Cost Allocation Calculator

Cost Allocation Calculator

Introduction to the Cost Allocation Calculator

As a requirement of reporting to the National Transit Database (NTD), public transit agencies must be able to provide expense information by different travel modes, jurisdictions, and service types. Transit agencies must also understand the costs of different services for managing federal and state grants as well as pricing and planning for new services. This can be a very complicated, resource draining and time-consuming process especially for transit agencies with multiple modes, service types and serving multiple jurisdictions. The Two-Variable Cost Allocation Calculator can help transit agencies make the process of cost allocation a little less daunting.

About the National RTAP Cost Allocation Calculator

The Two-Variable Cost Allocation Calculator, developed by Texas A&M Transportation Institute (TTI) and RLS & Associates, Inc. for National RTAP, is available as an MS Excel or MS Access application. Both versions provide the same level of specificity for data inputs and produce output reports for individual routes/services or groups of routes. We offer two versions to address your preference in software applications. (Note: you do not need Access installed to run the Access version if you first download the Microsoft Access 2016 Runtime or Office 365 Access Runtime extension.)

Product Features

  • Helps accurately allocate costs for NTD reporting
  • Calculates transit costs per two variables: time and distance
  • Determines the fully allocated cost for providing service by individual route/service, mode, service area, type of service, sponsored type, primary funding source, and individual local sponsors (if applicable)
  • Allows for shared-ride demand responsive service costs to be sub-allocated to different trip sponsors on the same service
  • Allows for comparison of historical cost allocation results across multiple fiscal years
  • Automatically assigns expenses to the correct transit functions
  • Generates performance measures for each route/service and groups of routes using full allocated costs and operational data
  • Eliminates duplicated or misallocated costs 
  • Relies on standard transit agency data – no new data collection is necessary
  • Scalable to your system and service characteristics
  • Requires no special software skills 
  • Produces downloadable/printable reports of cost and performance measurement information
  • Supported by instruction manual with step-by-step guides, definitions of terminology, picture examples, and discussion of uses for allocated cost information

National RTAP Cost Allocation Calculator Support

The RTAP Support Center offers targeted, how-to videos, and links to other important resources. Most importantly, our technical support staff is available to answer question by phone or email.

Go to Cost Allocation Calculator Support
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