From the General Manager
Message from General Manager
September 2018 Report to Commissioners and Customers
Community
Woodcrest Station, Host of the 2018 City to Shore Bike MS Event – Very early on Saturday morning, September 29, thousands of cyclists converged upon PATCO’s Woodcrest Station for the beginning of a 75-mile ride to Ocean City, New Jersey. In all, over 6,000 cyclists and 1,000 volunteers participated in various aspects of this annual fund raiser. Many of them stayed overnight at the shore and pumped their way back to Woodcrest on Sunday. Each cyclist raised hundreds of dollars to benefit those afflicted by multiple sclerosis, and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society hopes the total donations will reach $5 million this year.
The MS Society uses Woodcrest Station because it offers hundreds of parking spaces and is easily accessible from Route 295. With thousands starting their ride at Woodcrest, traffic off the interstate can be challenging. To ease congestion for the cyclists eager to start their ride to the shore, the MS and PATCO websites encourage cyclists to arrive by train.
Outreach to College Students - PATCO participated in two Camden County College Welcome Back BBQ events for their students, at the Camden and Blackwood campuses. PATCO handed out free FREEDOM cards to students interested in saving the $5 cost of the cards. In addition, on the advice of a PATCO summer intern, we provided handy “phone wallets”, which were very popular. Students can keep their FREEDOM cards on the back of their ubiquitous cell phones, serving as a reminder to take PATCO more often.
PATCO Cares – At Woodcrest Station on September 13, Samaritan Healthcare & Hospice gave out reusable bags and literature about their services. Many riders stopped to inquire about volunteer opportunities. Representative Sharon Wenner said, “We were thrilled to have had such a positive response from riders and look forward to doing this again next year.”
STEWARDSHIP
Enhanced Customer Service - Bicycle Pump Installations – Many cyclists park their bikes at PATCO before boarding the train. As an amenity for these customers, PATCO has installed 12 mechanical air pumps adjacent to the bicycle racks at various stations.
Escalators / Elevators –
· Availability –Availability of all escalators was 94.81% for the month and 95.83% for the year to date. An unfortunate situation significantly affected escalator availability. When the maintenance contractor removed the hand rail at Ferry Avenue, the replacement part would not work properly, and we experienced a delay in procuring a second replacement unit. If we recalculate without that outage at Ferry Avenue, availability was 96.40% for the month. (Incidentally, although the hand rail outage significantly affected Ferry Avenue’s escalator availability, the elevator availability at that station was 100% for the month.)
· Availability of elevators at 15th/Locust, 9th/Locust, 8th/Market, Broadway, and Ferry Avenue was excellent this month (99.3%). However, we encountered communication issues for the units at Woodcrest and Lindenwold, and we were concerned for the safety of those passengers, understanding that to be trapped in an elevator without being able to communicate would be traumatic. Procuring the components to resolve the communication issues was particularly challenging for these elevators, which were installed in the 80s and 90s. We made provisions for these elevators to be turned back on if needed by a customer at a time when a staff person was on-site, able to assist in the event of an entrapment, but the availability stats are based on the equipment being out of service until the communication could be resolved. This calculation gives us an overall availability of only 86.4%, far short of our goal.
· Performance of Preventive Maintenance - Monthly preventive maintenance was performed on all escalators and elevators in September.
Service
On-Time Performance – In September, 2018, we had scheduled 5,566 trips. Our on-time performance was 97.29% for the month and 96.59% for the Year to Date.
FREEDOM Share is here - For months, PATCO has been working with SEPTA on an interoperability project which would allow PATCO FREEDOM card registered customers to use their card on SEPTA’s new contactless card readers. On September 24, the new system went live. Currently PATCO staff has set up 1,020 FREEDOM Share accounts. These customers now enjoy the convenience of using one transit card for two systems.
FREEDOM Service Center News - Our program to replace ten-year old FREEDOM cards continues, with 296 expiring cards exchanged this month at the Broadway and Woodcrest Service Centers. In addition, staff processed 296 new sign-ups (seniors and disabled passengers) for the Reduced Fare Program for off-peak discounted travel.
Ridership – Ridership in August was 928,756, a decrease of 9,079 (-0.97%) when compared to August of 2017. Ridership year to date as of August 31, 2018 was 7,163,572, a decrease of 79,592 (-1.10%) compared to the same period of 2017.
August 2018 Report to our Board and Customers
August 2018 Report to our Board and Customers
SERVICE
Car Overhaul Program
We’ve reached a milestone. One-hundred (100) overhauled cars are on site, 98 of which have been conditionally accepted. A graphic is posted on the LCDs in station lobbies and head housed to share the progress of this important project with our customers.
Exemplary Customer Service
Station Supervisor Fran Egolf and Transit Ambassador Lavelle Coleman showed 
the true meaning of service to the community. While working at the Lindenwold Station, Fran and Lavelle assisted a homeless veteran find a permanent place to stay. They took the initiative to communicate with the NJ Department of Veteran’s Affairsto ask for help. The VA was able to accommodate the veteran with a home. The Veteran’s Affairs was so grateful for Fran and Lavelle’s kind efforts that they sent an award of appreciation to both of them. Now the elderly veteran has a home. He has continued to receive assistance from the Veteran’s Administration both personally and medically.
STEWARDSHIP
On-Time Performance
In July, 2018, we had scheduled 5,938 trips. Our on-time performance was 97.59% for the month and 96.50% for the Year to Date. Performance in the AM peak was at 97.70%. We achieved 98% or greater on-time performance for 16 weekday mornings.
Escalators / Elevators Availability
We met our goals again this month. Availability of elevators was 98.31% for the month and 99.15% for the year to date. Availability of all escalators was 97.78% for the month and 96.33% for the year to date.
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COMMUNITY
As part of our PATCO CARES initiative, The National Multiple Sclerosis Society supplied literature for a Seat drop on July 17, 2018. The literature promoted the annual MS City To Shore and Bike To Bay bike rides. These events raise funds to support the breakthroughs in MS research and ensures people with MS have what they need to live their lives to the fullest.
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