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TARTA : Laying the Groundwork to Opening Doors of
Opportunity for the Community
By Fletcher Word
Sojourner’s Truth Editor
In her first year at the
helm of the Toledo Area Regional Transit Authority, CEO
Kimberly Dunham has the public transportation system on
track to improve service and develop funding streams to
maintain a high level of customer satisfaction, said Mark
Aesch, CEO of TransPro Consulting. TransPro is working with
TARTA on its strategic plan.
“TARTA is focused on the
right metrics to promote organizational excellence,” said
Aesch during a community forum that TARTA held on Wednesday
night, February 10, during Ohio Loves Transit week. The
forum gave the transit system an opportunity to explain to
the public what it has achieved and the plans it has for the
future.
Dunham opened the forum
with a brief explanation of what has been accomplished at
TARTA during her first year such as, building a new
management team, creating a culture of diversity and
inclusivity, redesigning services and seeking long-term
funding.
A well-run public transit
system, she said, “opens doors of opportunity and changes
people’s lives.” However, there will always be challenges,
she acknowledged, “even a well-funded system faces
challenges.”
TARTA’s funding challenges
are well-documented. For several years, the system has
sought approval from voters to change from local levy
funding (based upon taxing homeowners) to a sales tax, which
has greater fundraising potential. Such a plan has faced
obstacles in the outlying areas that TARTA serves.
As Dunham explained, TARTA
has, after “a decade of neglect” spent a year building
partnerships in the community and laying the groundwork for
making progress, such as working with TMACOG (Toledo
Metropolitan Area Council of Governments), which she
described as a “progressive partner.”
Aesch, the keynote speaker
for last week’s forum, was the CEO of the Rochester, NY,
transit system for 10 years and he assumed that position
when the system was in dire straits: a 40 percent operating
deficit, preparing to raise fares and slash services,
reeling from a high-profile internal theft scandal and a
performance rating of 70 percent for its on-time service.
The system set goals under
Aesch’s leadership and achieved them to such a success that
the system was able to deliver high performance ratings,
raise funding and actually lower passenger fares during his
tenure.
As the founder and CEO of
TransPro, Aesch has enabled transit agencies to realize
millions of dollars in cost savings, according to a press
release, and has guided organizations to new levels of
performance excellence with the 7 Steps to Success
performance management model.
During his keynote address
Aesch spoke of three key elements to achieving excellence
for a transit system: organizational excellence, operational
excellence and investment excellence. TARTA he noted, has
attained the organization excellence by assembling an
executive team of outstanding professional and defining a
clarity of purpose while prioritizing a measurement of
success.
That newly-added executive
team includes: Chief Communications and Customer Experience
Officer Laura Koprowski, Human Resources Director Jim Fight,
Chief Financial Officer David Robinson, Deputy Finance
Officer Samuel Henderson and Director of Paratransit
Patricia Talbott.
A look at customer
satisfaction responses demonstrates that TARTA is poised to
reach operational excellence. Pre-COVID Net Promoter Score
(NPS) showed the system with a score 82 percent higher than
the industry standard; On-time Performance of 73 percent and
Route Coverage of 80 percent and great satisfaction with bus
safety (91 percent) and representatives courteousness (86
percent).
TARTA is “on the right
track,” said Aesch.
Now comes the really
tricky part – investment excellence. “Yet to be determined,”
said Aesch.
Funding has been the chief
concern for TARTA over the years. Funding streams include,
grants, fares and, most critically, property taxes. During
recent years, TARTA, the only Ohio transit system to rely on
property taxes, has appealed to area residents for a change
to a sales tax. These overtures have been rebuffed in
several suburban areas that TARTA services.
“Are there new revenue
streams?” asked Aesch of the effort to shore up TARTA’s
finances. Can the system find partners, such as school
systems or nursing homes, for example, much as Rochester did
during his tenure there? “How can community partners
advocate for more funding?” he asked.
Part of the method for
soliciting such partnerships, said Aesch, will be start with
organizational and operational excellence and telling the
story about such successes.
“Let’s talk about what we
are doing right.”
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