Ensuring Quality Pre-Trips Charlotte NC

We're all looking at tighter budgets and ways to better monitor our operations. By effectively managing our resources, we improve our performance. One of Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County's (Metro) initiatives for this fiscal year was looking at improving our yard process — the labor and expenses needed to get a bus in service and return it to the yard. The areas of our focus? Pre-trip and post-trip bus inspections.

There were primarily two objectives we wanted to meet — compliance and cost effectiveness.

In addition to federal requirements for pre-trip inspections, Metro has its own check-off list designed to catch mechanical problems that could impact passenger safety and performance on the road.

In the past, operators performed the inspection with little oversight, using a paper system that was inefficient and impossible to monitor.

We needed a system that met pre-trip inspection requirements, without having to increase supervision of the process.

We evaluated an electronic vehicle inspection reporting system from Zonar on one of our buses during the last four months and found we've been able to accomplish both.

Radio-frequency identification tags (RFID) tags are placed in safety zones around the vehicle. The drivers do their pre-trip inspection with a handheld reader, placing it close to the tags and indicating the condition of the zone by keying in their responses. After the inspection is complete, the information is sent back to us and we can display the information in customized reports.

The system gives us a way to check if operators are doing their pre-trip inspection and how long they are taking to do it. We can see if they are doing it in 30 seconds or if they are doing a one-minute inspection. If an operator spends 10 seconds inspecting an engine, we know something could get missed.

The system gives us the flexibility to change the emphasis of inspections based on specific concerns. If, for example, we have a safety concern with lugs or wheels, we make a change that appears on the screen of every electronic device. We can set it to require a manager to sign off on the specific problem, and in a short time, we have confirmation that each and every bus has been checked.

When looking at putting this in place, you have to consider several factors.

Installing any new system is a transition that takes time and adjustment. Have reasonable expectations and remember that there is going to be a learning curve and be sure to plan accordingly for that. Start with one location before moving on to the rest of the fleet. Make it easier by starting with the required safety checks in place and as you increase the quality of your inspections, you can add additional zones.

We've always had compliance with our pre-trip inspections but now, with this system in place, we are able to improve the quality of our inspections.

Andrew Skabowski is the Senior Director of Maintenance at the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas.