Strategic Planning and Management in Transit Agencies

This synthesis provides information for transit and transportation professionals who seek to address planning and management issues in the transit industry. This document is intended for internal management decision makers--general managers and agency board members. It might offer external stakeholders such as local governments and businesses, as well as the public, increased awareness in helping define a transit agency's role and responsibilities to the community, thus aiding the development of outside support for an agency's mission. This synthesis offers insight into current practices determined by a review of relevant literature combined with two agency surveys--one, to determine the prevalence of the practice, and the second, to examine the specific details of practice. The study reports that some form of strategic planning and management has been found to provide real value at a majority of responding agencies and it identifies a number of the benefits. This report also provides case studies from five transit agencies based on the comprehensiveness of process or presence of innovative or noteworthy practices.