Improving the Financial Basis of Transit Planning

Three examples of new transit capital management procedures are described: a Plant and Facilities Development Program and Bridge Management System for Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and a Bus Capital Project Request Manual for New Jersey Transit Corporation. The work has been undertaken to help these transit agencies respond to the complex environment they face in managing their capital programs. Important conclusions from this experience are that it is important to examine alternative implementation schedules and finding levels, and that microcomputer support for the capital decision-making process is critical to the quick and easy examination of data for hundreds of potential capital projects.