Survey of Transit Providers Regarding
Transit Asset Management (TAM) Plan Requirements

U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)

Introduction

  The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), as part of its work as an agency of Congress, is conducting a survey of public transit agencies that fall under the Federal Transit Administration’s (FTA) Transit Asset Management (TAM) requirements. You are receiving this survey because your agency - ______ - is an urban Tier 1 or Tier 2 public transit agency as defined by FTA.

The purpose of the survey is to gain the perspectives of transit agencies on the benefits of the TAM program, the challenges of meeting TAM requirements, and ways to improve the TAM program, if any. The survey will cover, among other things:

• The TAM requirement to inventory assets;
• The TAM requirement to assess the condition of assets;
• FTA’s TAM performance measures; and
• Other TAM plan requirements.

If you received an extension from FTA regarding the TAM requirements, including a TAM plan extension, and have not completed all of the TAM requirements please answer the questions to the best of your ability.

If you were a participant in a group TAM plan, please follow specific instructions as you complete this survey.

GAO will take steps to ensure the privacy of your responses. We will not include any information that would allow an individual respondent to be identified. The results of the survey will be reported in aggregate, and we will not release individually identifiable data outside of GAO, unless compelled by a court or requested by the Congress. The results of our evaluation will help inform Congress about issues related to transit asset management. We plan to complete our report in the spring, 2020. At that time, the report will be available on our website at www.gao.gov.

We understand that there are great demands on your time, but your response is very important. We would like to receive your survey responses within two weeks of receipt of this email.

To learn more about completing the survey, printing your responses, and whom to contact if you have questions, click here for help. Thank you in advance for your assistance in taking part in our survey.
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Background

 
This survey pertains to the experiences and perspectives with TAM requirements for the following transit agency: ______. If you are not the appropriate contact for this transit agency, please contact (the name and contact information for two GAO staff appeared here).
 
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1.  In order to complete your agency's TAM plan requirements, did your agency develop a TAM plan specific to your agency or participate in a group TAM plan?

(View responses)
 
a.  What organization was the sponsor of your group TAM plan?
(View responses)
 
2.  Which of the following types of transit does your agency provide?
If needed, please click here for definitions of the different types of rail service.

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  If you checked "other" (above), please provide a brief description.
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Asset Management: Inventory

 
The following capital asset categories are required to be included in the asset inventory according to TAM requirements:

• Rolling Stock: All revenue vehicles used in the provision of public transit.

• Equipment: All non-revenue service vehicles and equipment with a value greater than $50,000 used in the provision of public transit, except third-party equipment assets.

• Facilities: All facilities used in the provision of public transit (excluding bus shelters).

• Infrastructure: All guideway infrastructure used in the provision of public transit.
 
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3.  Prior to implementation of FTA’s 2018 TAM requirements, did your agency have an established process for inventorying rolling stock?
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a.  Did your agency make any changes to previously established procedures to inventory rolling stock in order to meet TAM requirements?
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4.  Prior to implementation of FTA’s 2018 TAM requirements, did your agency have an established process for inventorying equipment?
(View responses)
 
a.  Did your agency make any changes to previously established procedures to inventory equipment in order to meet TAM requirements?
(View responses)
 
5.  Prior to implementation of FTA’s 2018 TAM requirements, did your agency have an established process for inventorying facilities?
(View responses)
 
a.  Did your agency make any changes to previously established procedures to inventory facilities in order to meet TAM requirements?
(View responses)
 
6.  Prior to implementation of FTA’s 2018 TAM requirements, did your agency have an established process for inventorying guideway infrastructure?
(View responses)
 
a.  Did your agency make any changes to previously established procedures to inventory guideway infrastructure in order to meet TAM requirements?
(View responses)
 
7.  Did the quality of your inventory for the following capital assets improve as a result of implementing the TAM requirements?
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Yes, greatly improved
Yes, moderately improved
Yes, slightly improved
No improvement
Don’t know
Not applicable
a.  Rolling Stock
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b.  Equipment
(View responses)
c.  Facilities
(View responses)
d.  Guideway infrastructure
(View responses)
 

Asset Management: Condition Assessment

 
The following capital asset categories are required to be included in the condition assessment performed by a transit agency according to TAM requirements:

• Rolling Stock: All revenue vehicles with direct capital responsibility used in the provision of public transit.

