Volume 16 • Number 2 October 2007 News from the San Francisco Bay Area Freeway Service Patrol Inside: Page Four New Beats & Two New Upcoming Events 2 Tow Contractors Added to the FSP Statistical Summary 2 Quarterly Awards 3 Freeway Service Patrol Family The Public Speaks 4 by Danielle Stanislaus & Adrian Fine, MTC SAFE he Bay Area’s beloved “guardian angels of the freeway” are now covering even more territory, Tas the popular white tow trucks of the Freeway Service Patrol (FSP) watch over four new areas, extending the program’s existing reach and adding new highways to the safety network. NEW BEATS ed on this beat, as St. Helena Starting in late July of 2007, the rov- 37 well as Sunday service 128 ing tow truck service increased the 505 from 1-7 p.m. number of patrolled roadway segments Napa 80 In Contra Costa 121 County, newly estab- — or beats — from 33 to 37, adding 29 12 Vacaville lished Beat 36 closes more than 85 miles to its coverage for 113 ma 34 the gap in coverage a total of over 530 miles regionwide. Solano Oakland Napa on State Route 4 by Six more tow trucks were added New ma 12 Fairfield to the existing fleet, bringing the total 17 FSP extending from I-80 116 29 Beats to Pacheco Boule- to 83 trucks that patrol the most con- 121 12 gested freeways of the Bay Area, pri- 29 Existing vard, and is operated FSP Rio 37 BeatsVista by Ken Betts Towing. marily during peak commute hours. 37 Vallejo 680 With FSP on the scene, the amount of Napa This beat runs week- 780 24 Weekend Service days from 6-9:30 congestion and level of polluting emis- 13 sions is substantially reduced when 12 25 On-call a.m. and 3:30-7 p.m. 101 4 4 Service 80 36 Concord with one truck. disabled vehicles, debris and other an 25 el Bridge FSP also made its safety hazards are moved out of high- Richmond Tow 580 5 BrentwoodServices debut in the wine way lanes. 7 Walnut (non FSP) 24 Creek country by starting Two of the four new beats are in 2 Solano County. Beat 24, operated by Four new beats now serve Napa, Solano and Contra Costa counties coverage on Beat 17 in Napa County. Roadrunner Tow, covers Interstate 680 Oakland from Marshview Road to the junction Tow and closes a gap on I-80 by Sierra Hart, a contractor new to the with Interstate 780, and then extends extending FSP service from the Inter- Bay Area FSP program, operates this along I-780 to the Interstate 80 junc- state 505 junction to Richards Boule- new beat (and is profiled below). To tion. This one-truck beat operates vard, at the Yolo County line. Beat 37 address recreational traffic in this weekdays from 6-9 a.m. and 4-7 p.m., is patrolled by two tow trucks and area, two trucks patrol on both Sat- with extended hours of operation on operates weekdays from 6-9 a.m. and urdays and Sundays, while one truck Friday afternoons. The second Solano 3:30-6:30 p.m. Additional Friday patrols a smaller area during the beat, Beat 37, is operated by Vacaville afternoon service also is being provid- continued on page 2 The FSP is a partnership of Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways (MTC SAFE), and local tow contractors. Website: www.fsp-bayarea.org Expansion because the sec- Upcoming Events ond you stop fol- (continued from page 1) Technical Advisory Committee lowing the rules is (TAC) Meetings week. The weekend service operates the second when 8:30 a.m. Tuesdays at MTC, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and covers something bad MetroCenter State Route 12 from the I-80 junction happens. Our October 9, 2007 all the way to State Route 116, and drivers have to be November 13, 2007 State Route 29 from the junction with aware. They have December 11, 2007 January 8, 2008 State Route 37 up to Oakville Cross K&S Towing owner, to check every two seconds for February 12, 2008 Road (on-call service is provided as Khurram Shah March 11, 2008 needed up to the junction with State their own safety Route 128). During the week, the one and the safety of Tow Contractors Meetings truck focuses on the Jameson Canyon the customer.” It seems that with this 11 a.m. Tuesdays at MTC, MetroCenter stretch of State Route 12 into Napa at positive and attentive attitude, Sierra First Street. The weekday hours of Hart will fit right in with the Bay Area November 13, 2007 January 8, 2008 operation are 6-10 a.m. and 3-7 p.m. FSP family. Sierra Hart currently oper- ates Beat 17 in Napa. March 11, 2008 NEW CONTRACTORS The second new