Guidebook for Measuring, Assessing, and Improving Performance of Demand-Response Transportation (2008)

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Demand-response transportation (DRT) systems are under pressure to improve performance, with growing demand for service and increasing costs at many transit systems around the country. Given the nature of DRT service, with relatively low productivity and corresponding high per- trip costs compared to fixed-route services, such pressures are not new. A 1976 report on DRT and other paratransit services found that one of the pressing issues for the then-new industry was finding ways of “reducing costs and increasing productivity.”1 Improving performance, however, requires an understanding of the characteristics of DRT and the environment within which it operates. Improving performance also requires that DRT sys- tems measure where they are now and the progress of their performance over time. To do so, DRT systems need consistent data and clearly defined performance measures, which will facilitate their own internal assessment as well as comparisons of performance across the industry. Once DRT systems have assessed their performance and documented where they stand relative to their own service and compared to others, opportunities for improvement can then be considered. 1.1 Objective of Guidebook This Guidebook has been prepared under the TCRP Project B-31, “Guidebook for Measur- ing, Assessing, and Improving Performance of Demand-Response Transportation.” The objec- tive of the project was to develop a resource that assists DRT systems to measure, assess, and improve their performance, focusing on DRT systems in urban areas. A companion report is being prepared that focuses on rural DRT. As directed by the project’s research panel, the Guide- book is also intended to address the diversity of DRT systems, service areas, and passengers; to identify the important controllable factors affecting DRT performance; and to include per- formance assessment methods based on reliable data and meaningful measures. Such assessment methods will allow relevant assessments of DRT performance over time and across DRT systems. Research Approach To meet the research panel’s objectives, the research team followed a defined plan, which included the following efforts: • Developing a typology of DRT systems in urban areas with categories based on criteria affect- ing performance; 1 C H A P T E R 1 Introduction 1 Paratransit: Proceeding of a Conference November 9-12, 1975, conducted by the Transportation Research Board and sponsored by the Urban Mass Transportation Administration, Special Report 164, Transportation Research Board, National Research Council, Washington, D.C., 1976, p 212.

• Defining key performance data and a limited set of performance measures for DRT; • Identifying the various factors that influence DRT performance; • Collecting performance data from DRT systems representative of the defined categories; • Identifying policies, procedures, practices, and strategies—collectively referred to as manage- ment actions—that DRT systems have implemented to improve their performance; and • Documenting quantitative and qualitative effects on performance from those management actions. The results of the research efforts are documented in the Guidebook. 1.2 Guidebook Organization The Guidebook has seven chapters. Chapters 2 through 4 cover the fundamentals of DRT performance assessment, such as definitions of performance data items included with the National Transit Database (NTD) and selection of performance measures for the Guidebook. Chapters 5 through 7 address more challenging aspects of the project’s research, including devel- opment of the typology of DRT systems and collection and presentation of performance data from more than 35 DRT systems across the country. Readers of the Guidebook who are well- versed in DRT performance measurement and particularly NTD may find the latter chapters more useful. Following this introductory Chapter 1, the Guidebook is structured as follows: Chapter 2: DRT Performance—The Basics provides a framework for the Guidebook, with a brief background on DRT and its performance, establishing a starting point for the chapters that follow. Chapter 3: Performance Data and Definitions addresses performance data, definitions, and data collection practices and procedures. This is a chapter with much detail, and readers not interested in the particulars of NTD terminology or data collection practices that lead to incon- sistent data should skip to Table 3-1, which provides a listing of the key performance data and definitions for the Guidebook. Chapter 4: Performance Measures identifies the limited set of measures used for the Guide- book, building on the key performance data discussed in Chapter 3. Chapter 5: Assessing Performance—Typology of DRT Systems presents the categorization of DRT systems developed through the research project, with systems grouped into categories with similar characteristics that affect performance. Chapter 6: Assessing Performance—Data from Representative Systems presents the performance data from the selected DRT systems representative of the different types of DRT, providing benchmark data for DRT systems. Chapter 7: Improving Performance discusses the factors that influence DRT performance and presents selected policies, procedures, strategies, and practices i.e. management actions iden- tified through the project’s research by participating DRT systems as strategies and actions that improved performance. Quantitative and qualitative performance effects of these management actions are also presented. 2 Guidebook for Measuring, Assessing, and Improving Performance of Demand-Response Transportation