Maintenance Management Systems Fact Sheet: Human Services Transit

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.

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.

Common Technology Combinations

Reporting Requirements

Use of an MMS facilitates the record-keeping needed for mandatory reporting required by funding agencies, such as the state or the Federal Transit Administration (FTA).

Maintenance

More advanced MMS are beginning to capture vehicle operating conditions, such as temperature, pressures, and voltages, to support trend analysis for condition-based maintenance and prediction of failure of parts.

More Technology Combinations

Maintenance and Repair

AVL or CAD can be used with MMS to pinpoint vehicles that are in need of repair or are underperforming. Such preventative maintenance allows systems to run more smoothly.

Systems and Service Planning

MMS can be used to collect data about vehicle components such as brakes, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and to report and store all information centrally to a Mobile Data Terminal (MDT) for further use and analysis.

Is this Technology Right for My Agency?

Before installing MMS in a fleet of vehicles, planning, implementation, and integration should be considered so the technology can be used to optimize the fleet's performance.

New staff may need to be hired and trained
to use an integrated maintenance system.

Planning

• Identify which capabilities you want your system to include. Consider existing processes and which are the least efficient.
• Work closely with maintenance and procurement staff in designing the procedures associated with MMS so that they provide explicit benefits to all workers and are not burdensome to staff.
• Develop a well-structured procurement plan and performance-oriented requirements.
• " Identify existing management systems/software (reporting software, procurement systems) that can be integrated with MMS, and ensure that MMS is compatible.
• Choose technologies with open standards, and develop detailed documentation.
• Ensure scalability for changes in fleet size and system flexibility to allow for additional functionality.

Implementation

• Train maintenance, procurement, and financial staff.
• Provide different types of training for each group as needed.
• Test and troubleshoot to ensure that data are being gathered correctly.
• Update other technologies, such as GPS systems and procurement, as needed.

Integration

• Integrate MMS with AVL, CAD or MDT to track trends or changes in vehicle's status, fluid levels, and engine temperature. .
• Integrate MMS with other ITS capabilities.

Benefits and Costs

Benefits Ottumwa The Ottumwa Transit Authority in Ottumwa, Iowa, uses an MMS for demand-response vehicles garaged at drivers' homes. Vehicle condition is transmitted as a part of operators' pre-trip log-in activities. Vehicles are brought to the central maintenance facility only when major maintenance is warrented. Preventative Maintenance Reduced in-service breakdowns and improved fleet capability will ensure that transit systems run more smoothly. One agency had a 20%-30% reduction in the time required to identify and correct vehicle problems. Centralized Data Alabama DOT supports an MMS for use by transit agencies statewide. The system integrates features for tracking inventory, work-order scheduling, and costs of maintenance labor and parts costs; it also supports planning activities. Centralizing the system benefits all agencies and spreads out the full cost. It also supports uniform reporting of required maintenance statistics. Trend Analysis Integrated systems can capture conditions such as temperature, pressures, and fluid levels and can analyze trends to predict parts and services that will be needed.

Sensors for vehicle-condition monitoring. Costs Integration Integrating a new MMS into existing systems can be costly and time-consuming. Training For an MMS to be cost-effective, fleet managers must be trained to use the information that the system collects. Cost A fully integrated MMS is expensive to implement throughout a fleet. Fleet managers may have to pick which technologies or vehicles to integrate into a system.

Transit Agency Deployments

Additional Resources

Fleet maintenance parts department.
(Photo courtesy of City of Hialeah, FL)

Reports

Stark, Stephen, et al. Transit Fleet Maintenance. Transportation Research Board, Committee on Transit Fleet Maintenance.

Advanced Public Transportation Systems: The State of the Art Update 2006.

Conklin, J., et al. Rural Transit ITS Best Practices. FHWA. March 2003.

Websites

US DOT ITS Databases

• http://www.itsbenefits.its.dot.gov
• http://www.itscosts.its.dot.gov
• http://www.itslessons.its.dot.gov