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Beyond Ridership: Measuring the Performance of Twin Cities Public Transit Systems

Traditionally, measuring the success of a public transit investment has fallen heavily on a few metrics. These are, for example, (i) utilization metrics including the actual number of riders versus forecasted numbers (total and per hour) and occupancy of facilities that support transit services such as park and rides; (ii) cost-effectiveness, including subsidies per passenger; and (iii) service reliability, such as excess waiting time, on-time performance, and safety. There is an opportunity to incorporate additional performance metrics that provide a more comprehensive and well-rounded understanding of the impacts of transit investments for policymakers and the public. Expanding beyond traditional measures allows for a more holistic evaluation of transit investments across multiple dimensions. Leveraging the project team’s expertise through projects such as Freeway Corridor Economic Impacts and Access Across America, this project aims to develop a suite of metrics to assist local policymakers in communicating the performance and local value of public transit investment beyond ridership numbers. These metrics can be applied at the project level to assess individual investments and at the system level. Incorporating accessibility, land use, and economic impacts in addition to traditional metrics would create a more robust and transparent measurement framework, and enable better informed decision-making. Additionally, this research will examine which of these measures are most appropriate for communicating outcomes to different audiences, including policymakers and the public. Findings from this research will be synthesized and presented in a final report.