The research was designed to obtain a better understanding of the cost impacts of different labor contract provisions. Three main items within the labor contract influence costs and productivity: workrules, absenteeism, and fringe benefits. The cumulative impact of the provisions was measured using the ratio of pay hour to platform hour. To quantify how these contract provisions affect costs, an extensive literature review was conducted, followed by case studies of the transit systems in indianapolis, new orleans, and philadelphia. The contract provisions added an average of 47 min to the basic service hour, measured in terms of platform time. A system must thereforepay for an average of 1 hr 47 min to put 1 hr of service on the street. Performance within the three case study systems ranged from a low of 1 hr 36 min to a high of 2 hr 4 min. The research demonstratedthe importance of considering the three components of labor contract provisions simultaneously; focusing on the one element does not measure the overall productivity impact accurately. When local cost reduction and productivity improvement strategies are developed, they should encompass all labor contract provisions. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1266, Urban public transportation research 1990.
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