ABSENCE, OVERTIME, AND RELIABILITY RELATIONSHIPS IN TRANSIT WORKFORCE PLANNING

Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Date

1994

Subject Area

land use - planning, operations - reliability, operations - service span, organisation - workforce planning, ridership - attitudes, ridership - commuting

Keywords

Working hours, Workforce, Work force, Work days, Transit personnel, Morale, Mental attitudes, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, Labor force, Hours of service (Work hours), Hours of labor, Employees, Attitudes

Abstract

This paper examines the interrelationships between overtime, absence, and service reliability which are critical to overall transit workforce planning. In order to study the relationship between overtime and absence, a disaggregate model of absence is developed as a dynamic form of motivated behavior, a problem in time allocation across activities. The model is used to test the hypothesis that widespread availability of overtime may induce absence. Panel data of surface transit operators from the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) were used with the tobit model. The results suggest that absence is more a habit than the result of a decision process based on past overtime worked. The relationship between overtime and reliability is studied using aggregate data from the MBTA bus system. Results show a strong linear relationship which makes it possible to include reliability constraints in the strategic problem by setting an upper limit on the amount of overtime that can be planned for that period.

Comments

Transportation Research Part A Home Page: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/journal/09658564

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