ESTABLISHING A TRANSIT CAPITAL REPLACEMENT ACCOUNT--THE SAN DIEGO EXPERIENCE

In 1981, coincident with the opening of the light rail transit (LRT) system in San Diego, California, the Metropolitan Transit Development Board (MTDB) established a capital replacement account. This account is for LRT purposes and is governed by a board policy and ordinance that requires an annual payment by the operator, San Diego Trolley, Inc. (SDTI), a subsidiary of MTDB. Maturation of the account has presented a variety of issues: (a) LRT system expansion has caused the financial obligation to grow, (b) state budget cutbacks have forced reduced funding in several years, (c) growth of the capital replacement account presents an attractive financing resource for special and nonreplacement purposes, and (d) determining priorities among competing replacement projects requires evaluation of needs. Despite these issues, the San Diego MTDB and SDTI have maintained the integrity of this capital reserve account. In fact, a separate account has also been established for San Diego Transit Corporation (SDTC), a bus subsidiary of MTDB acquired in 1985. By ordinance, use of account revenues is limited to replacement purposes, but can be overridden by a unanimous vote of the Metropolitan Transit Development (MTD) Board of Directors. Management guidelines were developed to ensure reasonable and prudent use of fund revenues, and yet still provide sufficient capital for major replacement needs.

• Record URL:
  • http://onlinepubs.trb.org/Onlinepubs/trr/1988/1165/1165-002.pdf
• Record URL:
  • https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?title=ESTABLISHING+A+TRANSIT+CAPITAL+REPLACEMENT+ACCOUNT--THE+SAN+DIEGO+EXPERIENCE&author=T.+Larwin&author=M.+McCalley&publication_year=1988
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• Supplemental Notes:
  • This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1165, Transit Management and Replacement Capital Planning. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
• Authors:
  • Larwin, Thomas F
  • McCalley, Murphy
• Publication Date: 1988

Media Info

• Features: Figures; References;
• Pagination: p. 5-10
• Monograph Title: Transit management and replacement capital planning
• Serial:
  • Transportation Research Record
  • Issue Number: 1165
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0361-1981

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Equipment replacement; Finance; Financial capital; Light rail transit; Strategic planning
• Uncontrolled Terms: Financial sources; Replacement
• Geographic Terms: San Diego (California)
• Subject Areas: Finance; Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Public Transportation;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00479321
• Record Type: Publication
• ISBN: 0309047064
• Files: TRIS, TRB, ATRI
• Created Date: Jan 31 1989 12:00AM