• Equipment: All non-revenue service vehicles and equipment with a value greater than $50,000 with direct capital responsibility used in the provision of public transit, except third-party equipment assets.

• Facilities: All facilities used in the provision of public transit with direct capital responsibility (excluding bus shelters).

• Guideway Infrastructure: All guideway infrastructure used in the provision of public transit with direct capital responsibility.

 
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8.  Prior to implementation of FTA’s 2018 TAM requirements, did your agency have an established process for assessing the condition of rolling stock?
(View responses)
 
a.  Did your agency make any changes to previously established procedures to assess the condition of rolling stock in order to meet TAM requirements?
(View responses)
 
9.  Prior to implementation of FTA’s 2018 TAM requirements, did your agency have an established process for assessing the condition of equipment?
(View responses)
 
a.  Did your agency make any changes to previously established procedures to assess the condition of equipment in order to meet TAM requirements?
(View responses)
 
10.  Prior to implementation of FTA’s 2018 TAM requirements, did your agency have an established process for assessing the condition of facilities?
(View responses)
 
a.  Did your agency make any changes to previously established procedures to assess the condition of facilities in order to meet TAM requirements?
(View responses)
 
11.  Prior to implementation of FTA’s 2018 TAM requirements, did your agency have an established process for assessing the condition of guideway infrastructure?
(View responses)
 
a.  Did your agency make any changes to previously established procedures to assess the condition of guideway infrastructure in order to meet TAM requirements?
(View responses)
 
12.  Did the quality of your condition assessments for the following capital assets improve as a result of implementing the TAM requirements?
(View responses)
   
Yes, greatly improved
Yes, moderately improved
Yes, slightly improved
No improvement
Don’t know
Not applicable
a.  Rolling Stock
(View responses)
b.  Equipment
(View responses)
c.  Facilities
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d.  Guideway infrastructure
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Asset Management: Condition Assessment (cont.)

  The following questions ask about your agency's experience assessing the condition of your capital assets. If your agency participated in a group TAM plan and/or did not perform condition assessments of your capital assets, please check the box below to indicate these questions are "Not applicable" and skip to the next page in the survey.
(click here to continue to question 19)
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13.  When assessing the condition of rolling stock assets for your TAM plan, how important were the following factors?
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Very important
Moderately important
Slightly important
Not at all important
Don’t know
Not applicable
a.  FTA’s default Useful Life Benchmark (ULB) for vehicles. This represents the expected service life for each vehicle class.
(View responses)
b.  Agency-specific ULB
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c.  Operating miles or hours
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d.  History of asset repair or maintenance
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e.  Visual inspection
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f.  Other factors (please specify)
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  If you checked "other factors" (above), please describe these factors.
(View responses)
 
14.  When assessing the condition of equipment assets for your TAM plan, how important were the following factors?
(View responses)
   
Very important
Moderately important
Slightly important
Not at all important
Don’t know
Not applicable
a.  FTA’s default Useful Life Benchmark (ULB) for equipment. This measure represents the expected service life for each class.
(View responses)
b.  Agency-specific ULB
(View responses)
c.  Operating miles or hours
(View responses)
d.  History of asset repair or maintenance
(View responses)
e.  Visual inspection
(View responses)
f.  Other factors (please specify)
(View responses)
 
  If you checked "other factors" (above), please describe these factors.
(View responses)
 
15.  When assessing the condition of facilities for your TAM plan, how important were the following factors?
(View responses)
   
