Transit Asset Condition Reporting (2011)

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28 Cover Memorandum from TRB February 2, 2010 MEMORANDUM TO: Selected Transit Agencies FROM: Donna L. Vlasak—Senior Program Officer, Synthesis Studies SUBJECT: TCRP Synthesis Topic SG-11, Transit Asset Management The American Public Transit Association (APTA), through its nonprofit educational and research organization, the Transit Development Corporation, Inc. (TDC), is cooperating in a research project to prepare a Synthesis of Current Practice on the topic noted above. This is part of the Transit Cooperative Research Program (TCRP), which was authorized in the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) to be managed by the Transportation Research Board (TRB) in cooperation with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) and the TDC. The synthesis will provide practical information and guidance for transit agencies of all sizes in profiling innovative and successful practices, lessons learned, and gaps in information. McCollom Management Consulting is preparing this synthesis report under contract to TRB. In order for the Synthesis to reflect the best current information, it is important that responses be obtained from selected transit agencies of various sizes and geographic locations. http://s-nw3j2-231172.sgizmo.com/i/47505e00000p59083 Your assistance in expediting the completion of the questionnaire as accurately as possible will be greatly appreciated. Descriptions of any practices and techniques used to overcome problems are welcomed, as are reports or other documentation. Individual responses will remain anonymous; an aggregated summary of the responses may be published to reflect the range of practice. While this survey format may be the most user-friendly version, a hard-copy version of the survey is also available. If you would prefer hardcopy, or if you have any questions about the survey, please contact Cathi Nussbaum at cathi@mccollomconsulting.com or by phone at xxx.xxx.xxxx to obtain a copy. Please complete the survey in either form by March 1, 2010. Thank you for your assistance. We believe the final product will be of considerable interest. Copies of the published Synthesis will be available upon request from APTA and electronically on the TRB Homepage. APPENDIX A Survey Questionnaire

29 Welcome Dear Survey Recipient, McCollom Management Consulting has been asked by TRB to undertake an industry and literature review on the subject of transit asset condition reporting. To that end, we are requesting key managers at transit agencies to respond to an on-line survey on the means and methods that are practiced at their transit agencies to track assets and monitor their condition as well as how this information is used. For purposes of this survey, an asset is defined to be in a state of good repair (SGR) when it is operating at its ideal capacity within the span of its design life. An asset management system is defined to be any management process and associated database that contains an inventory of revenue and non-revenue transit assets and information about those assets, including condition and performance characteristics. This survey and literature review will provide a synthesis of SGR management practices of large public transit authorities, descriptions of asset management systems used, as well as identifying best practices where appropriate. The end results will help local transit authorities, state DOTs, and the FTA to understand how assets are inventoried, conditions assessed and tracked, and how asset management systems are used to help identify priorities to ensure that our scarce public transit funding will have the most impact in providing safe, reliable, and comfortable transit for riders and employees alike. Your individual responses will be kept confidential and you will not be cited in the general findings section of the TRB report. However, your responses will be incorporated into the industry-wide survey responses. Best practices by individual transit agencies will be cited only with the permission of the respondents. If we believe that your transit agency is a candidate for a best practices case study, we will contact you for permission and a follow-up interview. Please click on the link below to take you to the survey tool. Where possible, questions are yes/no, multiple choice, or other close-ended answers. There are several questions that request samples of agency documents in which case an e-mail and U.S. mailing address (your choice) is provided. Please feel free to contact either of the two authors below for additional information. Regards, Steve Berrang steve@mccollomconsulting.com Brian McCollom brian@mccollomconsulting.com Tickler Survey Please complete the following information about yourself: Transit Agency Name First Name Last Name Title Street Address City State Zip Code Phone Number E-mail Address 1. Does your agency possess a comprehensive inventory of your operating infrastructure assets? NOTE: For purposes of this review, comprehensive is defined to include both revenue- and non-revenue-related transit assets. □ Yes □ No 2. Does your agency maintain this inventory on a periodic basis? □ Yes □ No

