Abstract:
In the San Francisco Bay area, the multiplicity of independent public transit agencies complicates transit capital planning. Throughout the 1980s, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), the regional transportation planning agency, coordinated a cooperative process to produce a list of priorities for federal capital grants. The process evolved into a complex but subjective scoring and ranking system, within a fund constraint. Two observations emerged after a decade of experience: (a) the process could continue despite annual reductions in federal and state capital financing, and (b) inherent limitations in the subjective scoring system prevented it from fully incorporating diverse capital program goals and needs. A resilient institutional framework has contributed to the successful continuation and refinement of the process.
Supplemental Notes:
This paper appears in Transportation Research Record No. 1266, Urban Public Transportation Research 1990. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved
