The Next Stop: METRO's Podcast Episode 60: The METRO Team That Keeps Things Nice and Clean Miguel Zavala: They care about the job that they do. They take pride in the work that they do. They live in the communities that they serve, and we don’t take that for granted. Doug Delony: I’m Doug Delony. On this edition of the Next Stop: METRO’s facilities maintenance team plays a critical role in keeping the transit system safe and clean. [Introduction music plays] Doug Delony: Today, on the Next Stop, we welcome Miguel Zavala. He is the Director of Public Facilities here at METRO. Welcome, Miguel. Miguel Zavala: Good morning, good morning. Thanks. I appreciate you having me on. Doug Delony: Absolutely. I know you guys stay very busy because we have a lot of public facilities, don’t we? I mean, I know METRO’s service area covers more than 1,300 square miles. That’s about 10,000 stops. What exactly is a “public facility” in terms of METRO? For those who don’t know. Miguel Zavala: Sure. “Public facilities” covers a wide spectrum. We have facilities known as Park and Rides. We also have transit centers. We have rail stations, platforms, and also, we have all of our bus stops. Essentially, anything that the public has access to that is owned by METRO or operated by the agency is considered a public facility. It falls under that umbrella. Doug Delony: With so many public facilities, I suspect you’re probably checking e-mails seven days a week, or your phone’s probably dinging a lot because these facilities are accessible and used in one way or the other seven days a week. How do you manage it all? Miguel Zavala: It’s definitely a lot of work. We have folks working around the clock. We do have a 24/7 operation. We have, I want to say, about four to five working shifts that start at different times, and because it’s 24/7, we have to have management here on weekends as well to take any calls that come in on the weekend. And then we also have another setup where we have an on-call processing place if anything comes that’s considered an emergency. We do keep a supervisor and a general foreman to be able to handle those types of situations that require immediate response. And then we have boots on the ground, if you will, throughout the—you know, and they really cover a wide range of trades. You know, we have anywhere from cleaners to electricians. We have plumbers. We also have mechanics. We have crane operators. We have landscape. We have irrigators. It really covers almost anything you can think of when it comes to facilities maintenance. Doug Delony: And the reason the facilities maintenance is such an important team here at METRO, and in fact, the reason we’re doing this show, this episode of this podcast, is this is the team that keeps things working. Keeps things clean. Keeps the lights on. And a clean, working transit system is also a safe transit system. And safety is such a huge priority here at METRO. Miguel Zavala: Oh yeah. Absolutely. I think that our job, our goal, is to provide a safe, reliable, and clean, you know, facility for our customers and to do that on a consistent basis. And you know, that’s why it requires a full team. Doug Delony: And we talk about specifically what people see every day. I think the key things that people see are perhaps, you know, a trash bin that needs to be serviced. Or maybe they’re at a bus shelter at night, and maybe the lights are not working. I mean, what else is facilities maintenance responsible for that may seem obvious or maybe not so obvious? I mean, what’s on your task list to keep a check on? Miguel Zavala: Sure. So, we typically break down our work orders into two main categories. And the first is our things that we just have to do for safety reasons and also to keep the facilities in good operating conditions. And those are called “Preventive Maintenance Work Orders.” And those are scheduled work orders that we have to complete on a monthly basis where we have teams go out there and inspect the lighting, inspect plumbing, inspect the PATS, which are the emergency buttons on the platforms that you see, and we inspect cameras. We inspect just a variety of things that are out there. Anything that has to do with keeping the facility in a safe and a good operating condition. Those are all items that are scheduled, and that we have a system, a database that automatically spits out these work orders and reminds us to go out and inspect these properties on a monthly basis. So that’s the one category that we just can’t go without. The other category of work orders are called “Corrective Work Orders.” And those are the ones that we get on a daily basis. And as you can imagine, we get a lot of that. You know, we can get cleaning requests. We can get lighting requests. We can get, you know, damage at times, and we have to be responsive to those as well. It could be anything. It could be the driveway at a Park and Ride, you know, there’s a hole on the driveway. Or there’s a bus stop that has a missing sign. A fence line. It could be the landscaping. It really covers a lot, you know, a wide range of items. Anything that you see in a public property is fair game. Doug Delony: Because we serve, you know, such a large area, we kind of need the public’s help too. And it sounds like you do hear from the public. What are some of the ways they report to you? Is it a website? Is it phone? Or how do you find out whenever something might need to be serviced? Miguel Zavala: The best way for the public to reach us is through the METRO Customer Service number, which is the 713-635-4000. That’s gonna be the best way to submit a request, if you will, for any of our public facilities. Doug Delony: And I know that people can call that number and even text that number for people that might be a little bit shy on the phone. But certainly, you know, like I said, nearly 10,000 stops, we rely on the public to help give us some insight and let us know what’s going on. I mean, our bus operators too, I’m sure, probably occasionally report things, but if you tell a bus operator that’s a lot of responsibility for them to remember on their route while they're driving. They can’t write it down. They’re trying to keep their schedule going. They can’t remember that bus stop, you know, whatever needed the trash bin serviced. They might be able to remember it, but they are very busy as well. So, it’s kind of everyone’s job, including the customers and our METRO colleagues, to keep the system safe and clean. What are some of the challenges serving such a large area, and perhaps what is the biggest challenge? Miguel Zavala: Yeah, I think you bring up a great point. It’s easy for us that have lived here, you know, for most of our lives. A lot of our employees are, you know, natives to the area. And some are not, but if I would venture out to say that a large majority of employees here at METRO are