TRANSIT ASSET MANAGEMENT PLAN
STATE OF GOOD REPAIR: Facility/Building/Equipment Inspection Procedures & Inspection Assessment Standards
October 2017
Mission Statement
The Luzerne County Transportation Authority (LCTA), through the operation of fixed route and shared ride divisions, seeks to provide high quality affordable public transportation services that are safe, reliable, useful, accessible and efficient. To this end, members of the Board of Directors and all employees shall conduct themselves in a professional manner; work to ensure the safety and security of passengers; seek new opportunities to improve and/or expand services; and coordinate public transit services with other agencies, organizations, and transit providers.
About LCTAThe Luzerne County Transportation Authority (“LCTA”) or (“the Authority”) is an independent local governmental unit classified as a Pennsylvania Municipal Authority, which is responsible for providing both fixed route bus and paratransit public transportation service in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania.
The Luzerne County Transportation Authority currently provides the Wilkes-Barre urbanized area with scheduled mass transportation bus service. LCTA’s bus fleet operates on routes serving 31 municipalities within the urbanized area, so that approximately 88% of the population resides within one-quarter of a mile of a bus route. Route frequency of the various routes averages out to about every forty-five minutes, with some routes operating every half-hour. Our current service hours are between approximately 5:00 am and 7:00 pm, Monday thru Friday and between approximately 9:00 am and 6:00 pm on Saturdays. The Luzerne County Transportation Authority also assists persons with disabilities in fulfilling their transportation needs and to meet requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. This special Transportation Efforts Program (S.T.E.P.) is available in the General Service Area of the Luzerne County Transportation Authority.
Disclaimer & Copyright Notice This document isdisseminated under the sponsorship of the U.S. Department of Transportation in the interest of information exchange. The Luzerne County Transportation Authority assumes no liability or responsibility, expressed or implied, for the use, completeness, usefulness, or accuracy of the information, apparatus, product, or process disclosed or contained in this document. This document does not constitute a warranty, standard, specification, or regulation. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by its trade name, trademark, manufacturer or otherwise, does not constitute or imply an endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the Luzerne County Transportation Authority. If trademarks or manufacturer’s names appear in these documents, it is only because they are considered essential to the objective of the document.Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations, and translations thereof, expressed in this publication is that of the author(s), and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Federal Transit Administration or the Luzerne County Transportation Authority.
© 2017-2021 LUZERNE COUNTY TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
i.
Acknowledgements
Luzerne County Transportation Authority Administrative Staff
Norm Gavlick, Executive Director & Accountable Executive
Joe Roselle, Director of Administrative Services
Frank Knorek, Compliance Analyst & TAM Program Coordinator
Lee Horton, Director of Fixed Route Operations
Justin Davis, Fixed Route Road Supervisor & Operations and Safety/Training Manager
Vince Coviello, Director of Maintenance
Richard Wasilius, Maintenance Manager
John Alu, Director of Finance
Kathleen Bednarek, Grants & Finance Coordinator
Lou Uritz, Procurement Manager
Colleen O’Brien, Paratransit Operations & Safety Training Manager
John Usavage, Assistant Paratransit Operations & Safety Training Manager
Janine Hennigan, Human Resources Manager
Lorri Vandermark, Public Relations Manager
Luzerne County Transportation Authority Board of Directors
Dr. Valerie Kepner, Chair
Art Bobbouine, Vice Chair
Lynette Villano, Secretary
Gary Polakoski, Asst. Secretary
Charles Sciandra, Treasurer
Sean Robbins Esq., Asst. Treasurer
Patrick Conway, Member
John Koch, Ph.D., Member
Sid Halsor, Ph.D., Member
Joseph Blazosek Esq., Solicitor
ii.
Revision History
Agency Name:
Accountable Executive:
Initial LCTA Board Adoption Date:
Original Effective Date:
Last Modified By (Name): / Last Modified (Date):Frank Knorek, LCTA Compliance Analyst / 9/26/2017
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IV.
Purpose
· This document contains information for SGR Inspectors to rate facility assets in a uniform format for facility assets where the Authority owns, operates, or manages transit capital assets where it has direct capital responsibility.
