The Next Stop: METRO's Podcast Episode 57: METRO Prioritizes Your Safety Every Day Ramona Crayton: We are constantly evolving and looking for new trends and looking for new ways and that are going to be effective. Doug Delony: I’m Doug Delony. On this edition of the Next Stop: Your safety is our top priority. And that’s why we have an entire team dedicated to it. [Introduction music plays] Doug Delony: Today, on the Next Stop, we welcome Ramona Crayton, who is the manager of Transit Safety Education Programs. Welcome, Ramona! Ramona Crayton: Good morning, Doug! Thank you so much for having me. Doug Delony: Good morning to you. Thank you so much. Did I get your title right? Ramona Crayton: Yes, you did! You did. Doug Delony: I always check because usually, I get my colleague’s titles from Outlook, and that’s what it tells me. And sometimes they are very long, so…. Ramona Crayton: Yeah. You’re correct. Doug Delony: Tell me, in short, what do you do at METRO? Ramona Crayton: Well, as stated in my title, it is a Transit Safety Education Manager, and I am tasked with helping to create safety education programs and messaging for the Authority to our employees, as well and, most importantly, to the public. Doug Delony: And that’s a big job. I mean because safety is a number one priority. Why does METRO make it a priority? I know that seems like a dumb—but there is a lot of things we can say we make a priority, but why is safety the number one priority? Ramona Crayton: Well, no, and it’s not. I think sometimes people think words are buzz, but safety is absolutely a very critical component to METRO’s, to our mission. You know, part of our mission statement is to provide a safe, clean, reliable, accessible, and friendly public transportation service to our region, and without safety, you know, it would be difficult for us to be able for us to achieve those other components of our mission statement. METRO is committed to providing the public and its employees the assurance that our system is safe, that we are aware of the various trends and activities that are going on that we need to, you know, put some emphasis on. Doug Delony: And I know we’re always monitoring the statistics to see what kind of incidents are happening either among employees or with customers, and so we always look for ways to respond and react to see how we can educate the public. I want to kind of play a game with you. You know, I told you in advance I wanted… Ramona Crayton: Okay. Doug Delony: …I wanted to hear your top 3 tips, which I know it’s difficult to have your top 3 tips on public safety. Ramona Crayton: Wow. Doug Delony: Because… Ramona Crayton: Yes. Doug Delony: …there’s just so many things that people don’t think about. But I want to compare it to what my top 3 tips are. So I want to see how mine… Ramona Crayton: Okay. Doug Delony: …stack up against yours. But go ahead. Ramona Crayton: Okay. Doug Delony: Give me your top 3 tips on what the public can do to stay safe. And I understand that, for all our listeners… Ramona Crayton: Okay. Doug Delony: …these are not the only tips out there. But I want to hear what you think your top 3 tips are. Ramona Crayton: Okay. My top 3 are: 1) Cross only at marked crosswalks and intersections. 2) Pay attention. Please do not text and walk. That is so unsafe. My third one is: Wait for the walk signals to cross at the intersections. So critical, so key. Those three items, for me, will definitely keep you safe. Doug Delony: Okay. So, here were my top 3. Okay… Ramona Crayton: What were your three? Doug Delony: …and my compare, I think mine match up with yours. I do have one other one that you might be like, “Huh?” Okay, so one of mine is… Ramona Crayton: Okay. Doug Delony: …stay alert. You said that, basically. Stay alert, stay aware. It’s so critical. Ramona Crayton: Okay. Doug Delony: People need to put down the phone. My second tip, which kind of plays into that, is… Ramona Crayton: Yeah. Doug Delony: …look and listen, you know? Our trains, our light rail trains… Ramona Crayton: Mm-hmm. Doug Delony: …can be, you know, quieter than a freight train. So, really, when you’re crossing those tracks, like you said, look both directions at each track because sometimes we do a single-track operation where a train is going in the direction you wouldn’t expect it to be coming from. Okay, my third tip is just in general, in life, slow down. People are speeding all around this town. Ramona Crayton: Okay. Doug Delony: They are running across, you know, where it says “Don’t Walk.” And they are running to try and catch the train. There’ll be another train in a few minutes. Just slow down. Those are my tips. I don’t know. I just feel like people in a rush; people get hurt, you know? Ramona Crayton: Yes. And you’re right. You’re right. I think that that thought of slowing down and paying attention. I mean, everybody is in a hurry. And that’s why it’s so important for us to have that our motto in terms of safety is everyone’s responsibility. You know, you do have to take into consideration the next person, and if they’re not paying attention, and you’re not paying attention, well, that is just a formula for a major incident. Doug Delony: I want to say that even though we have this team that you’re a part of that is dedicated to safety, it’s really everyone’s job, right? Every single person at METRO should be out there, you know, looking out for themselves but also looking out for our