One of SEPTA's biggest problems is the board of directors are all political appointees. None of them are qualified to run a major transportation agency. And from my observations over the years, SEPTA's management structure is run from the top down like the army with little to no requests for feedback, ideas, or criticism from the hourly employees or front-line managers every time SEPTA's leadership wants to reinvent the wheel.
So when you run a major organization with top-down management, and unqualified people are at the top of the food chain, you have epic failures from time-to-time when undertaking major projects. On the railroad side, it's visible from the belly-flop execution of:
- Silverliner 5 procurement project
- SEPTA Key
- The regional rail staffing shortages / dispatcher replacements of the last 5 years
- Signal modernization / PTC installation. Two pieces of infrastructure that has INCREASED trip times over the last decade
- The ticket vending machines (TVM)
- evening fare collections in center city
- the entire SEPTA non-revenue diesel locomotive fleet
- the catenary design, material procurement, and replacement of the last decade. How did the Reading & PRR install brand new catenary systems in under 2 years?
I'm sure I'm missing a few more examples, but you catch my drift. And for each new major change on the railroad, how many times did you hear a crew mamber or SEPTA employee say "this will never work because........but they are going to do it anyway" or "this........isn't working, but they are going to exert every effort to prove it CAN work".
If you don't include the employees and managers who will use new technologies and methodologies when you are in early planning stages and seek their insight, concerns, and ideas, you are doomed to fail as a team; because most employees eventually become frustrated and disgruntled at the organization's lack of inclusion in the leadership decision making strategies. Over time, their resentfulness builds and they become a paid spectator of the company circus.
I have a feeling the same will hold true someday with the new multi-level coaches that were awarded to the Chinese firm that never built commuter rail rolling stock to FRA specifications.
So when you run a major organization with top-down management, and unqualified people are at the top of the food chain, you have epic failures from time-to-time when undertaking major projects. On the railroad side, it's visible from the belly-flop execution of:
- Silverliner 5 procurement project
- SEPTA Key
- The regional rail staffing shortages / dispatcher replacements of the last 5 years
- Signal modernization / PTC installation. Two pieces of infrastructure that has INCREASED trip times over the last decade
- The ticket vending machines (TVM)
- evening fare collections in center city
- the entire SEPTA non-revenue diesel locomotive fleet
- the catenary design, material procurement, and replacement of the last decade. How did the Reading & PRR install brand new catenary systems in under 2 years?
I'm sure I'm missing a few more examples, but you catch my drift. And for each new major change on the railroad, how many times did you hear a crew mamber or SEPTA employee say "this will never work because........but they are going to do it anyway" or "this........isn't working, but they are going to exert every effort to prove it CAN work".
If you don't include the employees and managers who will use new technologies and methodologies when you are in early planning stages and seek their insight, concerns, and ideas, you are doomed to fail as a team; because most employees eventually become frustrated and disgruntled at the organization's lack of inclusion in the leadership decision making strategies. Over time, their resentfulness builds and they become a paid spectator of the company circus.
I have a feeling the same will hold true someday with the new multi-level coaches that were awarded to the Chinese firm that never built commuter rail rolling stock to FRA specifications.
