Beginning the Dialogue - Report on SGR - Federal Transit ...

Transit Asset Management
system expansion; it is not focused on
maintenance or reinvestment alone
n An organization-wide endeavor: It seeks to
integrate planning, engineering, funding, and IT
perspectives
n Seeks to make informed and prioritized decisions
regarding <strong>the</strong> use of scarce resources based on
reliable data in support of clear organizational
objectives
As a means of contrasting this definition with more
“traditional” practices, practitioners note that asset
management seeks to allocate resources based on
merit (i.e., highest investment return) and not based
on a simple, “worst first” prioritization. While many
agencies have implicitly invested based on merit,
asset management is designed to make <strong>the</strong>se
processes explicit and well-defined.
Transportation Asset Management
RESOURCES
Preservation Operations Capital Safety,
Improvement Etc.
Finally, this definition, and <strong>the</strong> practices it represents,
has important implications for attaining and
maintaining a state of good repair. Specifically,
attaining a state of good repair necessarily involves
tradeoffs with o<strong>the</strong>r agency investment objectives,
including operations, capital expansion and safety.
Moreover, <strong>the</strong> state of good repair objective must
also consider tradeoffs between individual asset
types (e.g., when to invest in trackwork vs.
maintenance facilities). Again, a key goal of asset
management is to make informed investment
decisions when allocating resources between <strong>the</strong>se
investment options.
24
r COMPONENTS OF ASSET
MANAGEMENT
A comprehensive asset management program
consists of a mix of agency objectives, data sources,
measurement and evaluation processes and decision
support tools. A typical representation of <strong>the</strong>se
components and <strong>the</strong>ir interaction is provided in <strong>the</strong>
flow chart below.
Transportation Asset Management Process
Goals and Objectives
Asset Inventory
Condition Assessment and
Performance Modeling
Analysis of Options & Tradeoffs
Preservation, Operations, and Capacity
Expansion
Decision-Making and Resource
Allocation
Program Implementation
Performance Monitoring
Policies, Budgets,
Expectations
Of <strong>the</strong>se components, <strong>the</strong> following are most relevant
to <strong>the</strong> objective of attaining and maintaining a state of
good repair:
n Goals and Objectives: Is attainment of a state
of good repair an organizational objective? If so,
has “state of good repair” been clearly defined?
n Asset Inventory: Does your agency possess a
comprehensive and current listing of all major
fixed assets, documenting asset types, condition,
remaining useful life and value? This is not a
fixed asset ledger for accounting purposes, but
an asset-based inventory for needs assessment
purposes.
n Condition Assessment Process: Does your
agency regularly (or periodically) assess <strong>the</strong>