Regional Concept for Transportation Operations

5. Keys for Advancing an RCTO

Below is a list of strategies for successful development and implementation of an RCTO.

Coalescing on a feasible operations objective that is agreeable to all.

Because of many competing transportation needs within a region, reaching a decision to pursue a single operations objective through an RCTO can be one of the most difficult tasks for the partners. This challenge typically comes early in the development process when the commitment of the participants may not yet be solidified. The partnership is more likely to be successful if the operations objective is manageable and achievable within the short timeframe of implementing an RCTO. A well-chosen operations objective invigorates the partnership and gives participants a central focus to rally around. Early accomplishments give the partnership the momentum and support needed to tackle increasingly complex issues.

Sustaining adequate participation.

Inevitably the strength of the partners' participation will ebb and flow as agencies cope with staff turnover and demands on staff members to meet other responsibilities. Additionally, engineers or operators accustomed to demand-driven, day-to-day operations may be less motivated to participate in strategic planning activities. Planning for operations requires sustained, deliberate collaboration among the participants. Sustained participation requires that:

• Partners understand the importance of their individual contributions.
• Outcomes of the RCTO are at the forefront of the collaborative discussions.
• Every partner anticipants the benefits from implementing the RCTO.
• Leaders or champions fully embrace all of the partners through regular contact and even holding meetings at underrepresented agencies' locations.

Focusing on an issue that has wide support and visibility.

The development of an RCTO may be most successful when it addresses an issue that is highly visible to the public and elected officials such as quick incident clearance. By addressing fundamental needs of a region, RCTO partners can gather the momentum and support needed to establish an RCTO and carry it out.

Approval for MAG RCTO

The MAG RCTO was signed by the MAG Regional Council after receiving unanimous approval by city managers and the MPO board, which consisted of mayors and agency leaders.

Identifying a champion for the collaborative effort.

A champion or set of champions is crucial to the successful development and implementation of an RCTO. An appropriate champion for the collaborative effort has a vital interest in the issue and is willing and capable of advocating for the effort. A possible champion for an RCTO on traveler information may be a freight operators committee. Alternatively, a city council member or senior planner at the MPO may rise to champion the cause.

Getting buy-in from agency management and elected officials.

Developers of an RCTO may have difficulty gaining support and agreement from their agencies' management and elected officials, particularly if implementing the RCTO requires substantial contribution of resources. Expected benefits to the traveling public (i.e., voters) and to the agencies themselves should be used to promote the partners' efforts. A powerful argument for developing an RCTO is that it allows agencies to expand their capabilities or increase their efficiency beyond what would be possible working alone.

Overcoming the roadblocks to interagency agreements.

An RCTO requires agreement between multiple parties that each have their own organizational mission, culture, and standard operating procedures. If not properly managed, these divergent organizational characteristics can be major impediments to the collaboration.

Securing any necessary funding for implementation.

For many collaborative efforts, partners will need to identify a funding source to accomplish the desired operations objective. Possible funding sources include agency budgets, State and local transportation taxes, and Federal CMAQ and STP dollars. RCTO partners may want to work with their MPO to set up a line item within the plan for management and operations projects.

Monitoring performance of the collaboration and its impact.

Incident Management Accountability in Hampton Roads

Public safety and ITS stakeholders in Hampton Roads, Virginia are developing an RCTO for incident management. The RCTO Working Group chair from the Virginia DOT reports quarterly to the MPO on the progress of their effort. This includes up-to-date information on delays due to incidents.

Contact Camelia Ravanbakht: cravanbakht@hrpdcva.gov.

An essential part of successfully achieving and maintaining an operations objective through collaborative action involves monitoring and assessing the collaborative activities and the impact of these activities on the transportation system and its users. It provides the feedback necessary for the partners to gauge the effectiveness of their approach and make adjustments accordingly. Only through performance measurement can the partners reliably demonstrate the benefits of the effort to the public and to decisionmakers who have committed resources to the effort.

As part of the RCTO development, the collaborative partners should develop a program to measure both internal and external performance regularly. Internal performance measures track the performance of the collaboration itself and enable partners to determine how well they are carrying out the approach. Sample measures may include meeting attendance, amount of funding acquired, number of traffic signals installed, and percent compliance with new procedures.

Additionally, the partners need to use external performance measures to determine their progress toward their operations objective and the influence their effort has on the performance of the transportation system. Sample measures include customer satisfaction, incident duration, throughput, and delay.

Committing the resources necessary to develop an RCTO.

The resources necessary for developing an RCTO consist primarily of agency staff time and labor. The commitment of agency staff time to meet and work through ideas with other partners is necessary to create the content of the RCTO. Staff needs may differ depending on the phase of RCTO development. While establishing the operations objective and the general direction for the RCTO, senior agency management and decisionmakers may be primarily relied upon whereas more technically oriented staff may be necessary to flesh out the details of the approach, procedures, and physical improvements.

Documenting a new way of operating.

The RCTO represents a joint decision on a new way of operating and as such, documentation of the RCTO is needed to provide a single source for all partners to refer to as they work to achieve and maintain their common operations objective over time. The shape and format of the documentation is not important as long as the essential elements exist somewhere within.