Assessing Lifecycle and Human Costs of Bus Operator Workstation Design and Components (2024)
Chapter: Front Matter
Assessing Lifecycle and Human Costs
of Bus Operator Workstation
Design and Components
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__________________
TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM
TCRP RESEARCH REPORT 247
Assessing Lifecycle and Human Costs
of Bus Operator Workstation
Design and Components
Songlin Wu
Eunsik Kim
Andris Freivalds
Yiqi Zhang
Matthew Parkinson
PENN STATE UNIVERSITY
University Park, PA
Subject Areas
Public Transportation • Safety and Human Factors • Vehicles and Equipment
Research sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration in cooperation with the American Public Transportation Association
TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM
The nation’s growth and the need to meet mobility, environmental, and energy objectives place demands on public transit systems. Current systems, some of which are old and in need of upgrading, must expand service area, increase service frequency, and improve efficiency to serve these demands. Research is necessary to solve operating problems, adapt appropriate new technologies from other industries, and introduce innovations into the transit industry. The Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP) serves as one of the principal means by which the transit industry can develop innovative near-term solutions to meet demands placed on it.
The need for TCRP was originally identified in TRB Special Report 213—Research for Public Transit: New Directions, published in 1987 and based on a study sponsored by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration—now the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). A report by the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Transportation 2000, also recognized the need for local, problem-solving research. TCRP, modeled after the successful National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP), undertakes research and other technical activities in response to the needs of transit service providers. The scope of TCRP includes various transit research fields including planning, service configuration, equipment, facilities, operations, human resources, maintenance, policy, and administrative practices.
TCRP was established under FTA sponsorship in July 1992. Proposed by the U.S. Department of Transportation, TCRP was authorized as part of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA). On May 13, 1992, a memorandum agreement outlining TCRP operating procedures was executed by the three cooperating organizations: FTA; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, acting through the Transportation Research Board (TRB); and APTA. APTA is responsible for forming the independent governing board, designated as the TCRP Oversight and Project Selection (TOPS) Commission.
Research problem statements for TCRP are solicited periodically but may be submitted to TRB by anyone at any time. It is the responsibility of the TOPS Commission to formulate the research program by identifying the highest priority projects. As part of the evaluation, the TOPS Commission defines funding levels and expected products.
Once selected, each project is assigned to an expert panel appointed by TRB. The panels prepare project statements (requests for proposals), select contractors, and provide technical guidance and counsel throughout the life of the project. The process for developing research problem statements and selecting research agencies has been used by TRB in managing cooperative research programs since 1962. As in other TRB activities, TCRP project panels serve voluntarily without compensation.
Because research cannot have the desired effect if products fail to reach the intended audience, special emphasis is placed on disseminating TCRP results to the intended users of the research: transit agencies, service providers, and suppliers. TRB provides a series of research reports, syntheses of transit practice, and other supporting material developed by TCRP research. APTA will arrange for workshops, training aids, field visits, and other activities to ensure that results are implemented by urban and rural transit industry practitioners.
TCRP provides a forum where transit agencies can cooperatively address common operational problems. TCRP results support and complement other ongoing transit research and training programs.
TCRP RESEARCH REPORT 247
Project G-17
ISSN 2572-3782
ISBN 978-0-309-70985-9
© 2024 by the National Academy of Sciences. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine and the graphical logo are trademarks of the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
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COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAMS
CRP STAFF FOR TCRP RESEARCH REPORT 247
Waseem Dekelbab, Deputy Director, Cooperative Research Programs
Gwen Chisholm Smith, Manager, Transit Cooperative Research Program
Stephan A. Parker, Senior Program Officer (retired)
Stephanie Campbell-Chamberlain, Senior Program Assistant
Natalie Barnes, Director of Publications
Heather DiAngelis, Associate Director of Publications
Claire Aelion-Moss, Editor
TCRP PROJECT G-17 PANEL
Field of Administration
Roland Cordero, Foothill Transit, West Covina, CA (Chair)
Jack Dennerlein, Boston University, Boston, MA
Shawn M. Donaghy, C-TRAN, Vancouver, WA
Danielle Julien, Amalgamated Transit Union, Local 1576, Everett, WA
Rodney P. Massman, Missouri Public Service Commission, Columbia, MO
David L. Mayer, Washington Metrorail Safety Commission (WMSC), Washington, DC
Raymond J. Melleady, United Safety & Survivability, Exton, PA
Brian L. Sherlock, Amalgamated Transit Union, Silver Spring, MD
FOREWORD
By Gwen Chisholm Smith
Staff Officer
Transportation Research Board
This is a toolkit for predicting the long-term safety and health performance of bus operator workstations. The toolkit allows a user to (1) assess bus operator workstation options available and (2) estimate the percentages of driver populations who will be accommodated by a candidate vehicle design. These assessments provide insight into what changes might improve short- and long-term performance, comfort, safety, and health of bus drivers. This report will be of immediate use to safety regulators, transit vehicle operators, risk and safety managers, chief engineers, directors of maintenance at transit agencies who oversee specifications for procurements, human resources departments, writers of specifications for contracted services, manufacturers, and suppliers.
Time loss at public transportation agencies is significantly higher than the average U.S. working population, and human costs are considerable. Musculoskeletal problems, such as low back, wrist, elbow, and shoulder pain, are endemic in public transportation. Significant changes have been made in the designs of critical systems for bus operator workstations, such as seats, pedals, and steering. This report considers the effect of bus drivers’ body dimensions and postural preferences and their interaction with bus cab spatial layouts. The information may help the public transportation industry understand, evaluate, and implement options to improve operator health while reducing time loss, injury, disability, and external liability.
The objective of TCRP Project G-17 was to assess bus operator workstation technologies that improve bus operator health and well-being and reduce external risk. This research supplements the work of TCRP Report 25: Bus Operator Workstation Evaluation and Design Guidelines and TCRP Report 185: Bus Operator Workstation Design for Improving Occupational Health and Safety, covering progress in the design of seats, steering, pedals, and controls where significant advances have been shown to reduce injuries, reduce costs, and improve safety performance.
Led by Mathew Parkinson and coinvestigators Songlin Wu, Eunsik Kim, Andris Freivalds, and Yiqi Zhang of Penn State University and based on direction from the project panel, the research team focused on the features of the workstation that most improve health, well-being, and performance, considering the attributes of the bus operator population. The research team considered:
- relative health and turnover rate of current bus operator populations (compared to other occupations)
- features of the workstation that would most improve health, well-being, and performance, considering the attributes of the bus operator population
- components in isolation and in the context of the workstation envelope
- performance implications to the safe and efficient operation of the vehicle (e.g., dwell time and customer service implications)
This report describes the methods used; an accompanying “Bus Accommodation” Excel tool to estimate what percentage of a bus driver population is accommodated by a candidate bus workstation design is available on the National Academies Press website (nap.nationalacademies.org) by searching for TCRP Research Report 247: Assessing Lifecycle and Human Costs of Bus Operator Workstation Design and Components.
CONTENTS
1.1 Design for Human Variability
Chapter 3 Bus Operator Posture and Associated Risk of CTDs
Chapter 4 Bus Packaging Methods
Chapter 5 Bus Packaging Results
Chapter 6 Discussion and Bus Packaging Software Tools
6.1 Observation and Reflection
6.4 Limitations and Future Work
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