3. What is the primary source of data for this asset inventory data? □ Asset inspections □ Fixed asset ledger/counting data □ Maintenance management system □ Combination of one or more of the above 4. How do you use this inventory? 5. Are you willing to answer more detailed questions on how your transit agency tracks its assets, assesses their condition, and uses the information to develop investment strategies and undertake capital planning? It should take about 20–30 minutes to answer these questions. If you are unable to continue with this survey and there is someone else within the transit agency that would be able to take this survey for us, please click the Save and Continue link located in the top right hand corner of this page and enter that individuals e-mail address. Thank you. □ Yes □ No Main Survey TOPIC 1: Asset Inventory Thank you for taking a few minutes to share additional details on how your transit agency tracks its assets, assesses their condition, and uses the information to develop investment strategies and undertake capital planning. The survey is organized into several topic areas. Please respond to all topic areas and answer the questions using the most current information. Please do not use the Enter key to move from one data entry field to another. To move from one data entry field to another use your Tab key. Please do not use your browsers Back arrow to return to a previous page. Use the buttons at the bottom of each screen to go back to a pre- vious page or move forward to the next page. If at any time during this survey you need to leave the survey and continue at a later time, please click on the Save and Continue link located in the top right hand corner of the survey, enter your e-mail address and close the survey. Or, if you are unable to answer the questions in the survey and there is someone else within the transit agency that would be better suited to complete the survey, please click the Save and Continue link located in the top right hand corner of this survey and enter that individuals e-mail address. If you have any questions on how to finish the survey, please contact: Cathi Nussbaum at cathi@mccollomconsulting.com or xxx.xxx.xxxx. 6. Does the inventory include? □ Revenue vehicles □ Support vehicles □ Passenger stations □ Fixed guideway infrastructure □ Maintenance buildings 7. Does your asset inventory cover, to some degree, all modes of service provided? □ Yes □ No If NO, please describe below why certain services are not included in the inventory. 30

31 8. What type of management process and database do you use to record and update asset data? □ Non-networked electronic spreadsheet/database □ Networked electronic spreadsheet/database □ Other system 9. How do you store the asset data? □ Financial information database □ Internally developed database □ Off-the-shelf, asset management database □ Contractor-developed database □ Other database 10. Where do you store the primary (not backup) asset data? □ In-house □ Off-site at contractor □ Combination of in-house and off-site at contractor □ Other (please specify): 11. What is the frequency of update for complete asset inventory? □ Periodically (i.e., annually, bi-annually, etc.) □ As changes occur (i.e., irregularly) 12. Can you provide us with samples of the forms or sheets used to collect the asset information in an electronic format or samples of the asset inventory? If YES, please e-mail them to trbsurvey@mccollomconsulting.com. If you have difficulty e-mailing files or prefer to mail hardcopy, please contact Cathi Nussbaum at cathi@mccollom consulting.com or xxx.xxx.xxxx. □ Yes □ No TOPIC 2: Asset Inventory Resources 13. Do you have a dedicated agency staff to maintain and update the asset inventory? □ Yes □ No If YES, please indicate the number of people and departments in which they work. 14. Do you use designated, but not dedicated, agency staff to maintain and update the asset inventory? □ Yes □ No If YES, please indicate the number of people and departments in which they work. 15. Do contractors support your agency’s efforts to maintain and update the inventory? □ Yes □ No 16. Please estimate the number of contractor person hours used per update cycle.

TOPIC 3: Asset Condition 17. Do you assess the condition of some or all of your assets agency-wide? □ Yes □ No 18. How do you determine asset condition? □ Age (only) □ Continuous condition inspection (only) □ Periodic condition inspection (only) □ Combination of age and condition inspection □ Other (please specify): 19. What is the frequency of condition of update to the asset condition database? □ Periodically (i.e., regular intervals such as annually) □ Varying based on asset type or as changes occur 20. At what level of asset aggregation does your agency record and assess asset condition? □ Individual assets (e.g., bus by bus, bridge by bridge, or station by station) □ Individual asset purchase class (e.g., all 2001 diesel 40′ buses, all #1 cars for heavy rail line) □ Asset type (e.g., stations, revenue vehicles, service vehicles, garages) □ Various breakdown schemes depending on asset type 21. At what level of service aggregation does your agency record and assess asset condition? □ Mode (e.g., bus, light rail, heavy rail, commuter rail) □ Line or region (e.g., Red line, North division) □ Combination of mode and line/region □ Do not use service aggregation coding 22. Can you provide us with samples of the forms or sheets used to collect the asset information in an electronic format or samples of the asset inventory? If YES, please e-mail them to trbsurvey@mccollomconsulting.com. If you have difficulty e-mailing files or prefer to mail hardcopy, please contact Cathi Nussbaum at cathi@mccollom consulting.com or xxx.xxx.xxxx. □ Yes □ No 23. Does your agency use the age/condition assessment to: □ Perform infrastructure needs assessment □ Estimate current magnitude of state-of-good-repair backlog □ Project future magnitude of state-of-good-repair backlog □ Prepare an agency funding appeal for additional funding □ Determine agency investment priorities □ Estimate magnitude of state-of-good-repair backlog □ Other applications (please explain below): 24. Other applications explanation: 32