· This document contains information for the SGR Inspection of the Authority (“LCTA”) buildings and grounds, and associated equipment items meeting the TAM threshold(s).
· This document was created by utilizing the processes established in the LCTA Facility Maintenance Plan, and the FTA TAM Facility Performance Measure Reporting Guidebook: Condition Assessment Calculation.
· A facility condition assessment(s) shall be conducted by assessing the condition of and assigning a rating for facility assets using FTA’s Transit Economic Requirements Model (TERM) scale.
· This document provides procedures for compliance with the condition assessment requirement of the FTA TAM Plan.
· The Authority shall submit to FTA on an annual basis:
- A condition assessment for each individual facility, for which it has full or partial capital responsibility.
- One performance measure metric and one performance target metric for administrative & maintenance facilities.
- One performance measure metric and one performance target metric for passenger & parking facilities (if applicable).
- The Authority shall report inventory data for all passenger facilities used in the provision of providing public transportation, even if the Authority does not own or have capital responsibility the facility.
Inspection Teams
A minimum of two SGR Inspectors are required to perform a facility inspection, and include a member of the Authority Maintenance Department management team (Director or Manager):
· For safety purposes.
· To maintain consistency in grading.
· To help keep inspectors calibrated to the standards.
Note: If something seems urgent, does not look right, sound right, smell right or feel right, then questions should be asked of the facility contact person (or their delegate) who has applicable expertise.
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Facility Contacts
Contact Person: Extension:
Maintenance Director X223
Maintenance Manager X209
Operations Director X217
Fixed Route Safety & Training Manager X211
Executive Director X218
Director of Administrative Services, Compliance & IT X221
Quality Management
The Authority’s Quality Management Program applies specific management concepts to operations and maintenance activities, including TAM and the assessment of asset conditions. These specific management concepts include both Quality Control (QC) and Quality Assurance (QA).
Quality Control is the act of taking measurements, testing and inspecting a process, service or product to assure that it meets specification. Quality Assurance is a proactive set of activities that emphasizes actions at a management level that directly improve the chances that QC actions will result in a product or service that meets requirements.
The Authority has implemented the following elements of QA/QC into supporting a high quality TAM and condition assessment process:
· Management Responsibility: Responsibility for TAM and condition assessment, QA/QC will be clearly delineated in Authority policies, management accountability, and reporting and data collection/analysis.
· Documentation: The Authority’s approach to QA/QC shall be documented in data reports and policies (Maintenance Facility/Fleet Manual, and TAM Plan).
· Document Control: All documents and associated reports used to support the condition assessment process shall be under document control by the Authority Maintenance Director to verify that staff is using the correct version of documents when assessing conditions. This includes documentation of inspection procedures, condition rating descriptions, and assessment forms.
· Asset ID Register: The Authority shall record all assets in the form of an asset inventory register via the TAM plan.
· Inspection & Testing: The Authority’s asset inspection and condition assessment procedures are clearly established via the following documents: Maintenance Facility/Fleet Manual, and TAM Plan.
· Inspection, Measuring & Test Equipment: The Authority shall assign two-member teams to perform a condition inspection on facility and equipment assets. Inspectors shall be rotated on an annual basis in order to prevent bias. When applicable, a team of follow up inspectors shall be used to determine the cause of any significant and/or severe changes to condition of an asset, and its repair. Condition assessments are primarily conducted by visual inspection, and therefore, no specialized equipment is necessary.
· Inspection and Test Status: Inspections shall take place in a single 8 hour period, and shall be tracked by use of the inspection reporting form.
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· Quality Records: The Authority shall retain all records related to the all condition inspection assessments and associated process. Records will be retained in both written and electronic formats, and follow the records retention schedule established by the FTA and/or Pennsylvania Museum Commission Municipal Records Manual.
· Training: The Authority shall provide training to all inspectors in order to: remove bias, improve the consistency of condition assessments, and to minimize errors.
Inventory Determination
· The Authority shall gather condition assessment data on two types of facilities: Administration & Maintenance, and Parking & Passenger.
· The Authority shall only gather condition assessment data on facility assets that it has full or partial capital responsibility.
