RESEARCH PAYS OFF. VEHICLE REPLACEMENT STRATEGIES

Public transit agencies, like everyone else, must try to balance their expenses and incomes. Faced with an anticipated vehicle replacement shortfall of more than $200 million in the next 10 years, the Los Angeles County Transportation Commission, in conjunction with 13 Los Angeles County transit operators, conducted a study to develop cost-effective vehicle replacement guidelines. The study built on the results of research recently completed under an Urban Mass Transportation Administration-sponsored program directed by the Transportation Research Board under the National Cooperative Transit Research and Development Program. The result was a simple, efficient method for evaluating cost impacts of alternative vehicle replacement schedules. The method is presented in this article, along with guidelines for its application. When the guidelines were applied to each bus fleet owned by the 13 Los Angeles County transit operators, the alternative replacement schedules produced an estimated cost saving of $117 million (in 1989 dollars) over 10 years. When the guidelines were applied to the van and support vehicle fleets, the alternative replacement schedule, which required replacing the vehicles earlier than planned, produced an estimated cost saving of about $8 million.

• Record URL:
  http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/trnews/rpo/rpo.trn149.pdf
• 
• Availability:
  • Find a library where document is available. Order URL: http://worldcat.org/issn/07386826
• Supplemental Notes:
  • 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
• Corporate Authors:

  Transportation Research Board

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• Publication Date: 1990-7

Media Info

• Features: Photos;
• Pagination: p. 22-23
• Serial:
  • TR News
  • Issue Number: 149
  • Publisher: Transportation Research Board
  • ISSN: 0738-6826

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Cost effectiveness; Equipment replacement; Guidelines; Scheduling; Transit operators; Vehicle maintenance
• Identifier Terms: Los Angeles County Transportation Commission
• Uncontrolled Terms: Vehicle replacement
• Subject Areas: Highways; Maintenance and Preservation; Planning and Forecasting; Public Transportation; I72: Traffic and Transport Planning;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00497302
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS, TRB
• Created Date: Sep 30 1991 12:00AM