Public Transportation Agency Safety Performance Measures & TIP Analysis

Metro Transit completed and certified its initial Public Transportation Agency Safety Plan (PTASP) in July 2020. The plan is considered a “living document," with reviews and revisions planned on an annual basis. The initial plan incorporated Metro's initial 2020 PTASP performance measure targets for the applicable measures.

The MPO adopted the same 2020 targets that Metro adopted in TPB Resolution No. 163. Those targets remained unchanged in 2021 and were adopted in MPO 2020 Resolution No. 5. Metro updated its PTASP performance measure targets for 2022 in MPO 2021 Resolution No. 12.

The MPO adopted the 2023 PTASP targets in November 2022 through Greater Madison MPO 2022 Resolution No. 13 and adopted the 2023 targets with the 2023–2027 TIP in October 2022 through 2022 Resolution No. 8. The 2024 targets were adopted in November 2025 through 2025 Resolution No. 15. The 2026 targets are adopted with this TIP. The MPO will continue to adopt updated targets after Metro updates its targets.

The Metro/MPO Safety Performance Targets for 2022 included reductions in the Bus Transit targets for Injuries and Safety Events, as well as modifications to the way the System Reliability/State of Good Repair measurement is reported to improve consistency with other measures.

The 2025 targets are shown in the table below, along with actual 2024 performance. The 2025 PTASP targets are updated to include IIJA-required changes to PTASP targets. The new performance measures are: Collision Rate, Pedestrian Collision Rate, Vehicular Collision Rate, Transit Worker Fatality Rate, Transit Worker Injury Rate, Assaults on Transit Workers, and Rate of Assaults on Transit Workers.

These additions are consistent with the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act's (IIJA) increased focus on bus collisions and transit worker safety. Targets for these new measures must be based on the three-year rolling average for each of these measures. Since 2023 was the first year in which this information was collected, targets could not be set until data became available for 2024 and 2025.

Bus Transit 

Note: Rates are per 100,000 vehicle revenue miles (VRM).

Paratransit

Note: Rates are per 100,000 vehicle revenue miles (VRM).

In addition to updating safety-related performance measure targets, Metro's 2022 PTASP Annual Review addressed new requirements included in the IIJA. As a result of these new requirements, Metro's safety planning team, management team and the Teamsters Union Local No. 695 created a new safety committee composed of frontline employees and management.

The new team is responsible for identifying, recommending, and analyzing the effectiveness of risk-based mitigations or strategies to reduce consequences identified in the agencies' safety risk assessment. Metro's safety coordinator developed safety training for Maintenance employees which includes the required topic of de-escalation. Metro already has a comprehensive new hire and refresher staff training program for its bus operators. De-escalation training was added to this program in November of 2021.

The FTA has updated the National Public Transportation Safety Plan to provide additional information on how agencies can meet the new requirement for safety performance targets. However, performance targets for a risk reduction program are required to be based on three-year rolling averages, so targets could not be set until 2024 data became available.

Due to supply change issues and problems with the new 2022 fleet, Metro had a large number of newer buses that had to sit waiting for parts and repairs, therefore they were running older buses on main routes at times, which contributed to the higher number of break downs that caused service interruptions.

Metro added fifteen new buses to its fleet in 2022 and retired fifteen older buses. Continued fleet replacement in 2023 and 2024—in which 62 new buses were received—has reduced the System Reliability/State of Good Repair measure below the target. Although disposal of older vehicles has been delayed, it is anticipated that 2026 will see further improvements due older vehicles being retired from the fleet.

Project Analysis

Safety-related projects in the Transit Capital and Transit Operating categories include preventative maintenance of transit vehicles, which is fundamental to meeting the System Reliability target, and facility renovations at Metro's maintenance facility at 1 South Ingersoll (formerly 1101 E. Washington Avenue), which has been in need of major renovation.

For many years, it operated over capacity, having been designed to serve 140 buses but servicing as many as 220 buses in recent years. Until 2019, the facility had no significant upgrades since it was built 40 years previously. Investment in the facility was delayed for years in anticipation of a relocation.

Prior to recent upgrades, facility and functional issues included: inadequate ventilation, heating, and cooling; an open-air wash line creating air quality problems; needed upgrades to emergency egress lighting; confined number of work bays and poor space layout; and right-turn vs. desired left-turn circulation for buses.

A facility renovation plan was developed with the assistance of an engineering firm, Mead & Hunt, with improvements to be implemented in 6 phases starting in 2019 through 2024. Because of the need to use its federal formula funding for buses and capital maintenance, the facility renovation was 100% locally funded.

Metro determined that final phases needed to be delayed due to funding needed to implement the planned east-west BRT route and other needs. Implementation of the programmed facility renovation plan improved safety for Metro staff and will help Metro continue to meet or exceed the performance targets for Fatalities, Safety Events, and System Reliability; the performance targets for Injuries relate to riders of vehicles in service, and will not be impacted by safety improvements at the maintenance facility.

The renovation will have positive impacts on system reliability. Employees will be provided with a better, more modern, and healthier place to work. A new, proper, environment will enable employees to be more productive without compromising their safety.

This could improve the number of vehicles inspected on a daily basis which would improve the spare ratio and overall road failure rate.

The 3B phase includes the operations unit areas. The biggest impact will be new driver amenities, including a break room that is the proper size to accommodate all drivers, quiet spaces and rooms to rest, kitchen amenities, and new furniture. Well-rested drivers are safe drivers. The current environment for them is sub-optimal.

Operations will have a larger dispatch office and supervisor amenities to improve their working environment. This will have positive impacts to service delivery and safety. A more organized and properly sized workspace will enable supervisors to work with a lower rate of error.

If an operations supervisor makes a mistake, it often has an impact on service delivery. For example, when a supervisor takes a sick call from a driver but forgets to assign the work to a standby driver. That bus doesn't run or is heavily delayed which as a domino effect on the system with passenger overloads, potential safety issues with passengers or students waiting outdoors for a longer period of time, etc. A better work environment will reduce the likelihood of this type of mistake.

The federal 5307/5337/5339-funded annual bus purchases in this TIP will help reduce the age of the Metro transit revenue vehicle fleet and should result in a lower number of System Reliability/State of Good Repair incidents.