Because operators are sometimes absent and daily workloads are often uncertain, transit agencies employ more operators than requiredby the timetable to ensure reliable service. These extra operators are usually referred to as extraboard or cover operators because they are used to cover the assignments of absent operators and to provide required, but unscheduled, work. Operators who do not have specific work assignments are told to report for work at specific times ofthe day to cover work that may be open at those times. A methodology is proposed to deal with the problem of assigning report times to extraboard personnel. The proposed methodology is sensitive to the variability of unanticipated requirements, work rules applying to extraboard personnel, reliability objectives, and availability of regular operators to work overtime in case unanticipated requirements cannot be covered off the extraboard. The methodology is applied to a large bus garage at the massachusetts bay transportation authority totest the quality of the resulting solution under different work rules. This case study demonstrates the potential of the methodology toproduce significant improvements over current practice and to serveas a valuable policy analysis tool. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1266, Urban public transportation research1990.
Abstract