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San Luis Obispo Council of Governments

NTD Transit Performance Metrics

The UCLA Institute of Transportation Studies (UCLA ITS) suggests that:

Updating the policy and legislation that governs state transit funding could help make expenditures more effective and better aligned with the state’s goals of VMT and GHG reduction, which transit can achieve only through increased ridership.

The UCLA ITS recommends using cost-efficiency metrics (operating expense per VRM/VRH/UPT) and service-effectiveness metrics (passenters per VRM/VRH) to compare transit-oriented vs. auto-oriented markets.

The charts below display these metrics by different categories.

Performance Metrics Explained

Metric typeMetric exampleImplicit Goal(s)AdvantagesLimitations
Cost-efficiencyOperating cost per revenue hour (opex_per_vrh)Reduce costsUseful in both financial and service planningFavors high labor productivity in dense, congested areas; does not track use
Operating cost per revenue mile (opex_per_vrm)
Operating cost per vehicle trip (opex_per_upt)
Service-effectivenessPassengers per revenue-vehicle hour (upt_per_vrh)Increase ridership; reduce poorly patronized serviceUseful for service planning; emphasizes what matters to ridersFavors high ridership; does not track costs
Passengers per revenue-vehicle mile (upt_per_vrm)Increase ridership; reduce low-ridership route miles/segmentsUseful for service planningFavors high ridership and fast vehicle speeds; does not track costs

Agency

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Cost-efficiency metrics

Cost-efficiency measures inputs to outputs: For example, the cost of operating an hour of transit service.

Per the UCLA ITS Paper

Transit-oriented markets (which are predominantly urban), transit service tends to be relatively service-effective. But high operating costs on these (mostly) older, larger systems can inhibit efforts to improve ridership by adding service. In such contexts, assessing systems with an emphasis on cost-efficiency (i.e., the cost of operating an hour of service) grounds would provide incentives for agencies to manage their costs so as to be able to provide more service with available funding.

Service-effectiveness metrics

Service-effectiveness measures outputs to consumption: For example, passenger boardings per service hour.

Per the UCLA ITS Paper

[In] more auto-oriented markets, transit operators tend to be relatively cost-efficient, in that they have lower operating costs but serve fewer riders. In this context, assessing systems with an emphasis on service-effectiveness (i.e., passenger boardings per service hour) will motivate operators to improve ridership by changing service hours, routes, and fares to better match local demand. Agencies might also implement fare programs with schools and other institutions, and even work with municipalities on improving land use around transit in order to increase the relative attractiveness of transit service.

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Type of Service

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