This Guide

▪ This document is a guide to assist municipalities in preparing their transit asset management plan. It is a generic “best practice” guide, outlining commonly used practices that are available for the municipality to consider. The guide highlights the importance of a life cycle cost approach to asset management.

▪ It was developed jointly by the Province of Ontario, the Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA), the Ontario Community Transportation Association (OCTA), representatives of municipal transit, and in collaboration with Infrastructure Canada.

▪ The format suggested in the guide is not mandatory. It is expected that each municipality will use the format and practices that best suit local capabilities, needs and priorities.

▪ This guide does not intend to replace existing asset management plans. Rather, its purpose is to assist those municipalities who don’t have such plans and to ensure certain consistency in terms of plan content.

Provincial Requirements

▪         In October 2004, the Province announced its intention to invest two cents a litre of the provincial gas tax in public transit in order to assist municipalities in building sustainable transportation systems with public transit being a key component.

▪         The development of a ten-year municipal Transit Asset Management Plan is a requirement for receiving gas tax funding. Municipalities must prepare these plans and submit them to the Ministry of Transportation by March 31, 2006.  If a municipality already has a transit asset management plan, there is no need to re-write it.

▪ The municipal plan must be approved in principle by Council.

▪ The plan should address all physical assets including vehicles, facilities, equipment, amenities, supporting infrastructure, office hardware & software, etc.

▪ The plan should outline all financial requirements and funding sources

▪ The plan should include performance measures, to allow the municipality to assess how it is meeting its objectives and targets.

▪ Similar to other long-term municipal strategic initiatives, the plan should be reviewed and updated periodically.

What is a Transit Asset Management Plan?

▪ A transit asset management plan is:

o A strategic, pro-active, long term, comprehensive plan for managing transit assets on a life cycle basis

o A way of doing business - not a piece of software

o An important communication and marketing tool

▪ What does it do?

o Helps to implement the maintenance and capital programs

o Helps in balancing operating and capital investments

o Helps to maximize return on investments on a life cycle basis

▪ Typical transit asset management plan includes:

o Context: (current and future environment, broader municipal policies)

o Objectives within time lines

o Inventory of current assets

o Maintenance program

o Capital program (replacement and expansion)

o Financial plan

o Risk management analysis

o Performance measures

▪ For the purpose of this plan, transit assets are all physical assets used by the transit system, including:

o Passenger vehicles (e.g. buses, subways, streetcars, rail)

o Ancillary equipment (e.g. fare collection systems, radio communication systems)

o Facilities (including facility systems such as HVAC, electrical etc.)

o Shop equipment

o Passenger amenities

o Passenger terminals and stations

o Other

Note:

While the transit asset management plan is a valuable tool in transit planning, it is recognized that small municipalities that only have specialized transit service or a very small number of buses with no other transit assets, may not need a comprehensive plan as suggested in the guide. To fulfill the requirements of the gas tax program, these municipalities could submit a “scaled down” plan consisting of:

o Inventory (existing fleet)

o Ten year fleet plan (major refurbishment, replacement, expansion)

o Maintenance plan

o Estimated costs and funding sources

Acknowledgements

This guide was developed by a joint working group, consisting of the following members:

Alex Grant	- Thunder Bay Transit
Barbara Breston	- Ministry Of Transportation
Béatrice Schmied	- Ontario Community Transportation Association
Bill Tumasz	- Ministry Of Municipal Affairs And Housing
Don Hull	- City of Hamilton
Fatima Abdulrasul	- Ministry Of Transportation
Fernand Hamelin	- Cornwall Transit
Graham Morrison	- St. Catharines Transit
Jim Thompson	- Ajax/Pickering Transit
Kathleen Guillot	- Infrastructure Canada
Mark Sture	- St. Thomas Transit
Robert Porter	- Infrastructure Canada
Noam Saidenberg	- Ministry Of Transportation
Philippe Bellon	- Canadian Urban Transportation Association

Context

The municipal transit asset management plan should be developed within the context of present and anticipated conditions that affect transit and should support broader municipal objectives and policies. This section describes this context.

Current Environment

▪ Usage (service hours, service km, service area, average speed, etc.)

▪ Topography

▪ Weather

▪ Demographics

▪ Labour force (availability of skilled labour, union arrangements, etc.)

▪ Suppliers (availability of supplies)

▪ Availability of alternative service delivery (out-sourcing)

▪ Governance (division of responsibilities between municipal departments)

▪ Legislative requirements (e.g. AODA, Health and Safety, Fire Codes, Building Codes, Highway Traffic Act, etc.)

