Beginning with its fy 1989 capital program, the southeastern pennsylvania transportation authority (septa) introduced a methodology for setting priorities for capital projects. The priority-setting methodology evaluates 12 financial and nonfinancial factors, which areeach given a weight. The choice of factors and weights was based onthe goals and criteria septa believed were important for setting capital project priorities in the philadelphia metropolitan area. Projects considered to be appropriate candidates for capital funding areevaluated using the priority-setting methodology. A total numericalscore for each project is calculated by adding the results from the12 factors, which creates a numerical ranking of the projects in descending order from 1 to n. However, capital projects mandated by regulation or legislation receive first priority for funding, regardless of their priority-setting score. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1266, Urban public transportation research 1990.
Abstract