Integrating Public Transportation Facilities and Equipment Management Systems into Capital Improvement Planning Process

Abstract

A Public Transportation Facilities and Equipment Management System (PTMS), as proposed in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA), is a tool to assist in the management and utilization of transit facilities and equipment so as to ensure the efficient and effective use of resources. A framework for the application of PTMS elements in the public transit capital improvement planning process is proposed. By using a PTMS as a part of the capital planning process, broad concepts such as needs fulfillment and performance improvement may be embodied in a systematic process to program transit bus capital investments. With data from the Federal Transit Administration’s National Transit Database (NTD), the practical applicability of this framework is investigated in the context of the capital planning process employed by the regional transit authorities and the state transportation agency in Massachusetts. Vehicle replacement needs for a Massachusetts regional transit authority are estimated for a 5-year planning window using the NTD data in conjunction with predictive condition models. These models, developed by Purdue University and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, use easily quantifiable and objective measures such as age and mileage to predict the future condition of a vehicle. NTD data are also used to identify opportunities for performance-based capital incentives among the Massachusetts regional transit authorities.