Public transportation is at a critical point in terms of its monitoring and reporting as considerations that guide our expectations and goals continue to evolve and shift. While economic metrics dominated the first generation of performance measurement, there are additional priorities for public transportation. Agencies need metrics to address these emerging priorities, including measures of customer satisfaction, environmental sustainability, economic opportunity and access (especially for historically marginalized individuals), traveler safety, and resilience of infrastructure and services. Developing metrics for these priorities allows them to be equivalently incorporated into decision-making on-par with traditional economic metrics.
Full Details about the Lectern Session can be found on the TRB Annual Meeting Event Page.
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Presenter: Steven Polzin, Arizona State University, Tempe
The set of critical considerations that shape expectations for public transportation are continuing to evolve and shift. New expectations, including helping address climate change and enhancing equity, require updating the performance metrics used by the industry to monitor and report performance. In an era with high expectations, COVID recovery, dynamic conditions, and regular calls for public accountability, it's important that transit agencies have appropriate performance metrics to guide operating decisions and inform stakeholders. This session will explore key issues surrounding how transit performance can be measured.
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Presenter: Tierra Bills, University of California, Los Angeles
Equity is transportation outcomes has reached a new high in transportation planning discourse, where investments in each domain of transportation presents an opportunity to evaluate fairness in the distribution of outcomes from such investments. Yet, the theories of how equity should be defined seem to outpace available tools and metrics for measuring the distribution of transportation outcomes and determining whether these distributions align with defined transportation needs and equity goals. This presentation will summarize a series of studies on advancing the measure of transportation equity outcomes and emphasize lessons learned, recommendations, and research needs.
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Presenter: Alanna McKeeman, Foursquare Integrated Transportation Planning
While transit agencies' historic focus on system performance has led to more efficient provision of transit, this does not necessarily constitute better service. This is becoming increasing clear as our society evolves to focus more on equity, but measures for progress in this realm lag. Alanna McKeeman will discuss approaches she and her colleagues have used to integrate social equity considerations into transit planning projects, from planning to implementation to evaluation.
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Presenter: Pamela Yonkin, HDR
Evaluation criteria related to federal funding, statewide GHG emissions reduction targets, and even employee expectations regarding climate action are demanding that public and private entities “do their part” to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change. While public transit is inherently more sustainable than other transportation options, it is important that agencies have metrics available to share their agency’s sustainability commitment with the general public, federal funders, elected officials, and other stakeholders. This presentation will discuss the process for establishing sustainability metrics for transit agencies, as well as the challenges associated with measuring sustainability. Case studies will be shared, as well as lessons learned and best practices.
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Presenter: Stephen Tu, Los Angeles County Transportation Authority (LACMTA)
In 2017, LA Metro’s NextGen Bus Study embarked on a comprehensive operational analysis to realign Metro’s bus network to be more relevant and reflective to the way Angeleno’s travel today. Several years later, the COVID-19 pandemic changed much of the way people travel today, and brought forth public safety concerns stemming from the societal challenges for people in crisis. Therefore, it is important to understand the key metrics needed for transit agencies to be both competitive and attractive to grow ridership in a post-pandemic world.
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Presenter: Daniel Sonenklar, DRPT
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Presenter: Arthur Guzzetti, American Public Transportation Association (APTA)
Ridership is an important metric, but certainly not the only metric for measuring the broader importance of public transportation. Access to jobs, education, health care, and opportunity overall are critical factors that must be considered. Transit's role as a social equalizer complements urban design, productivity, and environmental footprint benefits in a holistic approach.