AssetWorks' John Hines

In an industry riddled with programs and directives defined by anagrams like some kind of bureaucratic alphabet soup, the latest version — SGR — demands notice. The SGR (State of Good Repair) program was born out of an extensive study conducted by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) on the relative health or ‘state’ of the nation’s transit industry. An assessment of revenue vehicles (rail, bus and para-transit), non-revenue support vehicles, infrastructure, rail right-of-way, bus stops, rail stations and operations facilities throughout both urban and rural operators prompted the FTA to announce a $775 million grant program designed to bring the nation’s rail and bus transit systems into a State of Good Repair.

The FTA has prioritized modernizing transit infrastructure and operations and recognizes the value and necessity of focusing on both capital investment and ongoing investments in maintenance best practices. To many in the transit industry, the SGR program itself is an acknowledgement and an appreciation for the art and science of effective Enterprise Asset Management (EAM). Too often, “good repair” was something that was just presumed, an automatic function performed by an anonymous group, with inconsistent regard as to the complexity of the task and budget required to make it happen. Good repair is increasingly seen as a critical component of providing service transit customers expect while containing costs and increasing the safe use of complex assets.

An important part of the FTA study were the roundtable discussions conducted with transit operators, suppliers, and EAM vendors alike to share best practices on issues pertaining to transit infrastructure and equipment, transit asset management, and how this vital initiative can and should be implemented. With its support for SGR — both philosophical and financial — the FTA is sending a message that many organizations have been slow to acknowledge: asset maintenance is an important practice deserving the attention of a public transportation agency.

Although the primary focus of the study and the funding is infrastructure, ongoing asset and maintenance management plays a critical role in the success of the initiative. As defined in the FTA’s State of Good Repair Summit:

Asset Management is:

• Strategic and not tactical (i.e., has a long-term focus)
• Seeks to balance the competing needs of operations, maintenance, reinvestment and system expansion
• An organization wide endeavor: It seeks to integrate planning, engineering, funding and IT perspectives
• Seeks to make informed and prioritized decisions regarding the use of scarce resources based on reliable data

Asset maintenance departments often play the role of the center on a football team’s offense: involved in every single play, but usually only noticed when something goes wrong (e.g., a bus failing in service being the “bad snap” of the analogy). The FTA’s recent funding for SGR tells transits to pay more attention to the center — it’s not glamorous work, but when it’s executed effectively, the rest of your operations are able to function as planned.

At the center of any definition of “State of Good Repair” must be two inextricably linked concepts: a work plan to ensure good repair, and a “living system” to enforce that work plan, track adherence to maintenance schedules, and provide information related to work plan effectiveness. EAM software is that system.

EAM software allows a public transportation agency several benefits regarding assets’ Good Repair: not just the “oil change” mentality of manufacturer-recommended preventive maintenance inspections and procedures, but also the tools to plan ahead — to sift through historical trends and predict issues before they happen, or to identify trends at the start.

To some in the public transportation space, the concept of SGR may be new. But to AssetWorks and our customers, it sounds like the FTA is finally singing our tune.

BIOGRAPHY
John Hines has more than 30 years experience in asset maintenance management software, having taken asset management software from mainframe to the Web, and paper on the shop to touch screens and wireless mobile
technology.