1. Creating Improved Performance Measures That Evaluate Public Transit as a Ladder to Opportunity
Saeed Reza Ramezanpour Nargesi, Kris Hohn, Sheida Khademi, Vivian Miller, Lubia Gwak, Stephen Mattingly, Courtney Cronley, Noelle Fields
University of Texas at Arlington
Fifth Annual Summer Conference on Livable Communities
June 2018

2. Introduction Current typical public transit performance measures (PMs)
Do not emphasize important issues for environmental justice populations
Employment
Access to healthcare
Other opportunities
Healthy food
Green space
Family/social
Transit agencies typically focus on
Management/Efficiency
Attracting choice riders
Community-based participatory research (CBPR) used to create new PMs

3. Literature Review The selected performance measures should be:
Measurable
Understandable for non-transportation experts
Viable for transportation professionals
Related to an actual system operations
Based on statistical measurement techniques
Consistent with other systems’ measures
Suggest the most appropriate cost-effective ways of data collection

4. Literature Review – Agency Perspective
The recommended performance measures need to ensure:
Riders and stakeholders recognize the performance aims of the system
Accurate data collection gives more information than ridership alone
Technicians are well informed for evaluating the system
Modifications in system use objective standards to support changes
Protect the transit provider’s interests from personal requests for changes in the system which are not reasonable

5. Literature Review-Goals
The Memphis Area Transit Authority (MATA):
Increase Ridership While Maintaining Service Efficiency
(Ridership/Efficiency)
Operate Reliable Transportation Services (Reliability/Quality)
Sustain a Customer-Focused Service Environment (Customer Focus)
Ensure a Safe and Clean Environment for Both Customers and
Employees (Safety/Security)

6. Literature Review Sample Performance Measure Categories
Sample Transit Agency
APTA
KCATA
BRATS
Lebanon Transit
DC Circulator TDP
MATA
FAST
MTA
FRTS
PART
FTA
RTD
Great Greenville area Transit
PRT (Pocatello Regional Transit)
HCM
Spokane Transit
Sample Performance Measure Categories
Cost Effectiveness/Efficiency
Customer Focus/Community
Environmental
Operation
Reliability
Safety and Security
Service quality

7. Literature Review Results
Categories for Agencies
PM Category
% of agencies consider this PM Category
Cost Effectiveness/Efficiency 72
Customer Focus/Community 39
Environmental 17
Operation
Reliability 28
Safety and Security 44
Service quality

8. Literature Review Results
PM Category PM
% of Repetition
Cost Effectiveness/Efficiency
cost efficiency 10
cost per hour 13
cost per mile
cost per passenger-trip 23
fare recovery
Customer focus/Community
complaints 14
Operation (Service Coverage)
passenger miles/trip 42
vehicle miles
Operation (Service Hour)
travel time 22
dwell time
hours of service 17
passengers per hour
vehicle hours
Safety and Security
accidents per 1000 miles 19
crash rate 25

9. Key Findings – Existing PMs
Service area PMs could be improved
Little consensus among agencies
Primarily
Operations
Cost Effectiveness/Efficiency
Transit agencies need new PMs to measure:
Accessibility
Connectivity
Service quality

10. Community Advisory Board (CAB)
Comprised of transportation experts, partners and other stakeholders
(mostly from DFW area)
Meetings are led by social workers using zoom software
Literature review results presented in the first meeting
Tailor best strategies from the literature and select examples from
other communities for DFW region

11. Community Advisory Board (CAB)
Will ensure the data collection process includes community engagement in the second meeting
Review summary findings from the community engagement data collection process in the final meeting
Inputs from CAB meetings will be used to conduct focus groups, semi structured interviews and surveys

12. Community Engagement
Collect data with 3 focus groups, approximately 20 in-depth, semi- structured interviews, and surveys
EJ communities and a broad array of stakeholders are surveyed regarding their perspectives on the first/last mile
Focus groups and interviews will be conducted in-person; surveys will be administered online and in-person to maximize response rate

13. Focus Group Questions
1. Briefly describe your position, the length of time you have been in it, and what you do in your job that is related to transportation.
2. What does “transportation disadvantage” mean to you?
3. What do you think we can do to better plan for transportation in our community?
4. Identify any barriers to improving fair access to transportation opportunities?
5. What do you believe is important to close the gap in equitable transportation?

14. Focus Group Questions 6. Do you use public transportation?
Why or why not?
If yes, how often? What’s it like?
How about Uber or Lyft?
Would you feel more inclined to use public transportation if the system was different in some way?
Incentives
Ease of use (number of stops, convenience, comfort, etc.)

15. Future Roadmap Develop and evaluate transit performance measures
Transit system’s economic viability/sustainability
Equity
Health
Access to opportunity
Evaluate candidate PMs
Reliability
Availability
Complexity of interpretation
Costs related to collection
Timeliness

16. Case Study Application
Evaluate First/Last Mile Alternatives
Case Studies
EJ communities
Non EJ-communities
Access to opportunity
Evaluate candidate PMs
Prioritize recommendations
Review findings with CAB