Methods are recommended to leverage information more effectively for improved transit maintenance. Strategies are presented to (1) maximize the spread of transit maintenance information and ideas through electronic communication, (2) improve the use of maintenance information to support maintenance decision making, and (3) validate the benefit of maintenance innovations through controlled testing.

Transit operators typically expend one-fifth of their operating budgets on vehicle maintenance. With subsidies being reduced for transit, managers are looking for ways to minimize this expense without compromising reliability. Governmental agencies are increasingly under pressure to be more innovative in how they manage the public's money and deliver their vitally needed services to their customers. Many governmental entities are looking at private firms to see if cutting-edge practices emerging in the business world are applicable to transit.

Research was undertaken by RAND to survey innovative maintenance practices being used in transit agencies or in transportation-related private firms, to evaluate their applicability to the population of transit agencies in the United States, and to develop recommendations and strategies for implementation. At the onset of the project, no particular area of focus was specified. Work was executed in two phases: the first was a general survey and identification of candidate innovative practices; the second was a more detailed examination of several candidates identified in the first phase of the research. The candidate innovations were grouped into three resource areas--capital, labor, and information. Phase II of the project focused on the information resource area. In particular, Phase II focused on several ways to better use maintenance information including (a) electronic communication for transit maintenance, (b) use of maintenance information to support maintenance decision making, and (c) use of designed experiments in testing maintenance innovations.

A summary of the findings of the project has been published as TCRP Research Results Digest 13, "Leveraging Information for Better Transit Maintenance." RRD 13 is also available in portable document format (PDF). Double-click on the file below to access the RRD. (A free copy of Adobe Acrobat reader is available at https://www.adobe.com). The final report is available on request through the TCRP.

TCRP Research Results Digest 13