A Guide to Strategic Planning for Transit Properties

Strategic planning is a management tool used to analyze fundamental issues and changes and to aid managers in effecting organizational response to change. It differs from other forms of long-range planning because of its emphasis on environmental change, plan implementation, and monitoring of results. This guide is a reference tool for transit managers who wish to manage strategically. It is a source of information on the evolution and application of strategic planning in various organizations. The objectives of the report are: to explain why transit agencies should plan and manage strategically; to demonstrate how strategic planning works; to present cases of strategic planning in the transit industry; and to recommend a framework for strategic planning. The guide presents and discusses a review of the strategic planning/management literature in terms of participation in strategic planning conferences and workshops, strategic plans and case studies of five transit properties' strategic planning efforts. The five case studies of strategic planning examined in this report are: Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, New Jersey Transit, Port Authority of Allegheny County Transit, Seattle Metro Transit, and Utah Transit. The first fundamental conclusion resulting from this project was that upper management, particularly the general manager, must make an early and serious commitment of time and resources to the strategic planning effort. This means that management must organize and actively participate in the process to lend it the credibility and direction that only management can give.