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    <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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    <copyright>Copyright © 2026. National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.</copyright>
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    <managingEditor>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</managingEditor>
    <webMaster>tris-trb@nas.edu (Bill McLeod)</webMaster>
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      <title>Transport Research International Documentation (TRID)</title>
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      <title>Extraboard team sizing: An analysis of short unscheduled absences among regular transit drivers</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1319957</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Several factors contribute to short-duration unscheduled absences of bus transit drivers. This article aims to understand these factors at the aggregate level and to anticipate future total absence that will need to be filled for a large-size transit operator. The aggregate level is defined as the total number of regular driver absences per garage, day of week and time period that need to be covered by the extraboards. This study analyzes absenteeism data obtained from OC Transpo, the transit provider of the city of Ottawa, Canada. A multilevel regression model is generated to investigate regular drivers’ absences. The short-unscheduled absence is estimated in relation to temporal factors, drivers’ personal characteristics, aspects of assigned work, and service delivery characteristics. Furthermore, using the model’s coefficients, sensitivity analyses are conducted to demonstrate the advantages of this technique over traditional ones adopted by various transit agencies. This study provides transit planners and policy makers with a practical methodology that can be used to support extraboard planning practice and help reduce the incidence of missed trips due to absences while having the appropriate size of extraboard drivers.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 27 Aug 2014 10:47:14 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1319957</guid>
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      <title>Modeling of Bus Transit Driver Availability for Effective Emergency Evacuation in Disaster Relief</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1242702</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Potential evacuees without access to personal automobiles are expected to use transit, especially buses, to reach safer regions. For a transit agency, operation problems to be considered include establishing bus launch areas, positioning the minimum number of required buses, and coordinating transit operators, especially determining whether the number of drivers will be sufficient to cover the number of vehicles (i.e., buses) to be used during the evacuation. It is also highly probable that during an emergency, absenteeism rates for bus drivers might increase. In this study, the authors developed two stochastic models to determine the need for extra drivers during an emergency evacuation and to provide optimal solutions using well-established concepts in mathematical programming. First, the authors reviewed the literature to develop an effective methodology for the development of optimal extraboard management strategies. The authors found that although several recent reports clearly mentioned the problem of not having enough bus drivers during emergency evacuation operations, no analytical study incorporated the optimal extraboard size problem into emergency evacuation operations. Second, two mathematical models are presented in this paper. The aim of the developed models is to fill the gap in the literature for determining optimal extraboard size for transit operations during emergency evacuations. The models are specifically designed to capture risk-averse behavior of decision makers. Finally, these models were tested with hypothetical examples from real-world data from New Jersey. Results show that both models give reasonable extraboard size estimates, and under different conditions, these models are responsive to the changes in cost and quality of service preferences. The results are encouraging in terms of the models’ usefulness for real-world applications.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 05 Apr 2013 09:10:22 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1242702</guid>
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    <item>
      <title>Transit 2012, Volume 1, Including 2012 Thomas B. Deen Distinguished Lecture</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1216805</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This issue contains the 2012 Thomas B. Deen distinguished lecture on the future of public transportation and 20 other papers concerned with the following aspects of public transit:  the business plan approach of a transportation agency; distributing federal transit funds; Friday exception in weekday schedules for urban transit; passenger incidence (station arrival) behavior; extraboard performance; travel time impact of missed transit connections; small urban transit marginal cost pricing and subsidy; London tube strikes impact on journey times; urban transit guidelines; bus-holding control strategies; bus replacement age and total costs; quantifying the reliability of transit service; bus dwell-time model of main urban route stops; measurement system for public transport performance; transit line passenger transmission and productiveness under high loads; travel path choice impact assessment using automatic fare collection system; perceptions of transit service; effects of personal proenvironmental attitudes on mode choice behavior; public policy objectives and urban transit; and passenger ferry service and economic development in the New York City region.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 10 Oct 2012 10:22:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1216805</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Best Practices in Bus Dispatch</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1146792</link>
