For more and more public transport companies, and particularly with competitive tendering procedures in regional rail transport, it is increasingly important to calculate the costs for operating personnel accurately, as they are a major cost item. Even small inaccuracies or blanket assumptions accounting for only a few cents difference in the quoted price can de-cide on the award of contract or the economic failure in transport operations.

Similarly, in negotiations of collective labour agreements or works council agreements, it is crucial to know precisely which effects parameter changes may imply. This is the only way to decide on cost effectiveness or efficiency in order to reach an agreement in collective bargaining. In typical projects appropriate scenarios are varied by simulations and com-pared with each other.

Also within the scope of a classic target costing or a classic target cost derivation for func-tions as for instance operating personnel (or other areas), it is essential to calculate ap-propriate personnel costs under realistic operational conditions. Alternatively or additional-ly, the tool can also be used as a pure benchmark method.

An analysis must always be based on complete data

When calculating costs for operating personnel different parameters and data are im-portant. Some of these are

• provisions of collective bargaining (e. g. basic wage, premiums and special bonuses),
• transport service provided and distribution over days and times of operations,
• age structure and job tenure of the workforce and current pay scale grouping (deploy-ment of staff),
• effectiveness of duty rosters and schedules plus employee availability, and
• potential alterations of the transport service provided over time in perennial considera-tions.

 
Only when these parameters are fully taken into account and properly processed, reliable

19. February 2016