of On Time Performance and how it is calculated at the MTA from our Performance Management Team.
The MTA, like most transit agencies, uses a wide variety of performance measures to monitor and track the delivery of service. No single measure is perfect—each has its flaws and limitations. A typical measure of service quality is on-time performance or OTP. As was previously stated, MTA’s OTP measure is calculated as the total number of timepoints arrived at on time (between 1 minute early and 5 minutes late) divided by the total number of timepoints that were measured. This measuring process is done by our Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) system, which basically gets bus location data from GPS and compares it to schedule data. In any given week, a little over 300,000 timepoints are measured on our bus service, with varying numbers of timepoints being measured on each line depending on the time separation between timepoints, how long each bus line is, and how many trips are made on each line.
The AVL system that we use, which is not unlike most other transit agencies’ systems, has its limitations. As we mentioned earlier, OTP does not take into account cut service or when a bus breaks down on the line. This is not because the MTA desires to overlook these events, but because the system that calculates OTP is not capable of measuring these events as an OTP factor. Simply put, if the bus that is supposed to be on the line is NOT on the line, that bus’s performance cannot be measured under the current system design. The bus is not crossing timepoints and therefore cannot contribute to the overall OTP percentage.
One way we compensate for this measurement problem is that we measure and track runs (bus pullouts) that are cut and delayed as well as the number of major road calls (any instance where service is affected by a mechanical failure, sick patron, or other event that necessitated replacement or repair of an in-service bus). We also look to data from customer complaints, from the Rate Your Ride project (www.rateyourride.org), and reports of service issues from operators.In summary, the OTP statistic is not a perfect measure of bus service reliability, and we recognize that. It also does not adequately represent the experience of the largest proportion of riders, since overall OTP is mostly better during off-peak periods when fewer people are riding. OTP data is currently best used to compare lines to each other
We share Mr. Mahmoud’s concerns, and are currently investigating better ways to measure and present OTP data that more accurately reflects the experiences of the public.
Comments
The absurdity of calling an absent bus ontime is true for buses that never show, as well as buses that skip stops because they're too full.
The MTA seriously needs to digitally publish the AVL data--even if it's not in realtime. Let some talented young web gurus and statisticians figure out how to really measure ontime performance. It may be painful at first, but transparency can only help in the long run.
Posted by: John Stechschulte | March 14, 2011 9:18 PM
Pretty f*in ironic to come home and read MTA self-righteous blather after waiting in the cold for 45 minutes for a number 3 that never came tonight- the 9:10ish pm that's supposed to hit 31st/St Paul.
It's no secret that they can't keep buses on the lines, obviously whatever they are trying to do to "improve" isn't working. Some wise man once said something like, "the definition of idiocy is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Welcome to the MTA!
Posted by: Not-an-MTA fan | March 14, 2011 10:00 PM
It's not much of a response. It says nothing at all about the #1 bus route, thus ignoring the actual issue Mahmoud was complaining about, that he wanted his bus to come on time.
Posted by: Cheap Jim | March 15, 2011 10:35 AM
14MAR2011 TIME 805AM-810AM
Q77 BUS PASSED THRU FRANCIS LEWIS BLD AND 112 AVENUE, OPERATED BY BLACK LADY OPERATOR VERY RUDE, DO NOT MAKE ANY ANNOUNCEMENT, NOT FIT FOR PUBLIC SERVICE. SHE SHOULD BE UNDER OBSERVATION TO CHANGE HER ATTITUDE.
Posted by: KAZI ISLAM | March 15, 2011 10:42 AM
Whoa. I had no idea AVL was in use.
Release the data! Exactly what John said!
Posted by: Jed | March 15, 2011 12:44 PM
Uhh, when a system fails to account for a major variable, it is time for a new system.
"Dear Mayor -
I received your request for the MTA's revenue and expense information. Unfortunately, we are not able to provide you with accurate numbers. Our system only accounts for revenue on Mondays and Wednesdays and expenses on Thursday and every other Tuesday.
It's not that we don't care about money on those other days, we just don't have a way to track it. Conveniently, the numbers we can provide make our performance look better than it actually is. Thank you for your support.
Signed,
Terry Owens"
COMMENT: This parody is not written by the real Terry Owens, spokesman for the Maryland Transit Administration. If Mr. Owens were to address such a note to hisd ultimate boss, he would send it to the governor. While many things in Baltimore can be blamed on the mayor, the quality of MTA service is not one of them. The MTA is a state agency--MTD.
Posted by: Anonymous | March 15, 2011 3:59 PM
Help me with this- according to this performance management system, the more no-show buses there are, the closer to on-time they get???? That helps explain things a lot.
Posted by: Myron | March 15, 2011 4:58 PM
Well, this response was at least as disappointing as I expected. In fact, it raises more questions than it answers. For instance, if MTA already uses GPS to track its buses, why can't I get real time information about where my bus is? That would be a whole lot more useful to me than skewed OTP numbers that make the MTA appear well run on paper without being in any way helpful to riders.
I really want Mr Owens to report back to someone who's not a spokesman that I am sick of canned responses to my inquiries. I am sick of being spoken to as if I am an idiot. I am sick of being ignored. I'm sick of being treated like I don't matter.
And I am sick of having public transit run by an agency full of people who don't use it or care about it. I know, I know, Ralign Wells rides MTA every day. He seems to be the only one. And he rides Metro - the only MTA service that seems to work consistently. And none of that matters, because in the end, Ralign doesn't care about how well MTA works for riders. He cares about how good his organization looks to his political superiors. This is not because he's a bad person, but because that is how our system is set up. He has no personal incentive to run the best transit service in the country. He is rewarded for staying within budget and making MTA look good on paper. And as long as he is reporting to the governor instead of the mayor, that's how it'll be. A Democratic governor knows he has the city's vote no matter what he does, and a Republican governor knows he can never hope to get it. Thus, MTA riders are not a political force at the state level.
Alright, Mr. Owens, what's your canned response to that?
Posted by: Youssef | March 16, 2011 5:56 AM
Well said Mr Youssef!
It's not the people per-se, but how we have organized the system. Accountable to the wrong people for the wrong reasons.
Being on budget is meaningless if what you are doing with that money isnt what is really needed.
What people need is frequent, reliable, predictable public transit from where they live to where they need to work/shop/play.
Posted by: Luke | March 17, 2011 9:00 AM
It's pretty ironic that the Circulator is free and allows you to track their buses in real time, but the MTA, which is making money -- at least from fares -- cannot do the same and doesn't have any plans to in the near future.
Posted by: Sean | March 21, 2011 9:43 AM
How hard is it for MTA to design a system where if a bus starts a run and is pulled it automatially flags ALL subsequent timepoints as late?
Posted by: Charles Rosenberg | March 24, 2011 9:01 AM
BTW, the MTA call center does not have access to gps information.
Posted by: Anonymous | June 23, 2011 9:33 AM