Abstract: This paper reviews the need for the development of transit performance measures, in the light of recent legislation and public subsidy issues for public transportation in the United States. An evaluation framework is presented, which defines and distinguishes between the efficiency, effectiveness and impact of public transit efforts. The application of this framework in evaluating public transit investments, and the use of the performance measures obtained through the application of this framework, in the allocation of funds among systems is then discussed. Research needs with respect to data collection requirements, cross‐jurisdictional comparability, and the utility of the proposed performance measures for decision‐making are finally addressed.

Abstract: The corporate headquarters in a large divisionalized firm and a planning bureau of a centralized economy face many similar problems of coordination and control. One important problem is to provide division or enterprise managers with incentives both to act in congruence with the goals of the center and to transmit accurate information so that the center's coordinating decisions may be enhanced. In order to provide managers with the proper incentives, Soviet planners and Western firms have used success indicators (or performance indicators, as they have been referred to in the accounting literature) as a basis for rewarding managers. The purpose of this paper is to integrate the research on Soviet success indicators with the study of such indicators in the accounting literature, and to suggest a new indicator for use in properly motivating enterprise or divisional management. The analysis proceeds by assuming that each division manager possesses perfect knowledge of his own division's technology and the market conditions it faces. Each division's profits, however, depend upon certain coordinating decisions taken by the center (e.g., the allocation of capital). The center is assumed to be at least partially ignorant about the operations of the divisions and to rely on information from the divisions in making coordinating decisions. In this setting, where perfect information is available, problems of risk aversion and risk sharing do not arise and a rather minimal test for motivating accurate profit forecasts is given. Specifically, a performance indicator should have the property that if a manager is rewarded on the basis of this indicator and if he has perfect knowledge of his profit function, he should be motivated to send accurate estimates of that function.

Abstract: Providing adequate system deficit financing for publicly-owned and operated transit systems has been a source of great concern for federal, state and local funding agencies. Marginal increases in tax revenues coupled with increased competition for existing financial resources has forced government agencies to search out the best investment for scarce funds and to insure that the greatest public good may be accomplished at the least cost to the taxpayer. Urban transportation systems, and their mass transit components in particular, have often been regarded as important cornerstones in the economic viability of urbanized areas. The focus of this review, therefore, is on the identification of select performance measures that would provide to the operators of Pennsylvania's small transit system, a simplistic means of measuring the impact of low-capital intensive system improvements as well as highlight existing or emerging operating problems. /Author/

Abstract: A review was first made of the concepts and definitions of efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity in the public transportation sector, and an appropriate framework for the development of a set of performance indicators was presented. Several potential uses of performance concepts as policy tools, management tools, and planning tools are also examined. In the second part of the project, an effort was made to examine the driver productivity issues and to identify the factors that may have a critical influence on system productivity and operating cost. This was done by examining a group of labor contracts and analyzing the available bus transit operation data. The third part of the project, report three, involved the development and validation of two methodologies to analyze various policies to improve urban transit performance with particular emphases upon bus transit systems in small to medium-sized urban areas.

Abstract: The document presents a review of the concepts and definitions of efficiency, effectiveness, and productivity in the public transportation sector. The development of appropriate performance indicators is discussed. The trend of bus transit performance indicators is examined separately for various classes of transit systems. In addition, a scheme of stratification is also presented on the premise that there exist many environmental and policy factors outside the control of the transit operator which impose constraints on the peformance of transit systems. The transit systems considered herein include the entire set of bus systems reporting to the American Public Transit Association (APTA) in 1975. Finally, the report presents several potential uses of productivity concepts. Although these concepts are presently being used to allocate funds in some states, there are other uses such as for public policy evaluation, assessment of TSM strategies, as well as the establishment of clearly defined and measureable goals and objectives for urban transit.