Social and Economic Sustainability Performance Measures for Public Transportation: Final Guidance Document (2019)

Below is the uncorrected machine-read text of this chapter, intended to provide our own search engines and external engines with highly rich, chapter-representative searchable text of each book. Because it is UNCORRECTED material, please consider the following text as a useful but insufficient proxy for the authoritative book pages.

20 S E C T I O N 3 3.1 Performance Measure Identification From the resources reviewed as part of the literature review, the research team assembled a list of 688 measures: 595 social and economic performance measures and a separate list of 93 transit service measures. For the purposes of this report, service measures represent an aspect of transit service that impacts or indirectly measures passenger perception of quality of service. Transit service mea- sures cover services offered or utilized (e.g., annual ridership, vehicles operated in maximum service), transit availability (e.g., service coverage, hours of service), transit convenience (e.g., travel time), vehicular capacity, and vehicle speed or delay. Although transit service measures often affect social and economic sustainability, they represent measures of a transit agency’s core mission—to provide mobility. For purposes of analysis, therefore, the research team separated the 93 transit service measures from the list of social and economic performance measures. Next, some of these performance measures were adapted to make them more universally appli- cable (e.g., by making them appropriate for multiple transit modes or removing references to specific transit agencies), understandable (e.g., by removing jargon), inclusive (e.g., by adding additional user types in order to reflect the needs of a wider group of the traveling public), specific (e.g., by specifying capital costs when capital costs were implied), or meaningful (e.g., by adding “by type” to “expenses” to capture more specific data). To address specific topics and capture a full range of outcomes important in the APTA Recommended Practice, the research team created 11 additional social and economic perfor- mance measures based on their experience. For example, the project panel had expressed interest in including measures related to health and wellness, a topic not well covered by the measures identified during the literature review. In addition, of the 595 measures identified from the literature review, none specifically addressed homelessness, which is an increasing concern for transit agencies and a topic discussed during the 2018 APTA Sustainability and Multimodal Workshop. Adding these 11 performance measures raised the number of social and economic performance measures listed to 606 measures. 3.2 Performance Measure Evaluation Based on feedback from the panel, the research team developed a process to evaluate and refine the list of social and economic sustainability performance measures. The process involved five tasks: Task 1. Characterization. The research team characterized each performance measure by cat- egory (see Table 5) and by type of measure (see Table 6), and eliminated redundant measures. Performance Measures

Performance Measures 21 Task 2. Qualitative Screening. The research team qualitatively screened the performance measures using evaluation criteria approved by the panel and refined the list to a desired range of approximately 60 to 80 measures. The evaluation criteria included: • Measure’s Applicability. How applicable is the measure to transit agency operations? • Universal Applicability. Is the measure expected to be universally applicable to all types and sizes of transit agencies? • Realistic and Attainable. Is the level of effort to collect and maintain the data to support this measure reasonable considering transit agencies resources? • Monitoring/Implementation. Is the measure reasonable to track over time and use as a continuous process improvement benchmark? • Well Understood. Is the measure understandable by transit agency stakeholders and/or by standard setting organizations? Category Purpose Characterization Process Alignment with Goals/ Objectives Determine if the measure clearly connects to goals and objectives identified in the APTA Recommended Practice (APTA 2018b). Each measure was mapped to an APTA social and economic goal and objective. Transit Agency Characteristics Identify the type of agencies to which the measure would apply. The research team identified the mode(s) to which each measure would apply and whether the measure applies to rural and/or urban geographies. Type of Measure Identify a mix of different types of measures. Each measure was characterized as an input, process, output, or outcome measure (see Table 6). Environmental Justice Enable consideration of environmental justice. “Yes” indicates that a measure could be evaluated for environmental justice considerations, and “No” indicates that the measure likely cannot account for environmental justice. Span of Control Avoid too many measures that are not within the transit agency’s span of control. “Yes” indicates that the measure is expected to be within a transit agency’s control, and “No” indicates that it is not likely to be within an agency’s control. Social/ Economic Include a mix of social and economic measures. Each measure was identified as a social or economic measure. When there was overlap, the research team selected the best fit. Internal/ External Include a mix of measures with internal and external impacts. Each measure was characterized as having primarily internal (within the transit agency) or external (outside of the transit agency) social and/or economic impacts. Table 5. Performance measure characterization. Type Description Input Measures of resources invested by the transit agency, such as the number/percent of employees trained by type of training, level, and gender (leading measure) Process Measures of the policies and planning activities the transit agency has in place to support performance management, such as a process to track and report data (leading measure) Output Measures direct results, such as the percentage of transit stops with transit schedule and route information provided (lagging measure) Outcome Measures ultimate results, such as the overall satisfaction with the transit system by user group (lagging measure) Source: Adapted from Litman (2016), p. 15 Table 6. Types of performance measures.

