[PRCo] Re: METRORAIL DISASTER

[Herb Brannon]

Odd that they actually have an "insurance company". The majority of all
transit authorities are self insured.
When the "Red Light and Speed Cameras" were installed in Cleveland five
years ago there were scores of tickets being sent to GCRTA to be paid. RTA
soon got tired of that and began a policy of researching who was driving any
buses photographed and presents the ticket to that driver. No, not
me..........I have never had a moving violation in my life.

Howling superchargers seem to be a nationwide problem. I live four blocks
from the Harvard Avenue Garage and see scores of buses each day. During the
Winter I call them "Whistling Buses" and can also hear them a couple blocks
away.

GCRTA still maintains and cleans their own shelters. They tried to contract
that job out several years ago and ended up with dirty, graffiti marked
shelters. Now, since they went back to doing it themselves all the shelters
and clean.



On Thu, Jun 25, 2009 at 12:01 AM, Ken and Tracie <ktjosephson at embarqmail.com
> wrote:

> I've mentioned before that the RTA here (Las Vegas, Clark  County)
> contracts
> their operations to a private company known as Via-Trans. Drivers start at
> $10.00 per hour. The company used to fire drivers for any accident
> involvement, but after losing too many drivers, they changed the
> termination
> policy to dismissal after a driver's first chargeable accident. They also
> fire drivers for more than two hard brake applications during their career
> with the company. This is harder to avoid than one might believe because
> both the county and the city are constantly tinkering with the traffic
> light
> timing and the traffic lights go to sensor loops during weekends and
> overnight hours.





>
> The company's insurance provider gives them a better rate for all their
> drivers having clean records, regardless of their experience level.
>
> It should get interesting to see what happens to driver retention rates if
> they ever go to camera tickets for red light runners.
>
> I do not know who maintains or services the buses, but during colder
> weather, the superchargers whistle and howl like sirens and can be heard
> from blocks away.
>
> Separate companies maintain the shelters, etc.
>
> K.
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Herb Brannon" <hrbran at cavtel.net>
> To: <pittsburgh-railways at dementia.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 8:06 PM
> Subject: [PRCo] Re: METRORAIL DISASTER
>
>
> > General inspections and light repair work is done at the Central Rail
> > Shops
> > by GCRTA personnel. However, all heavy repair work and (intensive)
> > inspections are done at the GCRTA Brookpark Shop by contracted personnel.
> > I
> > don't have the contractors name in mind right now, but they not only work
> > out of the RTA Brookpark Shop, they also lease the building from RTA.
> > Thus,
> > the contractor has taken the place of RTA.
> > In the bus operations the tires are contracted to Goodyear Tire & Rubber.
> > Their personnel work in the bus garages and the Central Bus Repair
> > Facility
> > but they are paid by and supervised by Goodyear. Batteries are another
> > thing, that aspect of maintenance is farmed out to Interstate Batteries.
> > Again they work in the RTA shops but not for RTA. Also, destination signs
> > (bus), transmissions (bus), and even the Marketing Department are all
> > contracted out. Oddly enough RTA still has its own Print Shop and Sign
> > Shop.
> > In fact the sign shop, apparently having a "slow" week, made up several
> > Cleveland Railway and Cleveland Transit System bus and car stop sign
> > replicas. I'm trying get one. Yes, today much is contracted out.
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 10:10 PM, Schneider Fred
> > <fwschneider at comcast.net>wrote:
> >
> >>
> >> But I suspect prior to about 1965, Cleveland Transit probably paid
> >> all expenses out of the farebox including all maintenance.   Today
> >> they probably have shifted a lot of maintenance to capital by bidding
> >> out a lot of overhaul work to private corporations.   Am I correct,
> >> Herb?   If I'm not, they're different than most companies.
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> > --
> > Herb Brannon
> > On America's North Coast
> >
> >
> >
>
>
>


-- 
Herb Brannon
On America's North Coast