Citation

Galíndez A, McLaughlin J, Beard C, Spivack G. Transp. Res. Rec. 1997; 1604: 69-82.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1997, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, National Academy of Sciences USA, Publisher SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.3141/1604-09

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

In this era of scarce transportation resources, there is a need for analytical techniques to examine the effectiveness and efficiency of transportation programs. Since the pioneer work of Fielding et al., there have been many measurement schemes that have purported to assess the productivity of transit systems. This plethora of statistics has resulted in an information overload for policy makers and transit planners. The effectiveness and efficiency of transportation programs have been measured, with people flow used as the unit of analysis. The mobility index measures people flow in the transportation system as passenger miles carried per vehicle hour. The index is computed by multiplying average vehicle occupancy times passenger speed. A cost-efficiency comparison for regional transit services results when the mobility index for a transit project is matched against the demand and the price of the services. Thus, this methodology combines efficiency and effectiveness measures to evaluate transit services at the regional and transit agency levels. The analysis is also applicable to individual transit lines at both the macro level and the route or line segment level by time period. Analysis of the entire line uses passenger miles divided by bus miles as the measure of average vehicle occupancy. At the route or segment level, average vehicle occupancy is assessed through the load ratio, which is defined as patrons onboard divided by the number of available seats. Because of advances in computing technology, these utilization coefficients can be plotted by time of day at each transit stop. Nonproductive route segments or times at which the transit route can be restructured to increase productivity and mobility are indicated in these plots. The time and location performance graphs can also be used to plot schedule reliability and infer running time adequacy by location and time period that affects passenger speed. The methodology is unbiased with respect to the operator organizational structure, whether public or private, because people flow is the basis for evaluation. The mobility analysis can define operator efficiency in different demand markets. Thus, it can serve as an analytical tool for regionwide performance standards. Strategies to improve transit service delivery, particularly in areas of low or fluctuating demand, are also suggested.

Language: en