Availability, reliability, and safety are hallmarks of efficient public transportation service and form the foundation for a positive transit passenger experience. Transit Asset Management (TAM) is a form of performance-based planning and programming (PBPP) that helps transit agencies across the United States and within the metropolitan Washington region keep their buses and trains running. TAM documents the age and conditions of fleets and rolling stock while setting targets for the useful life of transit assets.

TPB News first featured TAM in April 2017 when new PBPP provisions were set under the FAST Act federal transportation authorization, updating the U.S. Department of Transportation’s (U.S. DOT) PBPP requirements originally established in the federal Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century (MAP-21) Act in 2012. The Transportation Planning Board (TPB), as the region’s metropolitan planning organization (MPO), is required to set transit asset targets for the region along with other PBPP targets for highway and transit safety, bridge and road conditions, National Highway System (NHS) congestion, freight, and Congestion Management and Air Quality (CMAQ).   

The TPB will set TAM targets for the fourth time in 2022. The MPO’s participation in target setting parallels TAM planning conducted by the state departments of transportation (state DOTs) and transit agencies. During February and early March 2022, the TPB is reviewing a new set of TAM targets for adoption, so this point in time provides a good opportunity to take a closer look at the TPB’s role in transit asset management and performance.

SETTING TRANSIT MANAGEMENT TARGETS

The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) requires public transportation agencies to develop a compliant TAM plan, set performance targets for capital assets, create data and narrative reports on performance measures, and coordinate with their planning partners. Data is collected and reported for four transit performance measures: (1) age of rolling stock; (2) age of non-revenue service vehicles; (3) condition of infrastructure, such as tracks, signals, and systems; and (4) station/facility condition.

TAM target setting and submission requirements apply to any agency or parent jurisdiction receiving FTA funds as a recipient or sub-recipient. TAM is conducted for all assets used in the provision of transit service for which an agency has direct capital responsibility. It does not matter whether the assets are federally funded; they are still included in the TAM plan. In addition, included assets are those used by a direct FTA recipient, subrecipient, or contracted third-party provider. Transit providers annually set targets for the fiscal year, develop a four-year TAM plan, along with a decision-support tool and analytical process for creating a list of prioritized investments to maintain or replace assets.

THE REGIONAL ROLE

MPOs are required to adopt TAM targets for providers in the metropolitan planning area. The TPB, in its role as an MPO, sets a vision for how transit service will be provided in the region, no matter the size of system or type of service offered. With inclusion of the targets in the Visualize 2045 long-range transportation plan and the FY 2023 – 2026 Transportation Improvement Program, the TPB realizes MAP-21 and the FAST Act’s purpose and reasoning for establishing performance-based planning and programming, primarily to provide “…a link between management and long-range decisions about policies and investments that an agency makes in its transportation systems.” (Source: Federal Highway Administration)

ASSETS AND PERFORMANCE MEASURES

Transit providers included in the TPB’s TAM planning process are separated into two tiers: Tier 1 and Tier 2. Tier 1 providers operate rail service or have more than 100 vehicles in regular service. Tier 2 providers have less than 100 regular vehicles in service.

The Washington metropolitan region has seven Tier 1 agencies including the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), District of Columbia, Fairfax County, Montgomery County, Prince George’s County, Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission, and Virginia Railway Express. There are 12 Tier 2 providers, including paratransit and non-profit providers. Some regional providers have chosen to participate in a group TAM plan with the Maryland Transit Administration or the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation.

The specific transit asset management performance measures are:

• Rolling stock age
• Non-revenue service vehicles age
• Rail fixed-guideway track, signals, and systems condition
• Station or facilities condition

Buses, vans, autos, locomotives, and other rail vehicles are examples of rolling stock. Non-revenue service vehicles include cranes, lifts, and tow trucks. Infrastructure includes rail signals and systems. Stations, parking garages, and terminals are types of stations and facilities.

Actual measurements are:

• Percentage of revenue vehicles within an asset class that have met or exceeded their useful life benchmark (ULB)
• Percentage of non-revenue service vehicles that have met or exceeded their ULB
• Percentage of track segments, signal, and systems with performance restrictions
• Percentage of facilities within an asset class, rated 3 on the Transit Economic Requirements Model (TERM) scale (The facilities section of the FTA Performance Management web page provides a table the explains TERM ratings and condition ratings.)

The following table summarizes the draft TPB 2022 TAM targets for providers in the region that was shared with the TPB in February 2022. A complete table of regional TAM targets is available in the February 16 TPB Meeting Item 10 memo.
 

(Source: TPB)

TRANSIT ASSET MANAGEMENT TRENDS

Has setting TAM targets had an impact on asset maintenance and level of transit service provided in the region?

“TAM has brought more attention to the subject and has transit providers thinking about TAM more strategically. As data and management have improved, more rigorous targets have been established,” notes Eric Randall, TPB Transportation Engineer.

Randall explains that state DOTs have included TAM requirements for smaller transit providers that receive state funding allocations, increasing the number of transit systems applying the performance measures to their vehicles and facilities.

TAM also sheds light on how funding is used for capital expenditures and whether transit providers in the region are spending enough for asset replacement or rehabilitation. WMATA, for example, has been able to significantly expand rail station and track repair since 2018 through dedicated funding from the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, and an increased regional focus on capital expenditures for maintaining a state of good repair.

NEXT STEPS

What's next for the TPB’s TAM target setting in 2022? The TPB will review and provide comments on the draft TAM targets in February and will be asked to approve the TAM targets in March. With the TPB’s approval, the targets will be included in Visualize 2045 and the Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).

WILL TAM CHANGE UNDER THE BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE LAW?

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA or Bipartisan Infrastructure Law), signed into law on November 15, 2021, is now the successor to the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act. According to the Federal Transit Administration, IIJA continues the TAM program without change. However, the law requires consideration of TAM plan elements in the Fixed Guideway Capital Investment Grants (Section 5309) and State of Good Repair Grants (Section 5337). Section 5309 adds a requirement the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to determine that a project sponsor has made progress toward meeting the transit asset management performance targets. For Section 5337, there is a new requirement for the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to consider whether a grant program applicant has identified rail vehicle replacements as a priority in the grant recipient’s TAM.