Estimation of annual operations and maintenance (o&m) costs is an important component of the alternatives analyses for proposed light rail transit (lrt) systems. Umta's recommended method for estimating o&m costs involves developing productivity-based cost models. In this paper, data are assembled on several key productivity relationships--those most central to lrt o&m cost models--from existing lrt systems over several years, and the implications of these data for estimating o&m costs of proposed systems as part of the alternatives analysis procedure are considered. Operations and maintenance productivity rates are compared among lrt properties, and the year-to-year stability of rates within properties are examined. Two basic data sources are used: the annual umta sectionn 15 data base and the results of research conducted among a group of new and old lrt properties to refine the information provided in section 15 and other publishedsources. Analysis of the section 15 data reveals wide apparent divergences in productivity rates among systems, as well as substantial year-to-year instability in the productivity data of several lrt systems. Several explanations are offered for these patterns, and implications for lrt o&m cost estimation methods are discussed. This paper appears in transportation research record no. 1221, Research in bus and rail transit operations.
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