New Web-based Technology Gives Operators Greater Control in Selecting Roster Assignments

Increasingly, transit agencies are using the Internet to provide riders with enhanced services such as up-to-date route information, detailed schedules, and personal trip-planning tools. But the added convenience and user-control provided by the Web is not limited to transit riders: operators and transit managers can also benefit from Web-based technology for a number of tasks, including the work selection (or bid) process. There are two main types of bid process used by North American transit agencies: operator-developed (or cafeteria-style), where operators select their preferred daily runs and days off to create a weekly roster, and agency-developed (or roster-based), where operators choose from pre-packaged weekly rosters. With roster-based bidding, operators can make their choices individually – in strict order of seniority – or groups of operators can successively submit lists of prioritized choices. But the way in which bids are processed is not the same across all transit agencies. Although order of employee seniority is respected in both cafeteria-style and roster-based bidding, administrators will process bids either by individual or by group, depending on the agency. The latter approach lends itself well to a higher level of automation as well as remote-based bidding, which renders the process more cost effective and offers greater flexibility to operators. This paper will explain the ways in which Webbased tools can improve the bid process, in particular roster-based group bidding, and why Internet-based technology is becoming highly sought after by transit agencies like the City of Phoenix Public Transit Department, which has adopted GIRO’s HASTUSBidWeb technology to help facilitate its roster-based group bidding process.