Tucson's first tram, Sun Link, opened on July 25, 2014. It runs from the University of Arizona to Mercado via the Main Gate business district, historic Fourth Avenue, and the downtown area. That makes it a mainstay of the city's economic, social, and cultural life, all now wheelchair-accessible.
RATP Dev was chosen from the outset to maintain and operate the line. Well before the July 2014 inauguration, teams from RATP Dev's American subsidiary worked closely with the Tucson authorities. In particular, they hired and trained staff to ensure the best possible service from day one.
Starting in August of 2023 RATPDev committed to restoring service to 100% of budgeted service (or pre-pandemic) levels, starting in January of 2024. The challenge was immense, however, by utilizing new technologies and methodologies provided by RATPDev USA, we were able to rapidly staff up, engage and retain sufficient operator new hire levels to fulfill our commitment and even grow the service in preparation for service enhancement and increases starting in April of 2024.
In order to overcome this challenge, RATP Dev USA recommended wage parity, and was able to increase wages for operators.
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The team at VCTC focuses on their community by participating in emergency relief services, Toys for Tots events, and Fill the Bus events.
The County is participating in a regional assessment of the routing structure with the intention of redesigning service by 2025.
The team at IndyGo has been recruiting in the field, doing pop-up events, community events, community partnerships, and job fairs.
RATP Dev USA and the local COMET team included higher wages across the board as part of the CBA negotiations, and included an increased safety bonus as incentive, helping the overall competitive market of recruiting operators. The COMET team has also decreased employee turnover by 6.5% in the last year through engagement activities.
In order to support our client in the aging fleet issues, we provided data around the buses, helping our client make data-driven decisions in procuring additional buses in the next two years.
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In order to overcome staffing shortages, the team at Mountain Mobility participated in numerous job fairs. The team even used hiring magnets on their personal vehicles to spread their recruiting efforts. By putting up flyers at local restaurants, on the county website, and the job fairs and advertising, the team was able to quickly fill open positions.
In order to improve on time performance, the Mountain Mobility leadership team focused on the following: