Transport Authority Functions Chart Staffing and Expertise Requirements
See a structural overview of the authority’s staff and department functions for a system based on a net-cost route-contract. Compare this structure with the authority structures for the various other system reform options.
By opting for a route based contract structure, the authority is effectively saying that it wants to run the show. It will be responsible for all planning, operations and scheduling, defining individual routes for tender, issuing tender documents and awarding contracts on a regular basis.
Since one of the principal reasons for having route contracts is to ensure the lowest operating costs are obtained on an ongoing basis, the tendering procedure is repeated at regular intervals of about five-to-seven years to ensure costs are kept low and in line with current financial realities.
The authority’s public face
As there is no intention for the operator to be identified as the service provider, it’s the authority that is seen as the provider by the general public. As a result the authority must take full responsibility for all marketing and information, public relations and all ticketing and treasury functions.
The authority must be heavily involved in marketing since it has the sole responsibility for the bus service and it should be aware of public aspirations for, and complaints about, bus service. It should also ensure that the service being offered is suitable for the community.
Issuing tickets and collecting revenue
Under the net-cost arrangement, all revenues are for the account of the authority so there will be a need for a division to look after ticketing — including smart card tickets if available — and to keep track of all on- and off-bus fare revenue collected. Reasonable sized ticketing and accounts departments are likely to be necessary together with a survey division and an inspectorate to ensure all fare revenue is collected.
The authority should also be responsible for fare setting and monitoring the costs and productivity of the operator. This will involve maintaining a survey team to undertake regular checks. Since the operator is to be paid according to the amount of service provided (kilometers or hours or a combination of both) a reasonable sized survey division is needed to ensure that the service reported is actually operated.
Tendering
Since the authority must tender routes on a regular basis, a tendering division will be needed to make the initial selection and then be responsible for a rolling program of route tenders.
Staffing levels
An overall staffing level is hard to determine since it depends very much on the functions to be performed and the complexity of each function. These will vary greatly from city to city. Cities that are expanding rapidly will require higher staffing levels than those that are relatively stable. Cities with more sophisticated procedures will also require more staff.
For a city of about 1 million people and about 1,000 buses in service, the staff levels needed to regulate a route-based, net-cost contract system would probably be of the order of 200 to 300 depending on the workload. Larger cities would need more staff but the increase would not be proportional to population.
See also
Institutional requirements
The authority as executive
