From the General Manager

Message from General Manager

Report to our Customers and Commissioners - April, 2020

Response to COVID-19 – PATCO provides 24-hour service to transport essential workers to their jobs.  We continue to utilize special procedures to ensure that trains are cleaned and disinfected every day prior to being dispatched onto the main line, and we are routinely cleaning stations and fare collection equipment.  Employees are maintaining social distancing and wearing masks and have remained healthy. 

COMMUNITY

Food Distribution at Lindenwold Parking Lot – The Food Bank of South Jersey and White Horse Rotary volunteers conduct their monthly distribution of essential nutrition to those in need at our Lindenwold parking lot one Saturday morning each month.  The COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated food insecurity to an alarming degree.  On Saturday, April 25, 223 families received much-needed prepackaged food boxes.  Special procedures enabled the “Hope Mobile” to follow social distancing practices while ensuring that sustenance was provided to the 808 individuals who benefitted from this initiative.

SERVICE

Outstanding Customer Service – Lost & Found consistently strives to return items to their rightful owners.  This month with COVID-19 reduced ridership, we processed many fewer items than would normally be the case, but four wallets were found.  Letters were sent to the owners of two of them, letting them know that we have their wallets, and an email was also sent to the owner of a tablet.  This is standard practice if a wallet is not promptly claimed.

The third wallet, which contained $3.00, was claimed at Lost & Found.  The fourth wallet contained $655.00.  Lost & Found Supervisor F. Egolf reached out to Public Safety, and Officer D. Falkenstein tracked down the owner and delivered the wallet to him at his place of employment in Camden.  This exemplary customer service epitomizes the Authority’s core values of fairness, collaboration, and credibility. 

Ridership – COVID-19 has had a significant effect on ridership, with only 83,152 riders in April, a decrease of 859,853 (-91.18%) when compared to April, 2019.   Ridership year to date as of April 30, 2020, totaled 2,425,528, a decrease of 1,215,342 (-33.38%) compared to the same period in 2019.

We continue to monitor ridership and will adjust appropriately as our customers adjust their travel patterns.

On-Time Performance – In April, we had scheduled 3,266 trips, none of which were cancelled, and no stations were bypassed.  Seventy-nine (79) trains were late.  Our on-time performance was 97.58% and our on-time performance year-to-date has been 98.06%.

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

STEWARDSHIP

Elevators / Escalators

·     Availability – Availability of all elevators was 99.93% for the month of April and 99.10% for the year to date as of the end of the month.   Availability of all escalators was 97.97% for the month and 97.68% for the year to date.  In each case we exceeded our goals (97% and 96%, respectively). 

·      Performance of Preventive Maintenance - Monthly preventive maintenance was performed on all open-station elevators and escalators in April.   Note that the new elevators at Collingswood and Haddonfield are under warranty.