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The objective of the industry survey was to develop a pic- The results of the literature review are discussed in chap-
ture of the state of the practice in the transit industry--what is ter two, Literature Review, and selected titles are provided in
the range of techniques being used and how many transit agen- the References and in the form of an annotated bibliography
cies are using them. The topics covered in the survey were: in Appendix D.
· How transit agencies are measuring asset conditions
and determining asset funding needs. Survey
· How the condition of transit assets is communicated to
A survey was carried out in early 2010. The nation's 50 largest
transit agency decision makers (management and gov-
transit agencies in terms of operations size were polled. The
erning boards); state, local, and federal funding partners
survey focused on these agencies because it was expected that
(agency staff and elected officials); and the general
public. they would have the most advanced asset management sys-
· How the asset condition data are used to make invest- tems because of the complexity of their operations.
ment and capital programming decisions.
The survey included a set of 37 questions regarding current
The nation's 50 largest transit agencies in terms of opera- asset management systems practices. The questions addressed
tions size were surveyed. These transit agencies are primarily the scope of the agency asset inventory, the agency human
multi-modal transit agencies that typically operate heavy, resources used, the determination of asset condition and its
light, or commuter rail services and bus services. The survey use, and details of the agency's capital programming.
focused on these agencies because it was expected that they
would likely have the most advanced asset management sys- Of the 50 agencies from which responses were solicited, 41
tems because of the complexity of their operations. or 82% responded to the survey. A total of 37 agencies pro-
vided responses to the more detailed questions in the survey,
The conduct of case studies was the third element of the and complete responses to the questions on state of good repair
project scope. It provided the opportunity to review in depth were provided by 11 agencies.
the experiences at innovative transit agencies in terms of
innovations, lessons learned, and gaps in methods and infor- Case Studies
mation. The results of the case studies could help identify
opportunities and challenges for upgrading and increasing Detailed case studies of two of the 50 largest transit agencies--
the consistency of transit asset condition reporting. the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) and
the New York City Transit Authority (NYCT) were under-
TECHNICAL APPROACH TO PROJECT
taken as part of this synthesis. The case studies describe the
origin of each agency's asset management system, how it is
The project involved three parallel streams of activity as out- used, and how it has evolved over time.
lined in the project scope:
The two agencies chosen represent two distinct SGR sys-
1. A literature review, tems that represent different approaches. They are both, how-
2. An industry survey, and ever, considered state of the art and examples of best practices.
3. Case studies of innovative practices at local transit
agencies.
REPORT ORGANIZATION
Literature Review This report contains the following chapters and related find-
ings. A summary of the findings from the survey are provided
The literature review examined eight articles, papers, or in chapter three, Survey Results: Transit Capital Programming
reports that were judged important to this synthesis project. and Asset Tracking Systems, and chapter four, Agency Use of
The limited availability of literature may suggest that the Asset Tracking and Condition Assessment Data. A copy of the
active use of asset management systems for more than data survey questions is provided in Appendix A, a detailed sum-
collection and manipulation of asset inventory data is not mary of survey responses is presented in Appendix B, and
common. Appendix C lists the agencies who participated in the survey.