natives to the city and have been around the city for many years, and we take pride in the work that we do, you know? Because we live and we grew up in these areas. And the challenge is definitely just the volume of requests that we get. You know, for example, in terms of Corrective Maintenance, we can average over a thousand requests in a month, which seems like, you know, it seems, you know, reasonable given the number of people that live—the population, if you will—in this area. But it is a lot of requests because some of the requests are not as easy as others, you know? Some of them—some of the requests could be… Doug Delony: Sure. Miguel Zavala: …improving the sidewalks, you know? Some of them could be improving Park and Rides. Improving transit centers. Adding bus stops. And each of those requests go through its own process, if you will, in order for us to be able to assess the request and then determine the appropriate way to respond to it. Doug Delony: I, myself, sometimes will watch our social media interactions that we get from the public. And you know, something that people are always good about keeping an eye on for us is when a trash bin might need to be serviced, or something needs to be mowed. So, I’m sure with you guys, sometimes it’s like, “Okay, well, that’s a 10-minute fix.” Sometimes it’s like, “Well, that’s a 10-hour fix.” Sometimes it’s a “That might be a 10-week or a 10-month fix.” Like there’s just some things that are just not gonna happen instantly, but one thing I always appreciate is how quickly you guys do respond and how quickly the team responds. For instance, when a trash bin might be overflowing. You know, sometimes that can happen very quickly at busy bus stops. So, I think you guys do an excellent job trying to keep track of it all and keep on top of it all. Miguel Zavala: Yeah, no, I think that surprising is how quickly we are expanding as an agency. It just shows you the commitment of our leadership to be able to improve the overall transportation needs of the area. I have seen that we have specifically in public facilities—our department has grown by 30 to 40 percent in the last five to six years, both in resources and staffing, right? So, we’re just continuing to grow and expand so quickly. And as you know, METRO is now working to expand rail. We’re looking at expanding Park and Rides and transit center service. We’re looking at adding BRT as well to other areas. It’s just the amount of projects and expansions that we have seen in the last five to ten years. It’s really surprising, and it’s a good thing I feel for the city. I think that, you know, five to ten years from now, we’re going to be thankful that we have taken, you know, this path and look into improve the traffic because, as you know, traffic has really gotten worse over the last couple of, you know, years. Doug Delony: Yeah. Miguel Zavala: So, anything that we can do to improve upon that is good. And yeah, we get all kinds of requests, you know. Some of them are silly. Some of them are very difficult to attain. And like you said, some of them are projects that, you know—and we also get requests that don’t belong to the agency. For example, we get requests to improve the street conditions. We get requests to improve lighting, street lighting. We get requests about traffic signals. We get requests for things that are more for TxDOT or for the City of Houston, or for Harris County. Doug Delony: Sure. Sure. Miguel Zavala: And we do our best to report those requests to the appropriate agency so that they can be looked at. Doug Delony: The people, sometimes it’s hard for them to identify, you know, where someone’s property ends and where another one begins or responsibilities. I know that METRO, for instance, will receive information or calls from 3-1-1 because a lot of people inside Houston will call 3-1-1, and it’s actually a METRO issue…. Miguel Zavala: Right. Doug Delony: …so, it kind of goes hand in hand, but that’s to say… Miguel Zavala: Goes hand in hand. Doug Delony: …you know, yeah, City of Houston, TxDot. I mean, whoever is responsible, they are all, you know, our partners. So, we do work closely with them on certain things. Especially you mentioned BRT. Our Bus Rapid Transit, which we call METRORapid. It’s a very rail-like experience. And as the system grows, you know, you’re talking about the bad traffic. The Katy Corridor will help solve some of that with the METRORapid system. Gulfton connecting over to the rest of the Silver Line. And of course, we have the big university METRORapid. The University Line METRORapid system. So those things are great, but it’s nice to hear from you that the team and facilities maintenance also continues to grow because that shows that it’s a high priority when the team gets larger because we have to keep the system safe and clean. Miguel Zavala: Yeah. Absolutely. Doug Delony: Yeah. And lastly, I always like to ask at the end of these, is there anything that I missed or did not touch on or anything else that you’d like to address or say? Miguel Zavala: You know, we take our job very serious. Our folks, like I said before—they care about the job that they do. They take pride in the work that they do. They live in the communities that they serve. And we don’t take that for granted. We understand that at the end of the day, what we do affects the customers and the communities, you know, that are in this area. And you know, we take our job very serious, and we’re proud of what we do. Doug Delony: You know, since I started working at METRO, there is a certain sense of pride that you get working and also living in the service area because we talk about our customers or our colleagues, but these are all really our neighbors. We’re serving our community. Miguel Zavala: Absolutely. Doug Delony: Our neighbors. And while, you know, a bus shelter that may need to be repaired, it may not be in our immediate neighborhood. These are still our neighbors. It’s still our community. When we drive around in a vehicle that say METRO on the side, or we wear the shirt that says METRO on it, there’s a certain sense of pride that we carry with us… Miguel Zavala: Absolutely. Doug Delony: …when we have that gear on. So, I really appreciate your time, again, Miguel, for joining us here on the Next Stop. Thank you so much. Miguel Zavala: Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. Doug Delony: That wraps it up for this edition of the Next Stop. Thanks to you, the listener, and all of our METRO riders out there. As a reminder, you can reach METRO’s awesome customer service team. Just call us or even text message us: 713-635-4000. I’m Doug Delony. If you’d like to check out more episodes of this podcast and subscribe, you can find all the links you need on RideMETRO.org. As always, drive less and do more with Houston METRO. [Music plays to the end] RMETRO/pti:kh Page 1 of 1