▪ Others

Broader Municipal Expectations and Objectives

▪ Transit asset management plans are developed within the context of broader municipal objectives for achieving economic, community and environmental goals. These broader objectives and policies are outlined in various municipal plans and policies, such as the Official Plan, Transportation Master Plan, Transit Ridership Growth Plan, etc. The relevant policies and objectives should be outlined in the municipal asset management plan.

Future Environment

The transit asset management plan is based on a number of assumptions regarding the future environment within which transit will operate. Typical assumptions include:

▪ Population, demographics and social trends

o Growth / decline

o Employment rate and trends

o Geographic distribution

o Age composition

o Persons with disabilities

o Other

▪ Future travel patterns

o Travel modes

o Ridership profile

o Future key travel corridors & destinations

▪ Requirements, availability and use of technology

o Alternative fuels

o Maintenance technology

o Automated information systems

o Smart cards

o GPS

o Communications

o Safety

▪ Technical assumptions

o Asset’s life expectancy

o Disposal options

o Availability of parts

o Bus technology

▪ Financial assumptions

o Funding availability (municipal, provincial, federal, other)

o Replacement costs

o Maintenance costs

o Insurance costs

o Fuel costs

▪ Other

Much of the data required for these assumptions is available from the municipal Official Plan studies, the municipal Transportation Master Plan, Transit Business Plan, Ridership Growth Plan and other relevant planning documents. Transit-specific data is also available from the annual Ontario Urban and Specialized Transit Fact Books prepared for the Ministry of Transportation.

It is important to understand that while asset management objectives are developed with these assumptions in mind, the future conditions reflected in the assumptions may often be outside the control of the municipality. Changes in these future conditions may have direct impact on transit asset management and on achieving its objectives. Therefore, when evaluating the success of the plan, it is important to note the degree to which the key assumptions have materialized and assess the corresponding impact on asset management.

Objectives and Priorities

This section sets out the guiding principles, objectives and priorities for the municipal transit asset management plan. While the objectives and priorities will be unique to the municipality, typical objectives for transit asset management plan include:

▪ Support for broader municipal objectives and priorities (social, environmental and fiscal)

▪ Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements (safety, environmental, etc.)

▪ Supporting the expected ridership growth as outlined in the municipal Official Plan and the Ridership Growth Plan

▪ Accommodating specific markets based on demographic outlook

▪ Improving the transit system’s performance

▪ Maximizing returns on investments on a life cycle basis

Inventory of Assets

The inventory provides information on the system’s current assets including their condition, value, life expectancy, operating costs, etc. It covers all current physical assets used by the transit system, including vehicles, facilities, shop equipment, on-board equipment, supporting infrastructure, passenger terminal and shelters, passenger amenities, office hardware / software, etc. It could also outline the major deficiencies in the current inventory that may hamper achievement of the desired objectives.

This section should answer the following questions:

▪ What do you have and where is it?

▪ What is it worth?

▪ What is its condition and expected remaining service life?

Typically, the inventory would outline the following:

▪ Usage information

▪ Asset age and condition

▪ Expected remaining service life

▪ Asset valuation (original cost, market value, replacement value, residual value)

▪ Betterment costs (cost incurred to enhance the service potential of a tangible capital asset. Betterments increase service potential, but may or may not increase the remaining life of the asset. (examples: vehicle refurbishment, shelter re-built)

▪ Contractual agreements for service provision (e.g. shelters, specialized transit, etc.)

▪ Major deficiencies (e.g. insufficient fleet, fleet too old, too costly to maintain, not accessible, insufficient garage capacity, outdated computer programs, etc.)

Maintenance Program

This section describes the maintenance plan of all current assets. Extensive, technical detail is not required.

Regulatory Requirements (provincial, federal)

▪ Safety: Vehicle and work place

▪ Environmental: Emissions standards, waste management, other

▪ Accessibility: vehicles and stations

▪ Others

Priorities (will change over time)

▪ Improve occupational safety

▪ Reduce maintenance costs

Policies

▪ Level of service expected

▪ Alternative service delivery (in-house / contracting)

▪ Buy / lease policies (for parts)

▪ Environmental policies (re: fuels, emissions, etc.)

▪ Municipal accessibility policies

▪ Spare vehicle policy

▪ Fleet availability for scheduled service hours

▪ Social policies re: clean air, tunnelling, etc.

▪ Financial policies (e.g. high capital / low maintenance or vice versa)

Program

▪ Predictive maintenance

o Refurbishment schedule

o Part replacement schedule

▪ Preventative maintenance

o Regular summer/winter maintenance program

o Major maintenance schedule

o Inspection

o Other

▪ Reactive maintenance

o Reactive maintenance refers to dealing with unplanned breakdowns. It is difficult to plan for, but important to keep information on occurrence, costs, etc.

o Information on cost breakdown between predictive, preventative and reactive maintenance may help in highlighting deficiencies in the maintenance program.