33 25. Does your agency use the inventory and condition assessment to estimate a backlog of needed replacement and renewal investments? □ Yes □ No 26. What is the replacement value ($) of your non-real estate assets? 27. In what Year dollars? 28. What is the current estimate ($) of the value of the backlog? 29. Please provide the backlog ($) by investment type: □ Revenue vehicles (heavy rail) □ Revenue vehicles (light rail) □ Revenue vehicles (buses) □ Revenue vehicles (commuter rail) □ Revenue vehicles (ferries) □ Revenue vehicles (vans) □ Support vehicles (e.g., tow trucks) □ Passenger stations □ Track □ Power □ Signals □ Tunnels □ Bridges □ Maintenance buildings □ Administrative buildings □ All other assets TOPIC 5: Agency Capital Program 30. What is the time frame for your agency’s capital program? □ Fixed five years (e.g., 2005–2009, then 2010–2014)? □ Rolling five years (e.g., 2005–2009, then 2006–2010)? □ Fixed ten years (e.g., 2005–2014, then 2014–2023)? □ Rolling ten years (e.g., 2005–2014, then 2006–2015)? □ Other (please specify): 31. Is the renewal cycle of your agency’s capital program (i.e., 5-year fixed, 5-year rolling, 10-year, etc.) linked to the duration of its plan- ning cycle? □ Yes □ No 32. Is the renewal cycle of your agency’s capital program linked to the frequency asset inventory update? □ Yes □ No 33. What is the size of current plan ($)?

34. Please indicate the percentage breakdown of your agency’s current capital program by the following categories. Please ensure that the sums equal 100%. □ State of good repair (SGR) investments □ Service expansion □ Enhancements to existing assets □ Other (please specify): Please explain Other above: 35. Has the transit asset condition system been used to change capital funding priorities to improve the SGR of the agency? □ Yes □ No 36. Please describe how the transit asset condition system has been used to change capital funding priorities to improve the SGR of the agency? 37. Would you be willing to participate in a best practices case study as part of this project? □ Yes □ No Disqualification (No Response: Does your agency possess a comprehensive inventory of your operating infrastructure assets?) Thank you for responding. Because you do not possess a comprehensive inventory of your operating infrastructure assets you will not be able to answer the remaining survey questions. Should you have question, feel free to contact Cathi Nussbaum, Brian McCollom, or myself with any questions. Regards, Steve Berrang Thank You! (No response: Are you willing to answer more detailed questions on how your transit agency tracks its assets, assesses their condition, and uses the information to develop investment strategies and undertake capital planning?) Thank you for taking part in this survey on TRB survey on Transit Asset Reporting. If you are unable to continue with this survey and there is someone else within the transit agency that would be able to take this survey for us, please click the Save and Continue link located in the top right hand corner of this page and enter that individuals e-mail address. Should you have any questions, feel free to contact Cathi Nussbaum, Brian McCollom, or myself with any questions. Regards, Steve Berrang Thank You (Complete Survey Submission) Dear Survey Respondent, Thank you for taking part in this survey on Transit Asset Reporting. As mentioned earlier, your individual responses will be kept confidential and you will not be cited in the general findings section of the TRB report. However, your responses will be incorporated into the industry-wide survey responses. We may be back in touch with some follow-up questions. And, if we believe that your transit agency is a candidate for a best practices case study and you answered Yes to our last question, we will contact you for permission and a follow-up interview. Feel free to contact Cathi Nussbaum, Brian McCollom, or myself with any questions. Regards, Steve Berrang 34