Very important
Moderately important
Slightly important
Not at all important
Don’t know
Not applicable
a.  FTA's Transit Economic Requirements Model (TERM) Lite Score
(View responses)
b.  Age of asset
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c.  History of asset repair or maintenance
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d.  Visual inspection
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e.  Other factors (please specify)
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  If you checked "other factors" (above), please describe these factors.
(View responses)
 
16.  When assessing the condition of guideway infrastructure for your TAM plan, how important were the following factors?
(View responses)
   
Very important
Moderately important
Slightly important
Not at all important
Don’t know
Not applicable
a.  Fixed guideway under performance restrictions
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b.  Age of asset
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c.  Level of use
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d.  History of asset repair or maintenance
(View responses)
e.  Visual inspection
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f.  Other factors (please specify)
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  If you checked "other factors" (above), please describe these factors.
(View responses)
 
17.  How challenging, if at all, is the process to assess the condition of the following types of assets in order to meet TAM requirements?
(View responses)
   
Very challenging
Moderately challenging
Slightly challenging
Not at all challenging
Don’t know
Not applicable
a.  Rolling Stock
(View responses)
b.  Equipment
(View responses)
c.  Facilities
(View responses)
d.  Guideway infrastructure
(View responses)
 
18.  How clear, if at all, are FTA’s instructions regarding assessing the condition of the following capital assets as part of TAM requirements?
(View responses)
   
Very clear
Moderately clear
Slightly clear
Not at all clear
Don’t know
Not applicable
a.  Rolling Stock
(View responses)
b.  Equipment
(View responses)
c.  Facilities
(View responses)
d.  Guideway infrastructure
(View responses)
 

FTA's Performance Measures

19.  FTA’s defined performance measure for rolling stock is the percentage of revenue vehicles (by type) that exceed the Useful Life Benchmark (ULB). How useful is FTA’s performance measure for rolling stock for your agency’s capital planning purposes?
(View responses)
 
20.  FTA’s defined performance measure for equipment is the percentage of non-revenue service vehicles (by type) that exceed the ULB. How useful is FTA’s performance measure for non-revenue service vehicles for your agency’s capital planning purposes?
(View responses)
 
21.  FTA defines the performance measure for facilities as the percentage of facilities (by group) that are rated less than 3.0 on the Transit Economic Requirements Model (TERM) Scale. How useful is FTA’s performance measure for facilities for your agency’s capital planning purposes?
(View responses)
 
22.  How challenging, if at all, is the process of using the TERM scale to calculate a single performance measure for a group of facilities?
(View responses)
 
23.  FTA has defined the performance measure for guideway infrastructure as the percentage of track segments (by mode) that have performance restrictions. How useful is FTA’s performance measure for guideway infrastructure for your agency’s capital planning purposes?
(View responses)
 

Performance Measures: Targeted Goals

24.  FTA’s 2018 TAM requirements required transit agencies to establish annual targeted goals for performance measures. Thinking about your agency’s capital planning purposes, how useful, if at all, is it to establish performance measure targets for the following types of assets? In addition, how useful, if at all, is it to establish these targets on an annual basis?
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How useful to establish targets for these asset types?
How useful to establish these targets on an annual basis?
a.  Rolling Stock
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b.  Equipment
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c.  Facilities
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d.  Guideway infrastructure
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Additional TAM Requirements

 
The following questions relate to the following TAM plan requirements:

• Investment Prioritization: Transit agencies must develop a ranked list of proposed projects and programs ordered by year of planned implementation. The prioritization is locally determined based on policy and need and must adequately consider identified unacceptable safety risks and accessibility requirements. The list should also be fiscally constrained based on estimated funding levels.

• Decision Support Tools: Transit agencies should list the analytical processes used to make investment prioritization to estimate capital investment needs over time and to assist in prioritization. Examples may include specialized software such as TERM-Lite, but does not have to be specialized software.
 