Assessment Standards: FTA TERM Physical Condition Rating Scale
The FTA TERM rating scale is based on how close a facility asset or component is to replacement or major overhaul by conducting a physical inspection and assessment. Scores will be based upon full round numbers. An asset and/or asset sub-component is in a State of Good Repair (SGR) if it has a rating score of 3 or higher on the TERM Scale. The confidence in the reliability of the scores presented is equal to the amount of remaining useful life of the asset.
In addition to assigning a numerical grade from the FTA TERM Rating Scale to each major component/minor sub-component, a written notation of a condition assessment shall be placed in the notes section of the Inspection Procedure form by the inspector, to reflect the following:
Rating Notation
5 New, no visible defects.
4 Minor improvement needed.
3 Needs repair.
2 Needs replacement or extensive repair.
1 Critical defects affecting function, health, or safety. Do not use.
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To determine the overall condition of a facility via a uniform methodology, the Authority shall inspect and assess the following facility components and associated sub-components, where applicable (at a minimum):
- Substructure - Shell
- Interior - Conveyance (N/A)
- Plumbing - HVAC
- Fire Protection/Security - Electrical
- Site - Equipment (meeting TAM threshold)
Inspection Procedures
This next section contains the Inspection Procedures and Inspection Condition Assessment worksheets for LCTA-owned (including capital responsibility) facility and equipment assets. Each stand-alone structure that is part of a compound will have its condition assessed separately. The condition assessment is primarily intended to assess the overall physical condition of the facility to support capital investment decisions made by the Authority. Furthermore, inspector(s) must also document and immediately report any critical defects that may constitute a safety concern or potential service delay.
Any equipment item with a replacement cost of over $10,000, but under $50,000 will be assessed individually (at the facility or vehicle asset class level). Any facility equipment item with a replacement cost of $50,000 or greater will be inventoried separately in the non-revenue vehicle equipment section of the TAM Plan.
Prior to a facility or equipment condition assessment inspection, the inspector(s) shall gather and review the results of any previous inspections, as well as:
· Agency Procedures: The LCTA Fleet, Facility and Maintenance Plan(s) should be consulted for more information relating to warranty coverage, inspection reports & history, and asset inventory.
· Inspection Schedules: Understand how the inspection schedule aligns with the NTD/FTA reporting schedule.
· Data Needs: Review applicable data fields in the NTD AIM, and review these with the Authority Grants Coordinator.
· Warranty Status: Determine any additional information on the age of the facility, equipment, and building materials. This information may be helpful in understanding ULBs.
· Any Other Known Issues: Information on whether the asset has been built or performing to current standards. The Authority Maintenance Director is required to have on hand, the results of previous inspections and records of past defects found and/or corrected.
Condition Assessment Inspection Instructions
1. The inspection should take place between July and August of each calendar year.
2. Confirm the inspection date and start time with team members.
3. Once at the inspection location, complete the first section of the Facility Inspection Form (date, location, inspector name, etc.). Review the inspection procedures, rating criteria, and instructions.
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4. Perform the inspection by physically evaluating each major component and sub-component asset of the facility or equipment using the FTA TERM scale. Assign a condition rating score, using the FTA TERM Scale, to the major and sub-component. If a major or sub-component contains multiple items, the assessment score must be aggregated by combining the rating score of multiple items into a single score. The following method should be used:
- Area, or percentage of area in square footage (floors, pavement, carpet, concrete slab); or
- Number of units by percentage or average.
5. Next, each inspector shall sign and date the bottom portion of the inspection form, and deliver the form to the Authority Compliance Analyst and Grants Coordinator for further analysis, and determination of the overall condition score and performance rating of the facility asset. Report this information to the Authority Grants Coordinator. This information will then be updated in the TAM Plan and NTD reporting.
6. If at any time a component or sub component is unsafe or presents a safety hazard, immediately report the item to the Authority Director of Maintenance.
Facility Condition Rating
Once the conditions of individual facility levels are assessed and aggregated, the next step required to support NTD reporting is to calculate the overall condition rating for each type of the two facility groups: Administrative & Maintenance and Passenger & Parking facilities. At the time of this writing, the Authority has limited data on facility replacement costs. In order to use a consistent and repeatable process for this calculation, the Authority has implemented the use of the FTA-approved Median Value Method.