How many times have we seen projects go forward ill-conceived, hatched out of political expediency or a desire not to lose funding? With the plethora of challenges such as increasing demand, a deteriorating asset base, and funding constraints, can public transportation agencies really afford this anymore?

To fix the problem, those with responsibility for transport assets need to make informed choices concerning where to invest and must be able to justify those choices to stakeholders and funders.

Increasingly in the last year, we’ve seen growing recognition of the value of asset management to asset-intensive transport operations in the U.S. Some agencies have been working toward improvements that will help them approach these activities more effectively.

Federally, we also see this reinforced in the MAP-21 surface transportation authorization law, which emphasizes asset management and a requirement on public transit agencies to evolve asset management plans.

This increased emphasis is being reflected internationally with the progression toward publication of the forthcoming ISO 55001 standard, currently in draft and undergoing review by representatives from around the world. Internationally, best practice in asset management is already well defined and reflected through documents such as the British Standards Institution’s PAS 55. Both recognize that asset management is not just about maintenance, nor is it just about the latest database or information technology.

Ultimately, asset management is about a complete way of working for an organization to manage its business in an integrated, efficient, and sustainable way—policy, objectives, plans, and the people, processes, and systems needed, altogether, to drive them.

About 400 organizations worldwide, including Transport for London, have already adopted PAS 55. Public transit organizations have reported significant cost reductions and performance improvements when applying good asset management approaches. The adoption of such approaches also provides stakeholders with confidence by demonstrating a good control over the business.

Asset management provides a focus on managing risks and recognizing the complete lifecycle of the assets. Risk can be controlled and compliance with legal requirements assured, perhaps through renewing assets early or by revising maintenance arrangements to prolong nominal life and defer significant capital expenditure—all in a justified way.

Following political expediency and responding to the loudest voice are not a sustainable way to act, but one that’s tough to ignore. Organizations need some structure and a demonstrable approach to support the counter view—decisions aligned to clear objectives made by those who know how to run a transportation operation and who are directly accountable for the outcomes and consequences of those decisions. Of course, the politician might come up with the right answer too.

So, asset management is about getting the most from the assets. More specifically, it’s about:

* Coordinating activities to realize value, with a focus on the organizational outcomes;
* Aligning and relating asset decisions, actions, and performance measures to the core objectives for the business;
* Creating effective, fact-based plans to prioritize all interventions and investments and do the best thing at the best time;
* Marshaling knowledge about the assets and how they contribute to delivering the required outcomes;
* Understanding the costs, risks and performance needs and how these interact; and
* Revisiting how things are done in the spirit of engagement and continual improvement.

This process is not easy. Scoping a framework and implementing asset-management improvement activities (often also introducing some new or revised information technology) typically involves significant change and impacts many parts of an organization.

The process needs to be carefully managed. While this improvement may be reviewing, challenging, and possibly changing the fundamentals of an organization’s business model, it should never be forgotten that it is about people—whether the chairman or a trackman—and the processes and tools they are given to do their job.

Approaches should be relevant, effective, and understandable. It is important never to lose sight of the functional values of a transportation system, like safety.