San Diego transit system earns perfect score in FTA review

The San Diego Metropolitan Transit System (MTS) achieved a perfect score from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) during a triennial review of operations, MTS announced Monday.

This is the third consecutive time the system has accomplished such a feat, MTS officials said.

The perfect score means the FTA found no deficiencies in any of 17 areas of MTS operations, MTS officials said in a press release. Key categories for review include financial management, maintenance, and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"This review is very important to our ability to secure competitive grants from the federal government," said MTS Chief Executive Officer Paul Jablonski. "As it stands now, FTA hasn’t found any deficiencies at MTS in the last nine years of operations. This is a testament to great work being done top to bottom in the MTS organization."

MTS has received $313 million in funding from the FTA over the past five years. Some of those funds assisted MTS in carrying out its $600 million Trolley Renewal project, which involved rebuilding the trolley system's Orange and Blue Lines, MTS officials said.