with my family and my boss about my desire to step down, but the timing never seemed right. Eventually, I had to share my decision. In September of this year, I will be retiring and transitioning to a CEO Emeritus role, passing the baton to Matt Ashley, a veteran of National Express and an excellent leader. Te company is in great hands with Matt, and his arrival during our centennial year is the perfect time for him to take the reins.
STN: Realizing that some bus drivers may behave unpredict-
ably, what is ESI and what impact has it had on the screening and hiring of prospective bus drivers? Duke: Beyond complying with state and federal guidelines for
employee screening, we administer an employee safety inventory (ESI)—an assessment tool that measures the candidate’s attitude towards safety. It’s an important element in deciding whether a candidate is right for us. Te inventory is comprised of 99 questions that measure candi-
dates’ attitudes about safety control, risk avoidance, stress tolerance and driver attitudes. Candidates’ responses are measured against a control group of successful drivers who have taken the assessment and identify those drivers most likely to drive safely.
STN: What new technologies have been put in place as a result of the bus crash?
STN: Also in the video, you expressed the company’s determination to learn from what happened and outlined three steps that were being taken to “prevent this kind of thing from ever happening again.”
Te first was the implementation of a secure, nationwide, cloud-based complaint management system for teachers and admins to report any issues they might have with routes and drivers. Has that system been implemented in Chattanooga and how has it performed? Duke: An early version of the feedback management system was immediately implemented for use by the schools we serve in the Hamilton County Department of Education. We are continuing to refine the platform prior to the launch across our business, which will be completed by the end of this year. Te system will al- low us to employ a central repository for feedback to ensure we can
Duke: We are always reviewing new technologies to make our buses safer and had been piloting DriveCam at various locations across our North American business prior to Chattanooga. Following the accident, we’ve sped up the implementation; 2,445 buses or 10 percent of our fleet will be fitted by the end of the year with the goal to have the fleet completed by the end of 2019. We are also implementing a cloud-based feedback management system to all of our operations by the end of this year.
Your friends at Buck’s Wheel & Equipment would like to wish National Express a Happy 100th Anniversary.
Buck’s Since 1951
5101 North Main Street Fort Worth, TX 76179
www.buckswheel.com
46 School Transportation News • JULY 2017 Buck'
s_0717_HH.indd 1
Service Dept. • Collision Center • Parts Dept. • Spring Shop
Serving the Industry for Over 65 Years.
Phone: 817-332-1228 Toll Free: 800-792-1011
CELEBRATING25YEARS 6/2/17 12:01 PM
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