Administration

▪ Governance: Roles and responsibilities of municipal departments

▪ Inventory control procedures

▪ In house / out-sourcing arrangements (alternative service delivery)

▪ Purchasing procedures (e.g. buy / lease for tires)

▪ Continuous maintenance improvement

Capital Program

The capital program should address major asset refurbishment, replacement and expansion schedule. A typical capital program may include:

Regulatory Requirements (provincial, federal)

▪ Accessibility: AODA requirements

▪ Safety requirements

▪ Environmental requirements

Priorities (will change over time)

▪ Accommodate ridership growth

▪ Accommodate clean air objectives

▪ Transit priority measures

Policies and guidelines

▪ Expected service standards (level and quality)

▪ Replacement / growth

▪ Integration of specialized and conventional transit systems

▪ Procurement policies (buy / lease / outsource)

▪ Public / private partnerships

Procurement Program

*Replacement / ridership growth*	2006	2007	2008	10 years
Vehicles (by type)
Facilities & structures
Infrastructure
Signals, Electrical, Communications
Computers / technology
Shop Equipment
Ancillary equipment
Office equipment
Passenger amenities

Administration

▪ Procurement procedures (inc. warranty recovery program, liquidation, delivery, tendering)

▪ Characteristics / specs for new assets (fuel, HVAC, accessibility, etc.)

Financial Plan

This section addresses the annual budget and long term affordability. It outlines the projected costs of maintenance, capital renewal and expansion and indicates how they will be financed over time.

Council familiarity and endorsement of the plan is important since asset management financing has direct impact on the level of service to be expected.

Requirements

2006

2007

2008

10 years

Maintenance

- Vehicles

- Facilities

- Infrastructure

- Equipment

- Office equipment

- Info. Technology

- Other

Replacement

- Vehicles

- Infrastructure

- other

Expansion

- Vehicles

- Infrastructure

- Other

Total

Funding Sources

2006

2007

2008

10 years

- Fare box

- Property tax

- Development charges

- Reserve fund

- Debentures

- Municipal subsidy

- Provincial programs

- Federal programs

- Other

- Total

Risk Management

Risk management is a systematic approach for analysing and managing risk. It may help to identify and analyse the consequences of budgetary and other constraints and explore mitigating measures.

Typical risk management strategy may involve:

▪ Identification of the causes of risk (e.g. age of fleet, poor maintenance, etc.)

▪ Description of the nature of risk - environmental, health, safety and financial (quantified and descriptive)

▪ Risk tolerance

▪ Potential risk reduction measures and their cost

▪ Assessment of the benefits of risk reduction

Example:

Causes of Risk

Nature/cost of risk

Risk reduction

initiatives & costs

Benefits

- Age & condition of assets

- Outdated technology

- Level of maintenance

- Deferred procurement

- Insufficient support services

- Safety

- Environment

- Service delivery

- Ridership growth

- Liability

- Replacement

- Enhanced maintenance

- Enhanced technology

- Operator training

- Expand support services

- Ridership

- Env’t

- Performance

- Spare fleet

- $

Performance Measures

Performance measures allow the municipality to assess the success of the asset management plan in meeting its objectives.

A few basic, useful performance measures to assess the success of the plan may be:

▪ Average age and size of fleet

▪ System accessibility

▪ Down-time, spare fleet

▪ Maintenance costs: overall, per unit

▪ Relative cost of reactive maintenance

▪ Results of safety / environmental tests

Notes:

▪ The transit asset management plan is developed with certain assumptions in mind regarding the future environment within which transit will operate (expected funding levels, availability of technology, population and demographic characteristics, etc.). Changes to the future conditions reflected in these assumptions may have a direct impact on achieving the plan’s objectives. Therefore, when assessing the performance of the plan, the degree to which the key assumptions have materialized and the impact on the asset management plan should be noted and evaluated.

▪ Given the differences between municipalities, not all of the performance measures are suitable and applicable for all municipalities. It is expected that each municipality will employ those measures that best suit its circumstances and programs.

▪ It is important to compile and maintain information on the performance measures so progress over the years can be assessed.

