Similar to the Federal Highway Administration, the Federal Transit Administration has established a set of rule-makings implementing performance management to improve project and program delivery, inform investment decisions, focus staff on leadership priorities, and provide greater transparency and accountability. The rule-making requires metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to coordinate with transit providers, set performance targets, and integrate those performance targets and performance plans into their planning documents by certain dates. FTA administers a national transit safety program and compliance oversight process as well as a Transit Asset Management (TAM) program, a model that uses asset condition to help prioritize funding to achieve or maintain transit networks in a state of good repair.
Transit Asset Management
Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) has developed information and targets for the following four state of good repair performance measures:
- Rolling Stock: The percentage of revenue vehicles (by type) that exceed the useful life benchmark (ULB).
- Equipment: The percentage of non-revenue service vehicles (by type) that exceed the ULB.
- Facilities: The percentage of facilities (by group) that are rated less than 3.0 on the Transit Economic Requirements Model (TERM) Scale.
- Infrastructure: The percentage of track segments (by mode) that have performance restrictions, considered to have a rating less than 3.0 on the TERM Scale.
On August 23, 2018, the Transportation Policy Board (TPB) of the Memphis Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) approved a resolution to support MATA's transit targets, which are shown in the table below:
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Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA)
|
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| TRANSIT ASSET MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE MEASURES | Asset Type/Group | Baseline (2018) | Target (2019 | |
| Rolling Stock (All Revenue Vehicles) |
Streetcars | 71% | 50% | |
| Regular Buses | 27% | 20% | ||
| MATA Plus Buses | 31% | 20% | ||
| Equipment (Non-Revenue Vehicles) |
Truck & Wreckers | 90% | 50% | |
| Auto Service Cars | 95% | 50% | ||
| Facilities (All Buildings or Structures) |
Improvements | 40% | 30% | |
| Shop & Garage | 89% | 50% | ||
| Structure & Building | 35% | 30% | ||
| Misc. Equipment | 81% | 50% | ||
| Infrastructure | Streetcar | Tracks | 0% | 0% |
| Signals | 100% | 50% | ||
| Systems | 0% | 0% | ||
Integrate into the metropolitan transportation planning process, the transit asset management measures and targets described in MATA's Transit Asset Management Plan. Coordinate with MATA and include the transit asset management targets for those measures in the long-range regional transportation plan (RTP)By agreeing to support MATA’s Transit Asset Management targets, the Memphis MPO agrees to:
- Include a description in the TIP (Transportation Improvement Program) of the anticipated effect of the TIP toward achieving the transit asset management targets in the RTP, linking investment priorities in the TIP to those targets.
Additional Resources
Resolution to Support the Public Transportation Agency Safety Performance Targets Prepared by MATA
Resolution to Support the Transit Asset Management Performance Measure Targets Prepared by MATA
MATA/University of Memphis TAM Performance Measures Presentation
Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan
FTA published the Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP) Final Rule on July 19, 2018. PTASP requires certain operators of public transportation systems that receive federal funds under FTA's Urbanized Area Formula Grants to develop safety plans that include the processes and procedures to implement Safety Management Systems (SMS).
As the Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA) is a recipient and sub-recipient of federal financial assistance under the Urbanized Area Formula Program (49 U.S.C. § 5307) that operates public transportation, MATA will be required to set safety performance targets for the following measures, below. On August 19, 2021, the Transportation Policy Board (TPB) of the Memphis Urban Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) approved a resolution to support MATA's safety performance targets, which are included in the table above.
- Fatalities: Total number of reportable fatalities and rate per vehicle revenue miles by mode.
- Injuries: Total number of reportable injuries and rate per vehicle miles by mode.
- Safety Events: Total number of reportable events and rate per vehicle revenue miles by mode.
- System Reliability: Mean distance between major mechanical failures by mode.
