Road Supervisor SOP 050: Road Supervision

Purpose 

This procedure provides information for road supervisors to use the CAD/AVL system to monitor service delivery and routes throughout the day. This procedure assumes the schedule has been pushed to the on-board CAD/AVL system (See SP-001-01). The process covers monitoring alerts, changing operators and vehicles, monitoring relief operations, reporting incidents and managing detours.   

Operational Impact and Metrics

Operational Impact: The CAD/AVL system streamlines several common route management tasks and helps identify and address problems as routes are running, and efficiently provides relief operators or replacement buses as necessary. By having access to yard maps, operator information, vehicle status information, and various monitoring alerts, road supervisors can respond quickly to issues on the road. 

Metrics: On-time performance, Vehicle capacity, Bus bunching on route 

Definitions

Frequency

Continuous during service 

Roles and Responsibilities 

Implementation of this SOP is primarily the responsibility of “Road Supervisors”, or whichever transit agency staff perform dispatch duties from a support vehicle. Supervisory personnel should be familiar with these procedures to support the road supervisors. Bus Operator responsibilities for monitoring information while in service are covered in SP-021-01. Dispatcher responsibilities for route monitoring and operator relief are covered in the parallel SP-012-01 

Procedure 

Route Monitoring:

1. Utilize the badges within the “Operations tab” to inform monitoring needs for route status 
2. On-time performance 
3. Vehicle capacity  
4. Bus bunching on route 
5. Route status – good, monitor, attention required  

Monitor Communications from Operators on the Communication Tab:

1. Respond to emergency alarms from operators immediately
2. Review and respond, if necessary, to canned messages from operators 
3. Respond to requests to talk from operators 
4. Monitor maintenance tab for vehicle health alerts and alert maintenance staff for high priority VHM issues to ensure they are aware
5. Utilize timeline tab to analyze vehicle schedule information  
6. Monitor Relief Operator Status - confirm assignments against schedule
7. Verify first operator log out and relief operator log on- the Pullout tab
8. Monitor pre trip inspection/tests (if required) to confirm they were performed correctly

Incident Reporting:

1. To generate an incident 
2. Right click on a vehicle anywhere the vehicle appears in system (e.g. status tab, map, and event queue) and select “Create Incident”. This action will automatically tag related vehicle data such as:  Vehicle Id, Run, Route, Trip, Stop, Operator, Location, Time
3. ETMS auto-launches/ opens to the Vehicle Incidents screen
4. Fill in fields ( Incident Title- is required, Description, etc.) 
5. Enter additional information on the 2nd sub-tab (Vehicle Incident type, Vehicle Problem Code)
6. Use the Replay Tool button to replay a set of minutes leading up to the event/ the bread crumb trail from the vehicle 
7. Enter related Notes on the 3rd sub-tab (tracks all notations via a timestamp
   • Use the Attachment button to upload related documentation (PDFs, etc.)
8. Use the 4th sub-tab to document vehicle replacements and any missed/ resumed service ( software will auto- calculate the adjustment differences for you)
9. Use the 5th sub-tab to document road calls 
10. Select the Save button when done   
11. Incident is stored on the main screen ( can be edited by personnel with the permissions included in their accounts) 
12. Locate incident and open incident to edit: includes the ability to update incident status, reassign it, add additional notes/ documentation as information is gathered, etc.

Detour Management:

1. Select myAvail Detour Tab 
2. Click green + sign to create a new detour 
3. ETMS opens to Detour tool
4. Add name 
5. Add cause 
6. Add effect 
7. Select days of week- using the sliders
8. Add date and time ranges 
9. Locate impact zone area on map
10. Draw polygon of affected area on map. (affected routes and stops are automatically listed, default messages for operator and public are automatically built) 
11. Edit each segment to redraw the path the vehicle will follow 
12. Edit stops, if service to affected stops will be provided during the active detour ( otherwise they display as skipped)
13. Save detour 
14. Close tab
15. myAvail- open related messages for detour to rebuild 
16. Review and save each operator message 
17. Review and save each public message and add message destinations (web, social media, etc.) 
18. Click Save for the group
19. Confirm messages have been built
    • Saved messages have a numeric value next to the #Public- Operator Messages column [2-2- meaning 2 operator and 2 public messages have been built]
    • Saved messages display on myStop applications ( based on publish date)

Supporting Documents

Prerequisite SOPs  

1. SP-001-01 Planner – Schedule Data Management and Implementation 
2. SP-012-01 Dispatch – Route Monitoring and Relief