Transit Finance Learning Exchange

Following is a link to a table which details all of the 26 transportation ballot measures that were decided nationwide during the Nov 4th election. The table was compiled by the Center for Transportation Excellence, a non-partisan research group based in Washington, D.C. A complete list of the all 2008 transportation ballot initiatives is also included. The table can be accessed at: http://www.cfte.org/success/2006ballotmeasures.asp. (Posted by RTA on 11/5/2008)

TFLEx Workshop
Sept. 7 - 9, 2008
Summary Notes

The Fall 2008 TFLEx Workshop was held in Boston MA, and hosted by Wes Wallace and the MBTA. Our sincere thanks go out to Wes and his staff for the wonderful job they did in making this workshop a successful event. Twenty-five people registered for this workshop. Everything was well organized and the presentations were informative. Thanks again to everyone at Boston's MBTA!

The regular Business Meeting was chaired by Joe Costello on Sunday afternoon. Minutes of this meeting are attached as a separate document. All members are encouraged to attend the Business Meeting.

The main topic of this workshop was capital planning and programming. Jon Davis, Deputy General Manager/CFO of the "T" in Boston, welcomed participants and gave an overview of the MBTA's current and planned capital projects. Grace Gallucci, Deputy Executive Director of Research, Analysis and Policy Development, Chicago RTA, presented that agency's new role in oversight of the region's capital improvement program. Michelle Caldwell, Los Angeles MTA, Micael Ocbahanes, DART, and Victor Rivas, MBTA Boston, then shared their agency's approach to capital planning.

After lunch, Peter Butler, Director of the FTA's Region I Office of Planning and Program Development shared his agency's perspectives on working with transit agencies in developing capital programs.

The remainder of the afternoon was devoted to Needs and Leads. Attached is a table of all the Needs and Leads discussed in this session.

The morning of day two of the Workshop was devoted to Succession Planning. Lydia Grose, Manager of Track and Civil Engineering, SEPTA Philadelphia, gave a fascinating presentation developed by the 2007 Leadership APTA class on strategies for attracting young talent from Generations X and Y to public transportation. There was a great deal of discussion on the differences between the generations and how they communicate differently. This was followed by Mary Ann Collier, Director of HR, San Joaquin RTD, facilitating a discussion of the need for every agency to build a foundation for effective succession planning. Irene DeMers, DART, presented her agency's initiative on succession planning. DART has developed a solid program to create an internal pool of talent from which to draw DART's future executive leaders. Irene's presentation is available on the TFLEx website and she can be reached at idemers@dart.org for further information on their leadership development program.

The afternoon session began with a conference call with representatives from Morgan Stanley discussing the current and long-term prospects of diesel and CNG fuel costs. Members shared their agency's initiatives regarding how they control fuel costs.

The Workshop wrapped up with Ray Garton showing members a preview of what the new TFLEx website will look like and how it will work. The new website was approved at the Business Meeting and will be developed by Ray over the next several months.

The Spring 2009 Workshop will be held in Chicago on April 6-8. The topic of the workshop will be Public Private Partnerships in transit. The RTA will be hosting the event and we will be reaching out to the entire transit industry for the second day of the workshop. More information will be forthcoming shortly but please mark your calendars now to attend this workshop.

All presentations from the Fall Workshop are available on the TFLEx website at www.tflex.org.

TFLEx Special Interest Groups

At the Chicago Conference the members agreed to establish some special interest groups among our membership. A special interest group is a community with a particular interest in a specific technical area. It is usually abbreviated SIG. Members of a SIG cooperate to produce solutions, identify trends and resources (or work through common frustrations) within their particular area.

TFLEx currently has one SIG, on Budgets/Grants.

Who are the targeted users to be in the SIG? Any TFLEx website user that deals with this technical area as part of their job responsibilities.

How much time will it take? To get started, each member will have to set up a website account, answer emails and postings from other users, and to check the website occasionally. The time involved should be minimal. The group may decide to work on some special projects, like surveys or best practice white papers, but that is up to the members.

How will the members benefit? Every SIG member will be familiar with the other members, so that they know who to call if they need something, and more importantly that they feel comfortable enough to contact them.

How does someone join? First they have to have a website account. Go to http://www.tflex.org/start.asp?switch=registernow and complete the form there. Your account will be activated within a day or two. Once you have access to the account, open you profile by clicking the "My Account" link in the upper right had corner. Click the "Edit SIGs" button below your "business card." Check the SIG you wish to join, Budgets, Grants, or Information Technology from the list, and then click the "Save special interest groups" button at the bottom of the page.

When will this start? The groups are always taking new members. Contact the group leaders (listed below) to sign up now! The group leaders are:
Budgets/Grants - Irene Demers (DART)

Any questions? Contact Ray Garton (see his profile in the directory).

TFLEx Accomplishments

TFLEx members meet twice annually to share best practices and "needs and leads," learn from industry experts and work together to develop and maintain the ongoing TFLEx Business Plan. These are facilitated workshops where all members are able to participate in roundtable discussions.

TFLEx members identified a need to educate finance staff in the field of transit without extensive costs. Transit 101 was developed as a web-based instructional tool to bring information regarding the transit field to the desktops of staff members whether in finance or other departments. Modules deployed to date include Federal, State, and Local Funding; Procurement; Paratransit Operations: Fare Policy; and Regulatory Framework. Others are in development with a total of 26 planned.

Sharing management tools such as benchmarking, activity-based costing, process mapping, balanced scorecard, key performance indicators, and best practices has been an ongoing activity of members attending the bi-annual workshops. Transit systems taking the lead in these practices share their successes and "opportunities" with their fellow members.

Membership in TFLEx provides access to entire TFLEx website. Here members share such information as:

TFLEx has a goal of 30-35 members. While membership is filling up fast, we still have room for additional members. Annual membership dues are determined by agency size

Membership includes attendance at the twice yearly workshops for a nominal fee. Click here for more information on how to join.