Appendix A

Resources

General guides and information

National Guide to Sustainable Municipal Infrastructure

National Research Council Canada

Municipal Infrastructure Asset Management / Issue No 1.0 / November 2003

www.infraguide.ca/lib/db2file.asp?fileid=4217

D.J.Vanier: Asset Management 101: A Primer

Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council Canada

http://irc.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/fulltext/nrcc44300.pdf

D.J.Vanier: Advanced Asset Management: Tools and Techniques

Institute for Research in Construction, National Research Council Canada

www.corpserv.nrc.ca/irc/fulltext/nrcc44299.pdf

Risk Analysis Methodologies

This document reviews various risk analysis methods from various disciplines

http://home1.pacific.net.sg/~thk/risk.html#Conclusions

Examples

TTC 2005-2009 Capital Program & Ten Year Capital Forecast

www.ttc.ca\postings\gso-comrpt\

Washington State Transit Asset Management Plan

Transit agencies in Washington State are required to submit an asset management plan for certification by the Transportation Commission as a condition of receiving state funds.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/transit/asset_mgmt_plan/.

The link below is for a guide developed by the State to assist transit systems in preparing these plans. It is a very detailed and useful document.

http://www.wsdot.wa.gov/transit/asset_mgmt_plan/guide_to_preparing_your_TAMP.pdf

Chicago

As a pilot project, the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) has developed an Internet central database as the basis for the Regional Transit Asset Management System (RTAMS). It includes information on ridership, operational data, capital program, grants and aerial photography. The initial goal is to create a central base that can be shared and accessed by all transit systems within the RTA, (CTA, Metra, Pace and others).

http://rtams.rtachicago.com/ or read Yoder and Delaurentiis’s “Framework for a Regional Transit Asset Management System” in ITE Journal, September 2003.

Florida State

The Florida Department of Transportation is currently expanding its transit asset management system (TAMS) as part of its Florida Transit Information System. FTIS allows transit managers to have access to information that allows them to better utilize resources and make more informed policy, operations, and planning decisions.

Canadian Department of National Defence

Master Realty Assets Development Plan (MRADP)

Template and guidelines for developing an asset management plan. Although intended for real estate, the principles and components are very similar to transit asset management. It is a clear, straightforward and easy to follow document.

www.forces.gc.ca/admie/dgrpp/dgrpp1_e.htm

Publications

Khasnabis, Snehamay, Joseph Bartus, and Richard Darin Ellis, Optimal Resource Allocation for the Purchase of New Buses and the Rebuilding of Existing Buses as a Part of a Transit Asset Management Strategy for State DOTs, Midwest Regional University Transportation Center, February 2003.

The study presents a methodology for optimizing the investment in new buses versus various rehabilitation strategies under budget limitations. Available online at http://www.mrutc.org/research/0201/02-01OptimalResourceAllocationTransitKhasnabis.pdf.

National Cooperative Highway Research Program (NCHRP) Project 20-24(11), Asset Management Guide for Transportation, November 2002.

Although this guide is aimed primarily at roads and bridges, the framework presented is applicable to transit systems. Available online at http://downloads.transportation.org/amguide.pdf.

Transportation Research Board, Transit Asset Management Session at TRB Annual Meeting 2005

The Annual Meeting CD contains the following relevant papers:

“A Systematic Approach for Developing Standard Times for Repair Activities in Transit Vehicles (05-1578)”,

“Asset Management System for Rural Transportation Vehicle Procurement (05-1324)”, and

“Asset Management for Rail Transit Systems”.

United States Department of Transportation, Asset Management Primer, December 1999.

Although not transit-specific, this primer discusses and explains what asset management is.

Available online at http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/asstmgmt/amprimer.pdf.

Yoder and Delaurentiis “Framework for a Regional Transit Asset Management System” in ITE Journal, September 2003.

This articles overviews Chicago’s regional transit asset management system.

Available online at http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3734/is_200309/ai_n9269486/print.

Useful Contacts

Ontario Ministry of Transportation

Transit Policy and Programs Office

Urban and Rural Infrastructure Branch

Ministry of Transportation

1201 Wilson Ave, Bldg B, 2^nd Floor

Downsview, Ontario M3M 1J8

Information regarding the Gas Tax Program: 416-235-3981

Information regarding this Asset Management Guide: 416-235-4086

Canadian Urban Transit Association (CUTA)

55 York St., Suite 1401

Toronto, ON M5J 1R7

Phone: 416-365-9800

Fax: 416-365-1295

Website: http://www.cutaactu.on.ca/

Ontario Community Transportation Association (OCTA)

520 Temagami Crescent

Mississauga, Ontario L5H 1S8

Telephone: 1-877-762-OCTA (6282) or 905-271-6663

Fax: 905-271-6613

Website: http://www.octa.on.ca

E-mail: info@octa.on.ca

Prepared jointly by:

Current Environment

Future Environment

Inventory of Assets

Priorities (will change over time)

Administration

Priorities (will change over time)

Administration

Risk Management