Veolia Transportation has changed its name to Transdev Technical PROPOSAL TO PROVIDE Contracted Operation and Maintenance of Fixed Route and Paratransit Services for The Comet 2014 Submission Letter October 29, 2014 Virginia Goodson, Procurement Officer The Comet 3613 Lucius Rd. Columbia, SC 29201 Dear Ms. Goodson, Thank you for the opportunity to submit our Proposal for continuing to provide Management of the Fixed Route and Paratransit Services for The Comet. We are proud to be the current operators of your transit services. Over the past 10 years Transdev, mostly under our former name Veolia Transportation, has taken pride in our commitment to the residents who we service each day. This commitment has been demonstrated in the following areas: Uncompromising Safety – Our safety record at The Comet over the past 10 years has been stellar and constantly improving. From 2012 to 2013 the Fixed Route service saw a decrease in the Accident Frequency Ratio from an already very good .94 down to .72 per 100,000 miles, and through September 2014 another decrease – down to .63. Columbia has been a center of excellence that truly embodies the culture of Safety First. Service Always. The DART service has the best paratransit safety record nationally with Transdev. In 2012 the AFR was .36 and through September 2014 there was not a single preventable accident. We will continue to promote our very successful DRIVE and 300:29:1 programs which reward drivers for reducing accidents. Exceptional Operating Performance – Throughout the many changes to the service over the past decade, we have maintained a strong operation. Some of our key performance indicators that demonstrate our exceptional operating performance include: o Turnover rate has been less than 5%. o Average fewer than 6 complaints per month. o On- time performance of 90% or better. o Averaged over 15,000 miles between road calls for the last 3 years. With the introduction of new vehicles, new services and new technology into this new contract, we know that we will be able to improve on these numbers and we look forward to exceeding your expectations. Superior Customer Experience – As branding has changed to The Comet and diversified its service offering to attract new customers, we know it is incredibly important to ensure that every interaction with the customer is as Proposal to Provide Contracted Operation and Maintenance of Fixed Route and Paratransit Services for The Comet 1 Executive Summary & Start-Up Plan positive as possible. In order to attract a choice rider we must start with well- trained employees who have the skills necessary to provide a superior experience. Then we must have the tools to measure feedback and implement improvements. To carry this out we have proposed the following new programs: o Going for Care –Our proprietary in house customer service training program equips every employee with the tools they need to deliver the best customer service possible. Everyone receives an initial 2 hours of training and our entire management team and supervisor staff have received the extended four hour class. o Listen – This proprietary customer feedback software can track complaints, commendations and suggestions by almost any category, including driver, time of day and bus stop number. We will train our Customer Service Representatives (CSRs) to appropriately categorize customer calls into predetermined categories and provide monthly reports to The Comet. In May 2013 an article about one of our drivers, appeared in the Tourism and Travel Section of the newspaper: “My parents called me the moment they had arrived back in town and told me about the nicest person they had ever met, the city bus driver. They boarded bus #36 and met driver, Malik Saeed. Mr. Saeed took the time to show them some of Columbia through the drive of his route. He recommended they visit hot spots such as the Vista, Five Points, Downtown Main Streets and State Capital grounds. Furthermore, Mr. Saeed went above the call of duty to write down times and locations on where they could catch a particular bus to get to a destination hot spot. My parents were so excited that someone had taken the time out to not only help them, but encouraged them to see what Columbia had to offer. Not only was Mr. Saeed hospitable and gracious; but gave great customer service. He made sure they understood the times and locations he had written down for them and also gave them Comet information's number if they needed further assistance. They took pictures with Mr. Saeed and have already made plans on coming back to Columbia during the start of the summer.” We have included the entire article for in the Appendix section of the proposal. 2 Proposal to Provide Contracted Operation and Maintenance of Fixed Route and Paratransit Services for The Comet In addition to the choice riders on the fixed route system, we must also ensure that our paratransit community also receives the best customer experience possible. The elderly and disabled riders that we carry every day utilize our service to maintain their independence. Some of our long term riders have had some very complimentary things to say about our DART team as well: “I am writing to tell you how much we have enjoyed the people and the service at DART in the last several years. We think that Sandra McKinley and her staff have done a fantastic job with DART. The quality of the service was always extremely high. For 15 years, they picked up our daughter Lily at Hospital Services, where she worked. They brought her home every afternoon. Lily loved the ride: the drivers were always very capable and very nice to her and the other clients.” John & Suzanne McDermott “Our son Charles, Jr. has utilized the DART service for more than 10 years for transportation services to work and around the greater Columbia area for other events/activities. The staff has been very helpful and accommodating during the times that Charles has needed service and we are thankful for the assistance.” Charles Austin Sr. We have included full copies of these commendations along with several others in the Appendix section of the proposal. High Performance Culture – At Transdev, we never settle for the status quo. Our departments are constantly striving to bring innovation and efficiency to our operations. We achieve this culture in several ways. o Audits – We must continuously measure ourselves with annual audits in HR, Safety, Operations and Maintenance. The results of these audits are put into a report card with action items to make improvements. We will share these report cards with you so that you will know exactly what we are doing to ensure the highest performing operation possible. o Investment in Personnel Development – We are the only company with an actual campus where we send every level of employee from Mechanic to GM to receive continuing education classes. Our management training programs are modeled after college style progressive education that covers everything from ethics to management styles. Our frontline supervisors receive training on handling hostile situations with customers and the proper way to enforce progressive discipline. We monetarily reward our mechanics for achieving ASE certifications. We host annual GM meetings so that they can share best practices and bring new methods back to their respective locations. Proposal to Provide Contracted Operation and Maintenance of Fixed Route and Paratransit Services for The Comet 3 Executive Summary & Start-Up Plan Maintenance Excellence – We will continue to be excellent stewards of your vehicles and rigorously manage maintenance quality. We carefully monitor Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for preventive maintenance and audit annually for continuous improvement. We have cared for the fleet of Blue Bird buses since they arrived in 2002 and have helped them go beyond their maximum useful life. We will continue to provide the highest level of maintenance possible by ensuring 100% of PMs are completed on time, we pursue all warranty work to be covered by the OEM and that are mechanics continue to achieve ASE certification. Value for your Money –Transdev does not simply use technology for technology sake. Our value added services have a tangible positive impact on the system. Similar systems purchased off the shelf would cost The Comet over $500,000, however these are all included in our pricing and do not have to be purchased separately. o Vision - A robust system and master database that integrates KPIs from our systems into a single dashboard used company wide. This enables us to ensure quality in safety, on-time performance, labor utilization, maintenance costs and efficiency ratios. Vision also has a tool that determines the effectiveness of your call takers in negotiating trips. This tool can help your training efforts and improve your scheduling efficiency. o VTAB – In order to increase system-wide supervision, we have proposed to equip all of the supervisor and mechanics vehicles with Tablets. These tablets will be connected to the AVL system as well as our Dispatching system which will allow them to see where each vehicle is located in real time. Until The Comet installs monitors at the transit center, we will also equip our customer service staff with access to this information. o MPulse - An easy-to-use, browser-based user interface that helps manage facilities maintenance processes. Proactively manages preventive maintenance on buildings and equipment, simplifies work order administration, manages and tracks work orders. o Hastus Scheduling and Dispatch System– The Hastus system improves productivity and efficiency in scheduling, dispatching, managing and maximizing driver resources in all of our transportation services. o Social Media Pulse Report - Captures comments from passengers and non-passengers to develop customer comment trend reports and incorporate social media comments made on Twitter, Facebook, and on message boards.