(View responses)
 
25.  Prior to the implementation of TAM requirements, did your agency ever develop a prioritized list of projects for capital planning purposes?
(View responses)
 
26.  In general, did your agency’s ability to develop a list of prioritized projects improve as a result of the implementation of TAM?
(View responses)
 
27.  How challenging, if at all, is the process to develop a prioritized list of projects in order to complete TAM plan requirements?
(View responses)
 
28.  How challenging, if at all, was it to describe your agency's decision support tools in order to complete TAM requirements?
(View responses)
 
29.  How useful, if at all, is the TAM requirement to describe your agency's decision support tools for capital planning purposes?
(View responses)
 

Additional TAM Requirements for Tier 1 Agencies

  The following questions ask your agency's experience setting performance measures for your capital assets. If your agency is a Tier 2 agency, please check the box below to indicate these questions are "Not applicable" and skip to the next section in the survey.
(click here to continue to question 32)
(View responses)
 
 
The following questions relate to the following TAM requirements that are applicable for Tier 1 transit agencies:

• TAM and State of Good Repair (SGR) policy: Transit agencies must develop a TAM and SGR policy that describes the transit provider’s vision and executive-level direction to support the goals of the TAM program. The policy should contain documented commitments to achieve SGR, define TAM objectives and define assigned roles and responsibilities.

• Implementation strategy: Transit agencies must develop a strategy that details the operational level process of implementing the TAM Plan.

• List of key annual activities: Transit agencies must develop a list of actions needed to implement the TAM Plan for each year of the plan’s horizon (e.g., software development, coordination between maintenance and finance offices.)

• Identification of resources: Transit agencies must identify needed resources (e.g. staff time, technology requirements, funding, etc.).

• Evaluation plan: Transit agencies must develop an evaluation plan describing how TAM activities will be monitored, evaluated, and updated to ensure the continuous improvement of TAM practices.
 
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30.  How challenging, if at all, is the process to complete the following TAM plan requirements?
(View responses)
   
Very challenging
Moderately challenging
Slightly challenging
Not at all challenging
Don’t know
Did not perform
a.  Developing TAM and SGR Policy
(View responses)
b.  Developing a TAM plan implementation strategy
(View responses)
c.  Developing a list of key annual activities regarding TAM
(View responses)
d.  Identifying needed resources
(View responses)
e.  Developing a plan for monitoring or evaluating performance
(View responses)
 
31.  How useful, if at all, are the following TAM plan requirements for your agency’s capital planning purposes?
(View responses)
   
Very useful
Moderately useful
Slightly useful
Not at all useful
Don’t know
Did not perform
a.  Developing TAM and SGR Policy
(View responses)
b.  Developing a TAM plan implementation strategy
(View responses)
c.  Developing a list of key annual activities regarding TAM
(View responses)
d.  Identifying needed resources
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e.  Developing a plan for monitoring or evaluating performance
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Steps to Complete TAM Requirements

32.  In order to complete TAM requirements, did your agency make any changes to your asset management software capabilities, such as acquiring new software or upgrading existing software?
(View responses)
 
33.  In order to complete your TAM requirements, did your agency hire consultants, contractors or additional workers to complete any of the following tasks?
(View responses)
   
Yes
No
Don't know
a.  Inventory capital assets
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b.  Perform condition assessments
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c.  Develop a TAM Plan
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d.  Develop performance measure targets
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e.  Submit required information to the National Transit Database
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f.  Other tasks (please specify below)
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  If you checked "other tasks" (above), please provide a brief description.
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TAM Extension

34.  Did your agency request a TAM Plan extension?
(View responses)
 
a.  Please describe the reason(s) why your agency requested an extension:
(View responses)
 

Comments on TAM Requirements

35.  Do you have any comments regarding any benefits that your agency realized, or is likely to realize, as a result of developing or implementing TAM requirements?
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36.  Do you have any comments regarding your agency’s experience developing or implementing TAM requirements, or any improvements you would suggest for the program?
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Contact Information

  Please provide the following information for the primary person completing this questionnaire in the event we need to contact you to clarify a response:
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  Name:
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  Agency or Organization:
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  Title:
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  Email:
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  Telephone:
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