A new software product, called Transit Risk Manager, was developed to help administer a bus transit system's risk management program. Transit Risk Manager is a user-friendly, menu-driven, WindowsTM-based computer tool designed to help bus transit systems of all sizes identify exposure to loss, evaluate their loss control practices, and make informed decisions about financing risk. The program provides a means to assess current risk management programs as well as risk financing alternatives and is comparable to a comprehensive risk management assessment. Ancillary tools such as sample insurance procurement specifications, loss triangle templates, risk management and safety policy statements, and self-insurance plan documentation are provided for export into word processors or spreadsheets.

The program assesses an organization's risk management practices in a number of specific areas, taking into account the different legal and regulatory environments found in each state. Specific areas include property, vehicles, contracts, claims handling, crime, environment, professional liability, general liability, employee safety, and workers compensation. The program identifies industry-accepted "best practices" in each of these areas to effectively deal with identified risks. In addition, the program develops recommended insurance or self-insurance options available for financing risk. For bus transit systems, Transit Risk Manager validates current practices, is an educational and resource tool, functions as a low cost "outside expert," offers credible, industry recognized recommendations, and provides sample documents as described above. The software is particularly useful for small- and medium-sized bus transit systems that do not have dedicated risk management staff.

In addition to the software, this project developed guidelines for the consistent collection, categorization, and dissemination of loss data for bus systems. Historically, bus transit systems have experienced difficulty in collecting, categorizing, and disseminating loss information on a consistent and uniform basis. It has been recognized that guidelines are needed that are compatible among transit systems and are based upon standard insurance-underwriting and claims-management definitions. Use of these guidelines will lead to improved loss information for use by insurance underwriters in assessing risk and determining insurance premiums for that risk. The collection of such improved loss information is considered an important step toward the potential lowering of insurance premiums. It is also important for actuaries to properly evaluate adequate funding levels for those systems that are self-insured.

The final Transit Risk Manager software with user's guide has been packaged and is available for distribution. The software, its capabilities, and how to obtain a copy are described in TCRP Research Results Digest No. 12, "Transit Risk Manager: Risk Management Software for Bus Transit Systems." In addition, TCRP Research Results Digest No. 11, "Guidelines for the Consistent Collection, Categorization, and Dissemination of Bus Transit Loss Data," presents the guidelines that are needed to improve bus system loss information for insurance underwriters. TCRP RRDs 11 and 12 are also available in portable document format (PDF). Double-click on the files below to access the RRDs. (A free copy of Adobe Acrobat reader is available at https://www.adobe.com.)

TCRP Research Results Digest No. 11

TCRP Research Results Digest No. 12