22 Social and Economic Sustainability Performance Measures for Public Transportation: Final Guidance Document Task 3. Validation. The panel and members of the APTA working group on social and economic sustainability completed a survey evaluating the refined measures using the established evaluation criteria. Task 4. Refinement. Based on the results of the survey and feedback from the panel, the research team revised the refined list of measures to identify a list of “top measures.” A detailed description of the performance measure evaluation process is provided in Appendix C. 3.3 List of Performance Measures The resulting list of top performance measures is presented in Table 7. The measures are grouped by APTA goal and listed in order based on the measure’s score from the validation survey (see Appendix D). Table 8 presents the refined list of service measures. 3.4 Social and Economic Performance Measures Database The Social and Economic Performance Measures Database that accompanies this report contains six tabbed worksheets, as follows: • Readme. This worksheet presents a table with key information orienting users to the database. • Performance Measures. This worksheet contains the final, refined list of performance measures based on research and feedback provided by panel members. • Service Measures. This worksheet contains the final list of service measures based on the research. • Pivot. This worksheet summarizes the number of measures by type of measure for each of the six APTA goals. • Measures from Research. This worksheet presents the original list of 595 social and economic performance measures that were identified during the literature review before changes were made to refine the measures, together with two additional columns listing performance mea- sure goal and target performance measure goal documents if the source agency had linked the performance measure to a specific agency goal. • Service Measures from Research. This worksheet presents the original list of 93 transit service measures that were identified during the literature review before changes were made to refine the measures. To preserve data integrity, the latter three worksheets arrive locked; a password to unlock them is provided for use if desired once the user has become familiar with the tool. The database tool indicates which measures were identified by the research team as top measures. On the Performance Measures worksheet, each of the social and economic performance measures listed also appears with information about the following attributes: • The APTA goal to which it corresponds; • The APTA objective to which it corresponds; • The type of agency that was the source of the measure (i.e., if the measure originated from a transit agency, transportation agency or neither); • The mode(s) to which it applies (“Bus,” “Rail,” “Rail/Bus,” “Paratransit,” or “All”); • The setting to which it applies (“Urban/Rural,” with entries of “Urban” or “Both”); • Whether the measure involves factors that are primarily internal or external to the agency (“Internal,” “External,” or “Both”);

No. Performance Measure Mode(s) Urban/ Rural Internal/ External Social/ Economic Type of Measure Could Consider Environmental Justice Span of Control COMMUNITY BUILDING AND ENGAGEMENT 1. Number of customer complaints responded to by type of complaint All Both External Social Outcome No Yes 2. Percentage of transit stops with transit schedule and route information provided All Both External Social Output Yes Yes 3. Overall satisfaction with the transit system by user group (e.g., non-drivers, people with disabilities, environmental justice populations, gender, age, choice riders) All Both External Social Outcome Yes Yes 4. Number/percentage of employees receiving customer service or engagement training (e.g., equity and social justice, hospitality, conflict resolution) by type of training All Both External Social Input Yes Yes 5. Number/percentage of projects that follow a public participation/engagement plan All Both External Social Input Yes Yes 6. Number of planning studies led or collaborated on per year All Both External Social Input No Yes 7. Number of community-based organization (CBO) events sponsored by/attended by transit staff All Both External Social Input Yes Yes ECONOMIC IMPACT 8. Number/percentage of employees who take public transit to work All Urban Both Economic Outcome Yes No 9. Number and percentage of jobs located within 1/2 mile of a transit stop All Both External Economic Outcome Yes No 10. Number and dollar value of D/M/WBE contracts awarded as a percentage of all contracts awarded All Both Internal Economic Outcome Yes Yes 11. Percentage of workforce living near transit stops by income level All Both External Economic Outcome Yes No 12. Number of new housing units within 1/2 mile of a rail or TOD [transit-oriented development] station All Both External Economic Outcome Yes No 13. Number of new jobs within 1/2 mile of a rail or TOD station All Both External Economic Outcome Yes No EMPLOYEES AND WORKFORCE 14. Employee retention rate by gender and age group All Both Internal Social Outcome No Yes 15. Ratio of the basic salary and remuneration of women to men for each employee category by significant locations of operation All Both Internal Social Outcome No Yes 16. Percentage of employees per employee category in each of the following categories: gender; age group (under 30, 30–50, over 50); minority and/or vulnerable group; disability; veteran All Both Internal Social Outcome No Yes 17. Number/percentage of vacant posts filled internally by promotion or transfer All Both Internal Social Outcome No Yes 18. Employee engagement/satisfaction score All Both Internal Social Outcome No Yes 19. Number/percentage of employees trained by type of training, level, and gender (e.g., leadership, management, anti-bias, and anti-harassment training) All Both Internal Social Input No Yes 20. Total number and rate of new employee hires during the reporting period by age group, gender, ethnicity, disability, and veteran status All Both Internal Social Outcome No Yes FINANCIAL 21. Total and percentage of revenue by type (e.g., capital, operating) and by source (e.g., fare, local, state, federal) All Both Internal Economic Outcome No Yes 22. Operating cost per revenue-hour and passenger-mile by mode All Both Internal Economic Outcome No Yes 23. Total expenses by type and mode (e.g., service, maintenance, admin., workforce) All Both Internal Economic Outcome No Yes 24. Fare box recovery ratio All Both Internal Economic Outcome No Yes 25. Percentage of capital projects within +/- 10% of the original budget All Both Internal Economic Outcome No Yes 26. Percentage of revenue and non-revenue vehicles (by type) that exceed the useful life benchmark All Both Both Social Input Yes Yes 27. Percentage of capital project costs supported by local funding, public-private partnerships, or other cost recovery mechanisms All Both External Economic Outcome No No 28. Number of projects and programs that have undergone formal sustainability or resilience assessments during planning and/or design All Both External Economic Process No Yes Table 7. Top performance measures by goal. (continued on next page)