customers and, in general, our community, but also a lot of the responsibility falls on our customers. Ramona Crayton: Absolutely, Doug. You took the words right out of my mouth. Doug Delony: [laughs] Ramona Crayton: That safety is everyone’s responsibility. We are in a society in which we need to be out there and be able to help each other. Even though we have posted signs and we have information out there, just sometimes people are just overwhelmed that they may just not be being attention to sometimes those most important types of measures that we have in place to keep people safe. So, with knowing that people have their own responsibility, it’s even more so for METRO to make sure that we help them keep their eyes on the prize, and they can be sure that they keep safety as their number one focus as they’re driving, as they’re walking, as they’re cycling, and any and all of the activities. Doug Delony: And how do we communicate some of this messaging? Because it’s probably a little bit of a challenge. Internally, it might be easy to get a hold of our employees, I would say. I know not everyone, you know, has to check their email every single day, but we have posters and signage up. We make announcements on platforms, right? Ramona Crayton: Yes. We do all of that and even more so. We have a very robust Social Media Department. And so, I work very closely with our social media team in helping to post information, safety messaging, and information out to the public. And that’s how we really can stay connected. METRO has so many different formats and so many communication formats besides our employee newsletter, our internal and external newsletters that we have. The way that we communicate with the public. We always try to incorporate a safety message within those platforms that we use, but all of our social media platforms, our Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, we are constantly pushing out those types of information. Doug Delony: Right. And I think one of my first experiences with, you know, safety messaging here at METRO, I attended a meeting after I was a newer employee, and it was one of our first big group meetings. And there was a safety message at the top of the meeting that was completely unrelated to the topics that were following in the meeting, but I was like, “Oh, we do safety messages at the top of the meeting.” And that was eye-opening for me. Ramona Crayton: Well, thanks, Doug, for pointing that out because that is a very important feature that some people just don’t even realize the importance of us bringing awareness to various issues that are going on. And it’s not only—some people are like, “Why are you talking about human trafficking?” Human trafficking is an issue, a very critical issue. One that is relevant to the public transit industry. And we just need to make sure that we are educating our employees on matters such as that, in terms of ways that they are able to identify it and how that they can respond to it. And so, we are looking at doing some additional training on that particular issue, but just in general, we always encourage all of our partners to incorporate a safety message at the top of all your meetings. You know, that way we keep on top of everybody’s mind, you know, the importance of safety and emphasize how much safety is important is to each and every one of us. Doug Delony: Especially as we have special events like the rodeo, the Final Four. We had Spring Break. I’m sure part of the difficulty for you is that we’re trying to educate not just our regular customers and employees but also, perhaps more challenging, people from out of town. People who may not even be planning on using METRO, but they’re maybe in rental cars. They’re driving around, you know, the rail system. They really have to pay attention to all the signage. And then, of course, customers that are going to be walking around our transit system. I mean, can you talk a little bit to that? The challenges of educating people who perhaps just may not necessarily pay attention to those kinds of things. Ramona Crayton: In terms of our special events and because we are the public transit partner for most of these large-scale events that are held here in Houston, it’s very important for us to try to share with the public and to the guests who are attending those events specific safety measures that we have in place, such as our pedestrian safety. Focusing on just really basic, just basic things that you need to be paying attention to that no matter what city or country you live in, you know, we encourage people to, you know, not be distracted or pay attention to the street signage and the lights and such like that. So, anything unique that we have to our system, we also try to promote that through our social media, and then that way, we’ll be able to try to touch as many people as possible, and besides our ongoing efforts with our employees. Doug Delony: What do we learn from organizations like Operation Lifesaver or APTA? I know we have some outside partners. In fact, I think I saw we were a gold award recipient for bus safety and security from APTA. What is APTA? Ramona Crayton: APTA is the only association in North America that represents all the modes of public transportation, including bus, paratransit, light rail, and such. And we’re very fortunate to be a partner of the American Public Transportation Association, as well as Operation Lifesaver, which is