FTA Modernizing National Transit Database
Written by Marybeth Luczak, Executive EditorThe Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has selected consultant and digital services provider ICF to automate and update the National Transit Database (NTD), improving data visibility, analysis and tracking.
The NTD tracks information about the financial, operating and capital asset condition of U.S. transit systems, which report such metrics as Vehicle Revenue Miles (VRM), Vehicle Revenue Hours (VRH), Passenger Miles Traveled (PMT), Unlinked Passenger Trips (UPT), and Operating Expenses (OE). FTA uses the data to apportion grant program funding to urbanized and rural areas, and to produce reports. Local, state and regional governments and other decision-makers use it for planning purposes, as they can make multi-year comparisons and perform trend analyses.
Under two new call orders, valued at $13 million, ICF said it will “deploy Appian’s low-code/no-code platform to harness the power of artificial intelligence and machine learning. This will help FTA automate its business processes and workflows, reduce redundancies, promote cost efficiencies and improve the quality of the NTD’s data assets.”
The call orders were issued under the U.S. Department of Transportation Software Engineering Support blanket purchase agreement awarded to ICF in March 2020. Each has a five-year term, which includes a base year and four one-year options.