No. Performance Measure Mode(s) Urban/ Rural Internal/ External Social/ Economic Type of Measure Could Consider Environmental Justice Span of Control 29. Number/percentage of RFPs [requests for proposals] that include sustainability criteria All Both Internal Social Input No Yes 30. Percentage of the procurement budget that is spent on suppliers local to operations (e.g., % of products and services purchased locally) All Both External Economic Outcome No Yes MOBILITY AND ACCESSIBILITY 31. Percentage of vehicles ADA accessible All Both External Social Output No Yes 32. Percentage of stations/stops ADA accessible All Both External Social Output No Yes 33. Percentage of transit stops with bicycle parking by type All Both External Social Output Yes Yes 34. Percentage of buses equipped with bicycle racks Bus Both External Social Output No Yes 35. Percentage of bus stops with shelters Bus Both External Social Output Yes Yes 36. Sidewalk connections, bike facility connections, pedestrian safety improvements included in project planning and design (measured in dollars or miles funded) All Both External Social Process Yes Yes 37. Percentage of population within service area that lives within 1/4 mile of a transit stop All Both External Economic Outcome Yes No 38. Percentage of users satisfied with the safety and comfort of existing bicycle and/or pedestrian facilities by user type (e.g., men, women, youth, seniors) All Both External Social Outcome Yes Yes 39. Number of employers and schools that have discounted transit fare programs All Both External Economic Input Yes No 40. Percentage of passenger station access mode share (active, shared mobility, drive and park) All Both External Social Outcome No No 41. Vulnerable population within 1/4 mile of a transit stop by type (low-income, limited English proficiency, aged, disabled) All Both External Economic Outcome Yes No 42. Percentage of riders who are low income, minority, limited English proficiency, ADA, or senior by mode All Both External Economic Outcome Yes No 43. Count of bikes on board all modes and parked at facilities recorded annually All Both External Social Outcome No Yes 44. Percentage of housing units within X miles of rail station or TOD areas that are affordable (e.g., units for which monthly rent or mortgage is equal to no more than 30% of area median income) All Both External Economic Outcome Yes No 45. Portion of [percentage of] household income devoted to public transit by lower-income households All Both External Economic Outcome Yes Yes 46. Ratio of vulnerable populations and non-vulnerable populations within service areas that live within 1/4 mile of a high-frequency transit stop All Both External Economic Outcome Yes No 47. Number of participants in a low-income fare program as a percentage of low-income riders All Both External Economic Outcome Yes Yes 48. Average time per trip spent commuting for work or school during peak periods via transit vs. private vehicles (minutes) All Both External Economic Outcome Yes Yes SAFETY AND EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS 49. Total number of reportable fatalities (passenger, worker, patron, public) by mode All Both Internal Social Outcome No Yes 50. Total incidence of crime on transit agency property by type of crime All Both External Social Outcome Yes Yes 51. Number and rate of recordable and reportable work-related injuries/illnesses by mode All Both Internal Social Outcome No Yes 52. Percentage of stations and vehicles with video surveillance All Both External Social Input Yes Yes 53. Average score of perceived safety on transit based on scale 1–10 by transit mode All Both External Social Outcome Yes Yes 54. Percentage of full-time equivalent employees that meet internally developed safety, security, and emergency preparedness training and certification guidelines All Both Internal Social Input No Yes 55. Number of close calls identified by operation type (e.g., bus operations, rail operations, maintenance shops) All Both Internal Social Input No Yes 56. Transit collisions per year compared to car collisions per year All Both External Social Outcome No Yes 57. Number of operations staff trained in interacting with the homeless All Both External Social Input Yes Yes Table 7. (Continued).

