PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION OPERATING STANDARDS (INTRODUCTORY REMARKS)

Clear statements of transit service operating standards would be helpful both to industry and to government agencies in making judgements on the relative merits of transit operations, and in the measurement and comparison of the performance of individual systems. They could help set performance levels for transit services. Four papers are presented here which present different views of operating standards. The views are presented of a manager of an all-bus transit system in a medium-sized metropolitan area. A private consultant and the manager of a regional transit authority that acquired a privately owned bus company present their views. A multimodal transit operator from a large metropolitan area also presents his views. The reasons are listed why transportation system managers view operating standards with skepticism: (1) the managers are concerned that any service standard that is explicitly adopted will be too rigidly applied; (2) different operation standards apply to different modes and to different-sized metropolitan areas; (3) transit operating standards that are currently being used were determined by the society of another period; (4) the concentrated city of a few years ago is now a suburbanized metropolitan complex.