a rail advocacy and education group, that we’re also longtime members of that, where their focus is on rail safety education. So, we work very closely with Operation Lifesaver, as well as APTA. So many of our departments, internal departments here at METRO, there is a different component of APTA. And we all have an opportunity to associate with that. Doug Delony: We have a pledge that we signed, and everybody can sign this, but METRO has signed it as an organization. The City of Houston has signed it. Leaders from within Harris County and so on, I mean, at the state level, the federal level, a lot of organizations and people have signed a pledge for Vision Zero, which is, in general, about saving lives, right? Ramona Crayton: Yes. Well, what Vision Zero is is a comprehensive and holistic approach to having safer streets that support the common good and enhances the quality of life for our Houstonians. You know, a lot of times we just, we take for granted cars and pedestrians and just we don’t think about at times that how the intersection there with not only just cars but people walking, people having the ability to feel safe on the streets. Whether they’re walking, whether they’re driving, whether they’re cycling, be it one of our paratransit agencies, that we also have to take into consideration we have a large, diverse people, and we have to be able to address issues that concern them. And be able to put measures and initiatives in place that will help prevent incidents and accidents and fatalities. So that’s what Vision Zero is. A community of leaders that come together to try to, you know, put those measures in place to keep people safe while they’re on our streets of Houston. Doug Delony: And we encourage all of our listeners and our riders, our customers, to take the Vision Zero pledge as well. You can Google it, and you’ll find several places where you can sign that pledge. We also have a Code of Conduct that’s on METRO’s website. Ramona Crayton: Mm-hmm. Doug Delony: And that is not just about safety, but it’s also about common courtesy, and we’re not gonna go through the full list because there’s so much useful information. Everyone should go to ridemetro.org/safety. And that website, you know, it talks about how incidents occur when someone doesn’t follow the safety rules or the Code of Conduct. Some of those examples that it provides are, you know, always enter the bus through the front door, and when you’re exiting the bus, it’s usually better to exit through the back door. That way, it keeps a flow of traffic within the bus. Avoid talking to the operator when the bus is in motion. I know it’s tempting sometimes, especially if you need information, but maybe wait for a stop… Ramona Crayton: Yes. Doug Delony: …to approach the bus operator or the driver. You know, don’t play loud music outside or inside the bus. No eating or drinking in the bus. And a lot of the safety rules apply, whether you’re waiting, boarding, riding, or exiting the bus. So, it’s not just when you’re on our vehicle. It’s sometimes when you’re on our platforms, or you’re approaching the platform, so you just have to stay alert and stay safe. And a lot of this messaging ties into METRO Police as well. So, I want to remind everyone they can contact METRO Police on their smartphone. Just dial #MPD. We also have an app for METRO Police, the Connect app, where you can chat with METRO Police. If you see something, say something. You don’t have to call it in if you’re nervous about trying to make a phone call if you see something. You can actually just do it right from your phone and type out what you’re seeing. So that’s really useful as well. Ramona Crayton: Well, thank you again, Doug, for giving us the opportunity to, you know, just share with our public the efforts in which that METRO is taking to try to keep our public and employees safe and just know that we’re constantly evolving and looking for new trends and looking for new ways, and that are going to be effective for this effect and for us also to achieve our mission statement in terms of what we, our dedication and commitment to our public and to our employees. So thank you again for giving us an opportunity, and let us know if you see anything unsafe or any suggestions or ideas. We’re always looking for new opportunities in which to improve and get better and help save people. That’s what it’s all about. Safety first. Doug Delony: Absolutely. I would say the “See something, say something” doesn’t just apply to crime or MPD. I mean, reach out to the customer service team, you know? The customers can always reach out and state if they see something that could be improved. Maybe signage is confusing or something like that. Ramona Crayton: Absolutely. Doug Delony: There’s so much we can do. And METRO covers such a large area, you know, nearly 10,000 bus stops. It’s a lot to cover. There’s a lot of signage, and that’s why we have this fantastic safety team here at METRO. So thank you again so much for joining us, Ramona. Ramona Crayton: Thank you so much, Doug, and we look forward to continuing helping and serving our community. Doug Delony: All right. Thank you so much. And while everyone’s on our website checking out those safety tips, make sure you search for the word “podcast” to listen to more episodes of the Next Stop. I’m Doug Delony. As always, drive less and do more with Houston Metro. [Music plays to the end] RMETRO/pti:kh Page 1 of 1