MBTA plan will speed system upgrades

Written by Stuart Chirls, senior editor, Railway Age
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The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) has a new master plan that aims to accelerate its timeframe to bring its equipment, infrastructure and operations into a State of Good Repair from 15 years from the previously projected 25 years.

The agency’s Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB) this week approved a comprehensive MBTA Strategic Plan to serve as a blueprint for the objectives and strategies needed to ensure continuous improvement across all areas of the transit operator.

The Board added it aims to accomplish these initiatives through internal improvements as well as collaboration with cities and towns with a focus on fast, reliable, accessible, and consistent service for MBTA ridership.

“This plan reflects a year’s worth of effort by the FMCB and managers across the MBTA to build consensus and make progress on the actions that must be taken by the MBTA and its stakeholders to ensure the MBTA becomes a best-in-class transit system that exceeds the expectations of its customers,” said FMCB Chairman Joseph Aiello, in a release.

The Board said the revised deadline for bringing all MBTA assets into a State of Good Repair (SGR) reflects the fact that as of 2015, nearly one-third of the MBTA’s physical assets failed to meet that level, with a backlog estimated at $7.3 billion.

The Strategic Plan aims to boost capital delivery capacity to achieve a minimum of $1 billion in annual SGR spending within four years and eliminate the backlog in 15 years. It also will create and effectively manage capital delivery capacity; implement asset management and lifecycle maintenance for all current and future MBTA assets, and address the SGR needs of business processes and information management.

The plan also calls for a “reinvented” bus system.

Operating costs reductions are also targeted with an eye toward generating $100 million annual non-fare revenue by fiscal 2012.

Planning to achieve specific targets for fleet, facilities, and service will be established by the end of 2017.

The plan sets out objectives for safety, customers, infrastructure, fiscal sustainability, accessibility, workforce, management, the environment, governance, and capacity.

Next steps include the hiring of a new MBTA General Manager/Chief Executive. “[T]he new GM/CEO should have adequate and fully dedicated resource availability” to follow through on the plan’s objectives.

The Board also wants MBTA to set annual State of Good Repair targets with progress monitored through an asset management system; completion of the Focus40 capital investment planning process; refinement of the post-FMCB future governance structure for the MBTA; a five- and 10-year operating expense pro forma, and the development of a five- and 20-year capital plan, addressing pension costs, annual progress reports, and regular updates to the Strategic Plan.

The plan is expected to improve expanded capacity on rapid transit lines through shortened headways, and develop an innovative Commuter Rail system with a future contract structure that better serves the region and taxpayers.

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