Performance Measures 25 No. Performance Measure Type of Measure 1. Access time (the minimum amount of time from when a passenger first requests service to the time a pick up can be guaranteed to occur) Outcome 2. Annual linked/unlinked passenger trips per capita Outcome 3. Average commute distances Outcome 4. Average commute travel times Outcome 5. Average distance traveled per person per day, in miles Outcome 6. Average passengers per hour Outcome 7. Average revenue passenger per day Outcome 8. Average rolling stock age Input 9. Average speed (mi/hr.) Outcome 10. Average trip distance, in miles Outcome 11. Bus load factor Outcome 12. Bus service supply per capita Input 13. Change in annual person miles traveled by mode Outcome 14. Change in travel time (by mode) for affected population due to maintenance activities Outcome 15. Change in travel time per mode per destination type Outcome 16. Deadhead hours Outcome 17. Deadhead miles Outcome 18. Directional route-miles Outcome 19. Distance between stops Output 20. Maximum vehicles in operation Output 21. Mean inter-arrival time of buses, frequency Outcome 22. Mean occupancy rate of seats Outcome 23. Mean waiting time of traveler(s) Outcome 24. Number of off-loads due to railcar problems Outcome 25. Passenger km per capita/urban area Outcome 26. Passenger loads Outcome 27. Passenger-miles Outcome 28. Percentage of late arrival of traveler(s) to final destination Outcome 29. Percentage of on-time performance by mode Outcome 30. Percentage of vehicle occupancy compared to optimal vehicle occupancy Outcome 31. Percentage of public transit buses exceeding useful life Input 32. Percentage of trains/seats that arrive on time by route Outcome 33. Percentage of travelers that could not find a seat Outcome 34. Percentage of on-time performance (within 5 min.) at transfer points Outcome 35. Probability that a bus/train will miss a connection Outcome 36. Probability that travelers will miss a connection Outcome 37. Public transit LOS Outcome 38. Ratio of passengers carried vs. vehicle capacity, by mode Outcome 39. Ratio of scheduled to delivered service by transit mode Outcome 40. Revenue passengers per year Outcome 41. Ridership by mode Outcome 42. Ridership growth (%) vs. population growth (%) Outcome 43. Scheduled service hours delivered, total and per 1,000 people Outcome 44. Scheduled vehicle revenue-miles Outcome 45. Service hours publicly scheduled, total and per 1,000 people Output 46. Service/route headways Outcome 47. Percentage of travelers who arrive on time Outcome Table 8. Refined list of transit service measures. (continued on next page)

26 Social and Economic Sustainability Performance Measures for Public Transportation: Final Guidance Document • The primary focus of the measure (“Social” or “Economic”); • The performance measure type (“Input,” “Output,” “Process,” or “Outcome); • If the measure could be used to consider environmental justice (“Yes” or “No”); and • Whether the measure falls within the agency’s span of control (“Yes” or “No”). For each top measure, the tool also lists suggested potential data sources. Transit agen- cies can filter by any of the listed attributes to narrow down the list of measures for their specific needs. The “Readme” tab in the tool provides additional guidance on how to use the list of mea- sures. The research team suggests that transit agencies start with the list of top performance measures when developing social and economic sustainability measures that align with the agency’s goals and objectives. If the list of top performance measures does not provide a measure that meets the transit agency’s needs, the agency can reference the complete list to identify additional measures. No. Performance Measure Type of Measure 48. Train-miles Outcome 49. Train revenue-miles Outcome 50. Transit boardings per route-mile Outcome 51. Transit boardings per vehicle revenue-hour Outcome 52. Transit headways (minutes between vehicles on scheduled routes) Output 53. Vehicle hours Outcome 54. Vehicle-miles Outcome 55. Vehicle revenue-hours Outcome 56. Vehicle revenue-miles Outcome Table 8. (Continued).