[Bus Maintenance and Value Engineering]

A speech was given concerning GAO work on two of its recent assignments dealing with bus maintenance and value engineering. To determine whether buses purchased with Urban Mass Transportation Administration (UMTA) funds were being adequately maintained, GAO obtained information on: (1) how selected transit systems adhere to their own prescribed preventive maintenance programs; and (2) what obstacles get in the way of timely preventive maintenance practices. GAO reviewed 6 major transit systems and interviewed officials at 40 large transit systems. GAO found that, although UMTA requires grantees to maintain buses, it has no policy or guidelines to define adequate maintenance nor has it evaluated how well vehicles are maintained. In addition, GAO found that buses do not always receive timely preventive maintenance, and the reliability of many transit systems' vehicles appears to be decreasing. The Federal Public Transportation Act requires that transit systems receiving block grants certify that maintenance will be performed and that the certifications will be independently audited. However, before the certification procedure can be effective, UMTA must develop a bus maintenance policy and criteria for evaluating programs. Another recent GAO report describes the advantages of value engineering over the present system of peer review to reduce mass transit construction costs. GAO believes that value engineering has the potential to save millions of dollars in UMTA construction costs. Accordingly, GAO recommended that a value engineering program be established for mass transit construction projects.