Measuring Michigan Local and Statewide Transit Levels of Service

The Michigan Department of Transportation’s (MDOT) Office of Passenger Transportation, in conjunction with MDOT’s Research Administration, worked with Cambridge Systematics and Kimley-Horn and Associates to research performance measures for transit levels of service (LOS). MDOT sought to improve the transit LOS measures that are collected, analyzed, and aggregated from the local to statewide level to help gauge the effectiveness of transit in meeting the mobility needs of Michigan. Researchers reviewed the existing state of the practice in LOS measures, existing LOS practices in Michigan at the state and agency level, and available transit data. Several transit LOS measures were identified as building blocks for statewide and regional transit LOS performance measurement, including Passenger Trips Per Capita, Vehicle Revenue Hours Per Capita, Passenger Trips Per Transit Dependent Population, and Safety Incidents Per 100k Vehicle Miles. Researchers provided a snapshot of current transit LOS performance, a vision and feasibility assessment for the development of a transit LOS tool for data analysis, and a series of recommendations for MDOT to continue to improve transit LOS measurement.