OBJECTIVE

 The objectives of this research are to present (1) revenue sources for public transportation and the relationship between revenue sources and governance models to help public transportation agencies be financially sustainable in the future and (2) a decision-making tool to help guide discourse among stakeholders regarding public transportation governance and methods for sustaining and increasing funding. The research should address through illustrative examples:

• What are different revenue sources and how does governance relate to and affect funding and financial sustainability for public transportation?
• What are the key attributes and criteria that distinguish governance models and funding sources for public transportation?
• What are the benefits, challenges, and risks of different revenue sources and governance models? How do they affect the financial sustainability of public transportation?

 TASKS

Task 1. Kick-off Meeting and Amplified Work Plan

The purpose of Task 1 is to initiate the project and to develop a project management plan that facilitates effective oversight by the TCRP project panel. Task 1 should also provide ongoing project management that will continue throughout the course of the project. The research team should prepare the Amplified Research Plan, responding to the Proposal Review Summary, and hold a Kick-off meeting with the panel. The research team should create a consistent messaging and style guide for the final deliverables early in the project.

Task 2. Literature Review

The project team should conduct a brief focused review of existing academic and professional literature on transit governance and funding with a particular focus on:

§  The breadth of current issues and opportunities related to transit funding and governance in the post-COVID operating environment, including recent developments and changes in funding and governance and models.

§  An inventory funding models and governance structures.

§  The characteristics that define and differentiate transit funding and governance models.

§  Variables and factors that determine transit funding and governance models.

The literature review should develop to draft a “state of the practice” and typology with regards to how transit agencies are organized, governed, and funded with a specific focus on the relationship between funding and governance and recent changes and adaptions that may have occurred since the COVID-19 pandemic.  The   research team should not rank or evaluate individual transit agencies, but instead to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the structures and systems that govern them.

Task 3: Decision Making Tool and Resources

The research team should examine governance models associated with fiscal sustainability and identify practical strategies for transit agencies to consider and implement that lead to positive outcomes—what works best, where, and when. The research team should “profile” between 20 and 30 transit agencies who are using the governance and funding models that are—and have been—tied to fiscal sustainability and create a data collection template to guide the research and ensure consistent information is collected by different individuals. The information should include operating history and conditions (agency size, budgets, peak vehicles by mode), the region’s socio-economic environment, and planned development.

The profiles should (1) consider how governance structures contribute to transit agency success and sustainability, and consider the lessons learned from experience, (2) help develop hypotheses and potential strategies for more detailed exploration in subsequent case study research, and (3) inform the development of the best practice case studies and decision- making tools and resources.

Task 4. Interim Report and Panel Meeting

The research team should prepare an interim report for review by the panel and participate in the interim panel meeting. The Interim Report should summarize the analyses and results of tasks completed to date; an update on the remaining tasks; and a draft outline and workplan for the case studies and decision-making framework and tools that will be developed. The Interim Report should include items such as:

§  Overall progress report (status of budget and tasks)

§  Summary of the Literature Review

§  An inventory of governance and funding models used in the U.S.

§  Categorization of the combined governance and funding models into typologies

§  Agency Profiles

§  Updates to the Amplified Workplan (if necessary)

§  Outline the research that will be completed in the balance of the project

§  An annotated final report outline,

§  Initial thinking for implementation and dissemination of the research.

§  Questions and concerns for the project panel

Task 5. Strategies, Opportunities, and Recommendations

 The research team should identify and conduct four to six exemplary case studies in transit governance and funding that reflect a diverse pool relevant to a broad array of transit agencies.  The candidates should be reviewed with the TCRP project manager and the project panel. The research team should create a data collection template to guide the research and ensure consistent information collected by different individuals. The template should be reviewed by the TCRP project manager and project panel.

The case studies should build on the agency profiles, include in-depth interviews with representatives from each transit agency, collect different perspectives (such as leadership, financial staff, board members and/or operations staff). The case studies should examine how successful models were achieved—understanding processes from idea to practice, including internal barriers, leadership, partnerships, and community support. Adapting Governance and Funding Models: Strategies, Tactics and Outcomes

Task 6.  Research Deliverables  

Drawing on the previous tasks, the research team should develop materials designed to help transit agencies address diverse transit governance models with the goal of creating more robust revenue strategies. The materials should be practical and applied and offer information and techniques to understand the different governance models available, evaluate governance systems and structures, and offer strategies and tactics to expand agency powers, authorities, systems and resources in ways that will lead to better financial outcomes.

The research team should develop three major resources including: (1) Governance Characteristics and Models Associated with Financially Successful Transit Agencies, (2) Transit Governance and Funding Decision-Making Framework, and (3) Guide to Adapting and Adjusting Transit Governance Models.  To supplement the static deliverables, the research team should develop an interactive dashboard that allows transit agencies to identify goals, assess their internal systems and structures and compare their goals with available resources.  In addition, the research team should prepare an Executive Summary.  

The research team should also prepare the required Implementation Technical Memorandum: “Implementation of Research Findings and Results and conduct a webinar after the deliverables are published.

STATUS

The research is active.