From the General Manager

Message from General Manager

Report to our Commissioners and Customers - March, 2021

PATCO Honors Community Service – White Horse Rotary Volunteers celebrate their tenth anniversary of the Hope Mobile.  For ten years, the volunteers of the White Horse Rotary have worked with the Food Bank of South Jersey to feed those in our community who need a helping hand.  For most of that time, they have done so one Saturday each month at PATCO’s Lindenwold Station parking lot, in the rain, snow, heat, and occasional warm spring day.  In a single day they have distributed up to 3 truckloads of food to hundreds of families.  These tireless volunteers flag and direct traffic, bring guideposts and tents for set-up, and organize distribution of a balanced offering of food and essentials provided by the Food Bank of South Jersey.  On behalf of the Rotarians, Barb Veevers received a plaque and sincere thanks and accolades from the Food Bank and from Mr. Hanson.

On Saturday, March 27, 350 cars of hungry families were expected.  More than 600 emergency food boxes and 40,000 pounds of food resources including fresh produce were made available for distribution by dozens of volunteers.

While Most of Us were enjoying a Holiday Weekend … PATCO’s Power & Signals Department staff were installing a heat pump / HVAC unit.  Taking advantage of a time when motor vehicles would not need to access the area, Power & Signals coordinated the crane lift of very heavy equipment onto the roof of our maintenance facility in Lindenwold during Easter weekend.

SERVICE

On-Time Performance – In March, our on-time performance was 98.70%, surpassing our goal of 98%.  Of the 4,847 scheduled trips,  3 were cancelled, 58 were late, and 23 stations were bypassed.  Our on-time performance for the year to date was 98.21%, also meeting our objective.

The trains are performing increasingly reliably, causing fewer and shorter delays.  One trespasser-related incident, involving the teamwork of Public Safety’s Transit Unit and our Transit Services Department, particularly exemplified our Shared Values of  Collaboration, Safety First, and Authentic Communication.  We received two Tweets from customers on Train Operator Yancey’s train, which was stopped on the bridge, awaiting resolution of the issue.

• I'm in Car 1046, stuck on the Ben Franklin Bridge and whomever you have conducting this train is an absolute treasure.  If you have employee of the month, this guy better be it.  He's kept us all informed and is amazingly friendly and efficient.  10/10!

• Shout outs to this @RidePATCO train operator talking to us while stuck on the bridge.  My man has the smoothest voice ever.

Availability of Transit Equipment – PATCO closely monitors the availability of equipment to meet the needs of our peak service customers.  We achieved 100% for all 23 AM and 23 PM rush hours in March.

Ridership –COVID-19 continues to significantly affect travel patterns.  March’s ridership was 247,650, a decrease of 252,853 (-50.52%) when compared to March of 2020.  Ridership year to date as of the end of March was 623,959, a decrease of 1,718,417 (-73.36%) when compared to the same period of 2020.

FREEDOM Service Center – The following services were provided to our FREEDOM Card customers in March.  Service is available every weekday at Broadway Station between 7 a.m. and 3:30 p.m.   In addition, many customers take advantage of our FREEDOM website to add value to their cards, report lost cards, and change credit card information.

STEWARDSHIP

Elevators / Escalators

• Availability – Availability of all elevators was 99.77% for the month of March and 98.69% for the year to date, far exceeding our goal of 97%.   Availability of all escalators was 98.63% in March, a significant improvement over that in February and well exceeding our goal of 96%.  Year to date, escalator availability has been 94.60%.

• Performance of Preventive Maintenance - Monthly preventive maintenance was performed on all elevators and escalators in March except those under warranty.