THE NEED FOR AND USE OF PERFORMANCE INDICATORS IN URBAN TRANSIT

Basic efficiency indicators relate units of cost or work by employees or vehicles to units of service or other types of input. However, it is noted that no one indicator will reveal the relative or absolute performance of a system's management. In order to respond to changing priorities, all levels of government have become aware of the need to develop uniform indicators of transit performance. Such indicators can assist in the establishment and evaluation of public policy with regard to transit. This article reviews the current state of transit performance, and discusses the transit communities role in developing performance indicators.