From the General Manager

Message from General Manager

Report to our Customers and Commissioners - August, 2020

Response to COVID19 –PATCO’s Stay Healthy communication campaign expanded again in August to include seat back reminders to Respect and Maintain Distances. This new on-train decal reinforces our LCD messaging, social media posts, and station signage to encourage our customers to travel safely and responsibly. We appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with one of our advertisers (AmeriHealth) to achieve this objective. 

We routinely clean stations and fare collection equipment.  Yet we realize that the ticket vending machines are a point of repeated contact for those customers who use a paper ticket rather than a FREEDOM card.  To reduce the possibility of contamination, we are offering customers a stylus that can be used to push the buttons when making a purchase.  This device also has a hook that can pull open a door, yet again reducing contact points.

SERVICE

Ridership – COVID-19 continues to significantly deter passengers, but ridership is slowly increasing.   August’s ridership was 199,222, a decrease of 730,779 (-78.58%) when compared to August, 2019.   Ridership year to date as of August 31, 2020, totaled 3,072,201, a decrease of 4,277,176 (-58.20%) compared to the same period in 2019.

Our average weekday ridership has increased from 7,321 in July to 7,910 in August, an improvement (8% increase), although still far short of the 37,403 average weekday in August of 2019.  We will continue to monitor ridership and make adjustments.   We welcome our returning customers and look forward to additional positive changes.

On-Time Performance – In August, we scheduled 4,179 trips, of which 5 were cancelled and 45 were late; 23 stations were bypassed.  Our on-time performance was 98.76% and our on-time performance year-to-date has been 97.98%.

Availability of Transit Equipment – PATCO closely monitors the availability of equipment to meet the needs of our peak service customers.  In August, as in the previous 7 months, we had sufficient equipment to start every “rush hour” with a full complement of equipment to serve our customers. 

FREEDOM Service Centers – The following services were provided to our customers in August.  Service is available every weekday at Broadway Station between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.; however, the Center in Woodcrest Station remains temporarily closed.

STEWARDSHIP

Elevators / Escalators

·         Availability – Availability of all elevators was 99.76% for the month of August and 99.44% for the year to date as of the end of the month, well exceeding our goal of 97%.   Availability of all escalators was 96.52% for the month and 96.62% for the year to date, again exceeding our goal (96%). 

·         Performance of Preventive Maintenance - Monthly preventive maintenance was performed on all elevators and escalators in August.  Note that the new elevator at Haddonfield remains under warranty.