PROCUREMENT STRATEGY METHODOLOGIES

The San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI) currently provides service to more than 7,000 passengers, daily on 53 miles of subway and surface track. Light rail service is provided with a fleet of 128 Boeing Standard Light Rail Vehicles (SLRVs) of which 90 to 100 of these vehicles are needed to meet daily operational demands. The SLRV's were purchased in 1972. The well-known troubled maintenance history of these vehicles continues to challenge MUNI. Vehicle reliability and spare parts availability are so limiting that the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) reduced the economic life of these vehicles to 15 years. Hence, MUNI began procurement activities to replace the SLRV fleet in 1989. MUNI is currently in the first phase of replacing the entire 128 car SLRV fleet with a contract for 52 new vehicles (LRV2s) from Breda Costruzioni Ferroviarie, S.p.A. Although the new Breda cars promise reliability improvements and superior performance, production deliveries have been delayed into 1996 and MUNI is not yet sure that additional Breda cars should be purchased to replace the balance of the fleet. This paper describes the procurement methodologies used to develop a strategy for replacement for the remaining SLRVs to meet existing and future service demands. Vehicle technologies, economics, funding options, SLRV maintenance demands, and fleet integration constraints were evaluated to determine the most efficient procurement strategy. MUNI focused on three procurement options: sole source procurement, as-built bids, and performance specification development. Because MUNI has spent considerable time and resources developing the performance specification for the Breda cars; MUNI evaluated the goals, costs, and benefits of repeating this process against the remaining two procurement options. These costs and benefits were then evaluated against contracting options, funding plans, and FTA guidelines. The primary goal in developing the strategy was to find an optimal balance without sacrificing the flexibility required within MUNI's complex operating environment.

• Corporate Authors:

  American Public Transportation Association

  1201 New York Avenue, NW
  Washington, DC    20005
• Authors:
  • Cartwright, E
• Conference:
  • Proceedings of the 1996 Rapid Transit Conference of the American Public Transit Association
  • Location: Atlanta, Georgia
  • Date: 1996-6-2 to 1996-6-6
• Publication Date: 1996

Language

• English

Media Info

• Features: References; Tables;
• Pagination: p. 181-186

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Innovation; Light rail transit; Light vehicles; Methodology; Procurement; Public transit; Railroad rails; Transit vehicle operations
• Geographic Terms: San Francisco (California)
• Old TRIS Terms: Future concepts; Strategy
• Subject Areas: Operations and Traffic Management; Public Transportation; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00750139
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: Volume 4
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Jun 24 1998 12:00AM