addition is K&S Quarterly Driver Refresher We also warmly welcome two new con- Towing in Bay Point. Owner Khurram Training tractors to the Bay Area FSP family: Shah was eager to become a part of CHP, Oakland: Sierra Hart and K&S Towing. Sierra the FSP program because he believes it 11 a.m., December 13, 2007 Hart, though new to the Bay Area FSP gives his company a positive statewide CHP, Dublin: program, is no stranger to either FSP and local public image. K&S Towing 11 a.m., December 6, 2007 or the towing community. Working in has been in business since 1988; Shah CHP, Vallejo: the towing industry since 1988, and took over from his father in 1997. He 11 a.m., December 7, 2007 with the Sacramento FSP program says that even after all these years, he 11 a.m., December 21, 2007 since 1996, owner Rick Hart says that is still learning, because he constantly San Jose Armory, San Jose: he truly enjoys the program because of strives to strengthen and improve his 11 a.m., December 14, 2007 its cooperative structure. “I like work- business. He also believes in “doing Proficiency Testing ing with the three partner agencies to things right every time” and looks 7 a.m. at CHP, Vallejo serve the community and provide a forward to raising the performance November 5, 2007 valuable public service,” says Hart. bar. We certainly look forward to “One of the most important lessons seeing what K&S Towing can do! Certification Class I’ve learned over the years is to stop 7 a.m. at CHP, Vallejo They currently operate Beat 5 in November 14-16, 2007 and think about the customers, because Contra Costa County. the customer is waiting for help and FSP is there to turn a negative situation First Quarter 2007 Statistical Summary around.” To this end, Hart teaches all (January – March 2007) Total number of assists = 29,742 of his drivers to treat each assist as if they were helping their own mother. Percentage of assists involving people = 56.9 percent He also places a big emphasis on safety, Average number of assists per hour per truck = 0.80 and says: “People often get complacent Percentage of motorist survey returns = 9.5 percent with safety, but you can’t do that Percentage of surveys rating service as excellent = 96.9 percent Average motorist wait time = 9.8 minutes Second Quarter 2007 Statistical Summary (April – June 2007) Total number of assists = 33,569 Percentage of assists involving people = 56.6 percent Average number of assists per hour per truck = 0.88 Percentage of motorist survey returns = 11.1 percent Sierra Hart driver Scott Randell (left) and Percentage of surveys rating service as excellent = 95.4 percent owner Rick Hart Average motorist wait time = 9.4 minutes On Patrol/October 2007 -2- Beat of the Quarter Quarterly Awards Beat 9 is a 24-mile-long network of First Quarter, busy roads in Santa Clara County January – March 2007 including Interstate 280 from Foothill Expressway in Sunnyvale to Highway by Karin Betts, MTC Public Information 101/Interstate 680 in San Jose, and Campbell’s Beat 9 drivers (left to right): Driver of the segments of State Routes 87 and 85. Steve Pauley, Lee Holmes, Blair Douglas, Quarter The beat, operated by Campbell’s Richard Dean Anderson and Paul Moniz Jr. Towing, recently became more precar- This award goes to ed with tow patrols on the Oakland ious because of construction work Steven Parker of city streets that bore the bulk of along State Route 87 and the resulting Yarbrough Bros. diverted traffic. Normally, the contrac- limited shoulders. Manager Leon Towing, who drives tor keeps its FSP trucks on Beats 12 Esquenazi describes the five-man the tow truck on and 36 in Contra Costa County along Beat 9 team: “Steven Pauley has more Beat 15 through Interstate 80 and State Route 4. In towing experience than most guys out Santa Rosa. Parker Steven Parker addition to its ability to respond there. Rich Anderson used to be a has been an FSP driv- quickly to partner service requests, VTA bus driver before he came to us; er for seven of his Ken Betts Towing also can boast a Blair Douglas used to be a teacher. Lee nine years with Yarbrough Bros. “Steve whopping 24 percent motorist survey Holmes (see Driver of the Quarter is Mister Reliable,” says Michelle return rate. Inskeep, FSP manager and one of the below) has lots of public service expe- shop’s owners. “He is particular, and rience, and Paul Moniz Jr. came to us doesn’t cut corners or take shortcuts.