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Annual fleet maintenance audit shows defect rates improving; MTA pilots AI for predictive maintenance
Summary
An independent fleet maintenance audit showed total defects per bus fell from 12.6 in 2023 to 10.5 in 2024; staff said improvements were driven by new vehicle deliveries and commissioning work. The agency is piloting an AI system to monitor emission and onboard systems and is expanding technician training and ASE certification.
Staff presented the annual fleet maintenance audit and said defect counts and vehicle availability are trending in the right direction as the agency commissions new vehicles and retires older units.
Carl Rocos, director of maintenance, told the board MTA’s fleet comprises more than 330 vehicles, including 40‑ and 60‑foot fixed‑route buses, Access Ride cutaway vans and non‑revenue vehicles. The Transit Resource Center (TRC) audit — performed annually since 2015 — inspects revenue buses and reviews maintenance records and fluid sampling programs.
Rocos said total defects per bus decreased from 12.6 in 2023 to 10.5 in 2024. He attributed an earlier uptick in defects in 2023 to an aging fleet and pandemic supply‑chain disruptions; in 2024 the agency placed more than 70 newer cutaways into service, which contributed to a decrease in certain defect types. The audit flagged a higher‑than‑normal number of issues related to the force required to open emergency windows; staff said they purchased a push‑pull gauge to measure and correct threshold force and have campaigned the fleet to address the problem.
Rocos described workforce and training efforts: a skills‑gap assessment by EDSI identified electrical and engine diagnostics as priority training areas; MTA is expanding apprenticeship programs and partnering with manufacturers (Gillig, New Flyer and OEMs) for technical training. Staff reported roughly 20% of technicians hold ASE certifications with some working toward master transit certification (up from zero participation in 2023). The board asked whether the audit scores bench‑mark to peers; staff said they would follow up with comparative data.
On technology, Rocos and staff described a pilot to use artificial intelligence to monitor engine and emissions system data: the AI monitors telemetry from a bus module, flags anomalies to a remote team, and triggers preventive work orders before a component fails. “When they start seeing that data anomaly, they will contact us, and then we'll do a work repair plan to have a bus fixed before it actually breaks down,” Rocos said.
This item was presented for discussion; no board action was required.
Why it matters: lower defect rates and continued training and predictive maintenance tools can improve vehicle availability, reduce road calls and lower long‑term repair costs, supporting improved reliability for riders.
