Press Releases

Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways (SAFE)

For Immediate Release

Roadside Call Box Calls Now Handled by Private Center

Faster response for region's stranded motorists

CONTACT:

Reka Goode, MTC SAFE
510.464.7706

Marjorie Blackwell, MTC SAFE
510.464.7884

OAKLAND, Calif., Dec. 18, 2000...Bay Area motorists who experience car trouble or want to report an accident or road hazard are getting a quicker response these days since the responsibility for answering calls from the network of approximately 3,500 roadside call boxes has been shifted from the California Highway Patrol (CHP) to a private call response center.

An evaluation report of the first phase of the private call center's operation was presented to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) Service Authority for Freeways and Expressways (SAFE) Operations Committee at its regular monthly meeting in December.

With the number of cell phone 911 calls and calls from other law enforcement agencies (the highest priorities for the CHP dispatch center) increasing over the past few years, the response time for call box calls had lengthened. By being the first point of contact for motorists seeking assistance, the private call center can route calls to appropriate agencies without taking up CHP dispatch time unless a call specifically warrants CHP response.

Funded by the MTC SAFE, the private call center became fully operational Dec. 1, 2000, following more than a year of equipment acquisition, set up and testing. Personnel to handle the calls were hired and trained as well during that period, with a technical consultant providing the training. The two-year contract – with option to extend – totals approximately $300,000 for the first year's startup, and about $2 per call handled thereafter by the call center operator, Connections Communications of San Francisco.

The private call center gradually assumed responsibility for the call box calls over a period of several months, with the switchover from the CHP completed in mid-July. Since then, operation of the private call center has been in a testing phase, which is now complete. Monitoring and evaluation of the private call center are expected to continue at regular three-month intervals for the first year of the second phase of the project.

Operators are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week, working in three daily shifts. The number of calls handled averages approximately 11,000 per month.

"Moving to the private call center was a win-win situation for everyone," said Wes Wells, program manager for the SAFE program. "The CHP's call answering burden is diminished, MTC SAFE and the public achieve significant cost savings, and motorists receive assistance much more rapidly."

The call box network is operated and administered by the MTC SAFE, which derives its revenues from the $1 vehicle registration surcharge levied in the nine Bay Area counties. MTC is the regional transportation planning, financing and coordinating agency for the nine-county region, and its commissioners oversee the SAFE in partnership with Caltrans and the CHP.

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