Technology Overview

While maintenance may not be seen as a primary focus for human services transit agencies, it is impossible for an agency to fulfill its mission if its vehicles are not operable. On average, transit operators spend about one-fifth of their operating budgets on vehicle maintenance, a substantial portion of their operating budget.

For agencies that do not own their own buses and contract for bus operations, maintenance is usually managed by the contractor. For agencies that own and maintain their own vehicles, basic Maintenance Management Systems (MMS) can help to keep vehicles on the road and out of the shop. Maintenance oversight, including use of an MMS, may be particularly attractive for human services agencies participating in, or considering entering into, a brokerage or partnership with other organizations.

Use MMS to:

Maintain management records.
Monitor and manage warranties.
Manage fluids and inventory on vehicle.
Alert operations manager of underperforming vehicle parts.
Diagnose vehicle problems remotely.

While there are new systems, such as Automatic Vehicle Location (AVL) or Computer-Aided Dispatch (CAD), that can be paired with Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) to monitor everything from fuel to fluid levels and can be used to alert operators and dispatchers of a failure of a transit-system component, most human services transit agencies will benefit from more basic systems that allow them to track work orders and warranties and to maintain an inventory of spare parts. In rural areas, where vehicles may be garaged tens or hundreds of miles from the maintenance facility, more sophisticated maintenance systems that integrate remote monitoring may prevent problems from going undetected and minimize the need for vehicles to be brought in for "healthy visits."

For larger agencies, a system that can schedule preventative maintenance simplifies management of the fleet. Additionally, agencies can track defects by monitoring the types of unscheduled maintenance that are needed.