      <description><![CDATA[In 2007, the National Center for Transit Research (NCTR) sponsored a study to examine best practices in extraboard operator management. In most transit agencies, extraboard manpower is managed by the dispatch function, but extraboard management is only one of the many aspects of operating a transit system managed by Dispatch. The study for extraboard management revealed a need to have a greater understanding of operational functions within transit systems and to share optimal practices among transit operations personnel. While the similarities of dispatch functions across all transit agencies are well known, the differences in operating policies, procedures, and functions of dispatch have not been well researched or documented. Very little is known about the differences between transit agencies in terms of the manner in which dispatch is structured, the operational practices and procedures that dispatchers follow, and a catalogue of all of the functions of dispatch.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Tue, 31 Jul 2012 16:09:55 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1146792</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Extraboard Performance: TriMet Case Study</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1129009</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This paper examines extraboard operations at TriMet, the transit provider for the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan area. The extraboard consists of a pool of operators who fill open work resulting from absences and other causes. Drawing on 7 years of daily operations data, the paper examines first the general performance of the extraboard in filling open work. The paper then presents statistical analyses focusing on open work patterns and the effects of selected work rules on operator utilization and service delivery. Last, suggestions are made for improving the efficiency of extraboard operations.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 25 Jun 2012 14:50:49 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1129009</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Extraboard Performance: TriMet Case Study</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/1137271</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This paper examines extraboard operations and management at TriMet, the transit provider for the Portland Oregon metropolitan area. The extraboard consists of a pool of operators who fill open work resulting from absences and other causes. The paper first examines the general performance of the extraboard in filling open work, drawing on seven years of daily operations data from three bus garages. It then presents statistical analyses focusing on open work patterns and the effects of selected work rules on operator utilization and service delivery. Lastly, suggestions are made for improving the efficiency of extraboard operations.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 30 Apr 2012 07:54:02 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/1137271</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Evaluation of Short Duration Unscheduled Absences Among Transit Operators: TriMet Case Study</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/901156</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This report analyzes factors contributing to short duration (one to three days) unscheduled absences among operators at TriMet, the transit provider for the Portland, Oregon metropolitan region. The analysis draws on a wide array of operator-specific information recovered by transit ITS technologies in combination with information from the agency’s human resources, scheduling, incident, and customer relations databases. The likelihood of an absence is estimated in relation to personal characteristics, employment status, aspects of assigned work, service delivery and performance indicators, temporal factors, and customer feedback. The findings can be used directly to support extraboard planning practices. More generally, the findings point to changes in policies and practices that would potentially reduce the incidence of short duration absences.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:27:35 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/901156</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Analysis of Short-Duration Unscheduled Absences of Transit Operators: TriMet Case Study</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/880730</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Factors that contribute to short-duration (1 to 3 days) unscheduled absences of operators at the Tri-County Metropolitan Transportation District of Oregon (TriMet), the transit provider for the Portland, Oregon, metropolitan region, are analyzed. The analysis draws on a wide array of operator-specific information recovered by the technologies of transit intelligent transportation systems in combination with information from the agency’s human resources, scheduling, incident, and customer relations databases. The likelihood of an absence is estimated in relation to personal characteristics, employment status, aspects of assigned work, service delivery, performance indicators, temporal factors, and customer feedback. The findings can be used directly to support extraboard planning practices. More generally, the findings point to changes in policies and practices that could reduce the incidence of short-duration absences.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 27 May 2009 10:17:44 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/880730</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Transit: Marketing; Bus and Paratransit</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/876878</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This collection of 15 papers is concerned with transit marketing and various aspects of bus and paratransit operations.  Specific topics discussed are as follows:  a farecard passenger flow model; mode shift from transit to single-occupancy vehicles on a high-occupancy toll lane; an integrated passenger information system; an automated bus origin-destination matrix; bus-only shoulders; intermittent and dynamic transit lanes; in-vehicle interface designs for bus collision warning systems; microscopic simulation for analysis of transit signal priority for bus rapid transit; bus rapid transit systems in Latin America and Asia; bus rapid transit in San Francisco, California; improving bus passenger transfers; transit extraboard management; modeling the factors affecting bus stop dwell time; the gap between public transport vehicles and platforms - a barrier for the disabled; and assessing schedule qualities in paratransit.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:01:16 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/876878</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Transit Extraboard Management: Optimum Sizing and Strategies</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/876941</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Although transit agencies attempt to employ enough regular bus operators to provide scheduled service, they also employ operators to cover work assignments that are temporarily unfilled. Work assignments can become open for extraboard operators because of vacations, illnesses, unscheduled absences, insufficient manpower, attrition (caused by retirements or promotions, for example), or for work that is left open in the course of normal labor practices. Put simply, an extraboard bus operator is another name for a backup driver. Extraboard operations may be generally defined as the process of utilizing available manpower to perform work assignments in accordance with labor agreement provisions and work rules to ensure the provision of scheduled transit service. The challenge is to assign manpower to ensure scheduled service delivery with minimum cost. Proper extraboard management is critical to the overall workforce management of the transit agency. The objective of this research is to summarize the process involved in managing extraboard resources and to develop a tool to aid small- to midsized transit agencies in doing so. The tool will be built in Excel to allow for easy data entry and model inputs. This study was requested by the TRB Bus Transit Systems Committee and commissioned by the National Center for Transit Research, with the goal of examining industry trends and identifying strategies that could be used by a broad base of transit agencies to maximize extraboard sizing. The result is an instrument that can be universally applied to transit agency practitioners seeking to determine extraboard size based on factors other than historical trends and experience.