AN UNEVEN WORK LOAD, DUE TO RUSH-HOUR PEAKING, COMBINED WITH RESTRICTIVE WORK RULES CREATES A SITUATION IN WHICH MANAGEMENT MUST PAY FOR MORE LABOUR THAN IT CAN USE. IN THE FIVE DISTRICTS EXAMINED IN THE STUDY THE RATIO OF WORK-HOURS TO PAY-HOURS RANGED FROM 0.73 TO 0.86. MANAGEMENT PROPOSED WORK RULE CHANGES TO IMPROVE LABOUR UTILISATION, WHILE LABOUR PROPOSED CHANGES TO PROVIDE MORE COMPENSATION FOR ONEROUS WORK SCHEDULING. EXTENSIVE COMPUTER SIMULATIONS WERE PERFORMED ON A REPRESENTATIVE SAMPLE OF EXISTING TRANSIT SCHEDULES TO STUDY THE FINANCIAL EFFECT OF POSSIBLE CHANGES IN WORK RULES GOVERNING PART-TIME LABOUR, MAXIMUM LENGTH OF THE WORK DAY, AND PREMIUM PAY FOR SPLIT SHIFTS. IT WAS FOUND THAT THE WORK RULE CHANGES SUGGESTED BY MANAGEMENT WOULD DECREASE LABOUR COSTS BY BETWEEN 3 AND 8 PERCENTAGE POINTS, WHILE THE CHANGES SUGGESTED BY LABOUR WOULD INCREASE COSTS BY BETWEEN 3 AND 24 PERCENTAGE POINTS. THE GREATEST FINANCIAL IMPACTS OCCUR IN THOSE DISTRICTS WITH HIGH PEAK/BASE RATIOS AND WIDE INTER-PEAK TIMES.
Abstract