Data-Driven Approaches for Transit Capital Planning

Transparent and repeatable processes are needed to forecast needs and prioritize capital investments across fifteen (15) Regional Transit Authorities (RTAs) in Massachusetts for the Capital Investment Plan (CIP). The Massachusetts Department of Transportation (MassDOT) Rail and Transit Division (RTD) must allocate scarce capital funding to the RTAs by selecting capital projects for inclusion in the State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). Existing processes for data collection and analysis are susceptible to discrepancies due to different data definitions and interpretations across users. This research begins with a review of the literature on transit asset management and an assessment of current processes for aggregating transit capital data from the RTAs in Massachusetts. Challenges with the existing capital planning process are identified from the perspective of the RTAs and for the project selection process managed by RTD. The potential process improvements include communicating procedures and timelines, introducing scoring rubrics, collecting and analyzing consistent data over time, and supporting project selection with optimization. Changes to the Asset Cloud software that MassDOT uses are identified that would enable these process improvements. The result is a set of potential changes that would move the transit capital planning process toward a more transparent, consistent, and repeatable method for making data-driven capital investment decisions.

• Summary URL:
  • https://www.mass.gov/doc/data-driven-approaches-for-transit-capital-planning/download
• Record URL:
  • https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/75769
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Massachusetts, Amherst

  Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
  130 Natural Resources Road
  Amherst, MA  United States  01003

  Massachusetts Department of Transportation

  Office of Transportation Planning
  Research and Technology Transfer Section
  Boston, MA  United States  02116

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Gonzales, Eric J
  • Armstrong, Price
  • O'Neill, Laura
  • Coleman, Tate
• Publication Date: 2024-7

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Edition: Final Report
• Features: Appendices; Figures; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 100p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Data analysis; Data collection; Financial capital; Public transit; Strategic planning
• Identifier Terms: Massachusetts Department of Transportation
• Geographic Terms: Massachusetts
• Subject Areas: Data and Information Technology; Finance; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01925344
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: 24-054
• Files: NTL, TRIS, USDOT, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Jul 25 2024 11:35AM