Because operators are sometimes absent e1nd daily workloads are often uncertain, transit agencies employ more operators than required by the timetable to ensure r liable service. The e extra operators are usually referred to as ext raboard or cover operators because they are used to cover the as ignments of absent operators and to provide required, but un cheduled. work. Operators who clo not have specific work as ignments are told to report for work at specific times of the day to cover work rhat may be open at those times. A methodology is propo ed to deal with the problem of assigning report times to cxtraboard personnel. The proposed methodology is sensitive to the variability of unanticipated requirement., work rules applying to extraboard per onnel, reliability objectives, and availability of regular operator to work overtime in case unamicipated requirements cannot be covered off the extraboard. The methodology is applied to a large bus garage ar the Ma saclrnsetts Bay Transportation Authority to test rhe quality of the resulting solution under different work rules. Thi case. tudy demonstrates the potential of the methodology to produce ignificant improvements over current practice and to serve as a valuable policy analysis tool.

In order to provide reliable service despite operators' being absent from work and to accommodate uncertainty about the amount of work actually required on a given day, transit agencies employ more operator than required by the timetable. These extra perator a. re usually referred to as extraboard or cover operators becau e they are u. ed to cover the as ig11111ents of ab ent operator and to provide required but un cheduled, work. Alth ugh most extraboard opentor are directly assigned to fill in for scheduled operators whose ab ences are known in advance, the remainder are assigned report times at which they must be available t cover work that may be open at that time. A method was developed to assign report times for the e extraboard operators; the value of the method i demon. traced through a ca e study of a ingle large bus garage at the MBT A. In the tran it industry, the issue of operator workforce planning has been receiving increased attention in the past decade, primarily becau e of the prospect of cost aving through improved operator management melh d. Although some of th, e effort have focu ed on the staffing levels required, and hence on the size of the extraboard, little has been reported in terms of analytical methods for assigning report times to extraboard operators who have no specific, known-in-advance work assignments.