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:00:53 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/876941</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>Transit Extraboard Management - Optimum Sizing &amp; Strategies</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/839169</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The objective of this project is to summarize the process, and develop an application tool to aid small to mid-size transit agencies in managing their extraboard. The application tool is envisioned to work under an Excel environment to allow for easy data entry and model inputs. Additionally, the project will explore practices at the State and Agency level for operator work period rules and experiences. While transit agencies attempt to employ sufficient regular bus operators to provide scheduled service, they also employ operators to cover work assignments that are temporarily unfilled because of vacations, illness or absences, as well as insufficient manpower, attrition (retirements, etc), or for work that is unassignable/open in the course of normal labor practices. Extraboard operations may be generally defined as the process of utilizing available manpower to perform work assignments in accordance with labor agreement provisions and work rules to ensure the provision of scheduled transit service. The challenge is to assign manpower to open scheduled work, ensuring scheduled service delivery with minimum cost. Significant cost savings can result from proper extraboard management. Ineffective practices can increase payment of unscheduled premiums and for unproductive time. Opportunities exist to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of extraboard management.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:58:17 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/839169</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>EXTRABOARD SCHEDULING, WORKERS' COMPENSATION, AND OPERATOR STRESS IN PUBLIC TRANSIT: RESEARCH RESULTS AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/269870</link>
      <description><![CDATA[The results of a year-long study of practices associated with employee absence in the transit industry are reported. The research focused on three subjects: extraboard scheduling, workers' compensation, and occupational stress. An extensive review of prior research was conducted, and new data about both organizational policies and employee attitudes within California transit agencies were collected by mail surveys and analyzed statistically. Twenty-one organizations and 1,039 operating employees from within California responded to the surveys. The research indicated that most organizations use judgmental methods for determining the size of the extraboard and that these methods are likely to result in extraboards that are either too large or too small. Strong relationships were identified between workers' compensation experience and equipment design and maintenance practices. Occupational stressors were strongly correlated with self-reported health outcomes and job attitudes. Suggestions are offered for managerial actions that would mitigate some of the problems identified by the research.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Fri, 27 Aug 2004 21:57:04 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/269870</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>SCHEDULING TRANSIT EXTRABOARD PERSONNEL</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/348955</link>
      <description><![CDATA[Because operators are sometimes absent and daily workloads are often uncertain, transit agencies employ more operators than required by the timetable to ensure reliable service. These extra operators are usually referred to as extraboard or cover operators because they are used to cover the assignments of absent operators and to provide required, but unscheduled, work.  Operators who do not have specific work assignments are told to report for work at specific times of the day to cover work that may be open at those times.  A methodology is proposed to deal with the problem of assigning report times to extraboard personnel.  The proposed methodology is sensitive to the variability of unanticipated requirements, work rules applying to extraboard personnel, reliability objectives, and availability of regular operators to work overtime in case unanticipated requirements cannot be covered off the extraboard.  The methodology is applied to a large bus garage at the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority to test the quality of the resulting solution under different work rules.  This case study demonstrates the potential of the methodology to produce significant improvements over current practice and to serve as a valuable policy analysis tool.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Mon, 31 Dec 1990 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/348955</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>SCHEDULING OF EXTRABOARD OPERATORS IN TRANSIT SYSTEMS</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/308384</link>
      <description><![CDATA[To deal with absenteeism and uncertainty about the amount of work to be performed, transit agencies employ extraboard or cover operators.  The efficient utilization of these extraboard operators involves (a) the determination of the daily number needed and (b) the assignment of their report times.  This paper presents models which take into account the operating characteristics of transit systems and result in optimal utilization of available resources.  For each model, a case study is presented which demonstrates that the results obtained using the model are superior to the rules of thumb widely used by the industry, or to simple deterministic models.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Thu, 31 May 1990 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/308384</guid>
    </item>
    <item>
      <title>AUTOMATING EXTRABOARD ASSIGNMENTS AND COACH OPERATOR TIMEKEEPING. FROM THE BOOK COMPUTER SCHEDULING OF PUBLIC TRANSPORT</title>
      <link>https://trid.trb.org/View/297081</link>
      <description><![CDATA[A well-designed, modular software systems approach streamlines the entire scheduling, bidding, daily dispatch, operator timekeeping and control process of a transit property. Significant economies and improved management efficiency and control are realised with computer assistance for these several functions. This paper presents an overview of the conceptual approach, with features of the applications software, and describes three key modules and their linkages, the bidding, timekeeping, and extraboard rostering and dispatching systems.]]></description>
      <pubDate>Sun, 30 Apr 1989 00:00:00 GMT</pubDate>
      <guid>https://trid.trb.org/View/297081</guid>
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