April 2010 TRANSIT COOPERATIVE RESEARCH PROGRAM Sponsored by the Federal Transit Administration

Responsible Senior Program Officer: Gwen Chisholm-Smith Research Results Digest 95

International Transit Studies Program Report on the Spring 2009 Mission PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT AND OUTCOMES This TCRP digest summarizes the mission performed March 20 to April 3, 2009, under TCRP Project J-03, “International Transit Studies Program.” This digest includes transportation information on the organi- zations and facilities visited. It was prepared by Harrington-Hughes & Associates, Inc., and is based on reports filed by the mission participants.

INTERNATIONAL TRANSIT including a senior official designated as the STUDIES PROGRAM group spokesperson. Transit organizations across the nation are contacted directly and The International Transit Studies asked to nominate candidates for participa- Program (ITSP) is a part of the Transit tion in the program. Nominees are screened Cooperative Research Program (TCRP), by committee, and the TCRP Project J-03 authorized by the Intermodal Surface Oversight Panel endorses all selections. Transportation Efficiency Act of 1991 and Members are appointed to the study team reauthorized, in 2005, by the Safe, Account- based on their depth of knowledge and able, Flexible, Efficient Transportation experience in transit operations, as well Equity Act. TCRP is managed by the Trans- as for their demonstrated advancement portation Research Board (TRB) of the potential to executive levels of the public National Academies, and is funded annually transportation industry. Travel expenses CONTENTS by a grant from the Federal Transit Admin- International Transit for ITSP participants are underwritten by Studies Program, 1 istration (FTA). ITSP is managed by TCRP Project J-03 funding. About this Digest, 2 Harrington-Hughes & Associates, Inc., Each mission abroad focuses on a under a contract to the National Academies. Introduction, 2 theme that encompasses a topic of concern ITSP assists in the professional devel- in public transportation. Cities are selected Strategy Development, 4 opment of transit managers, planners, and according to their ability to demonstrate Measurement Items, 14 others charged with public transportation leading-edge strategies and approaches Quality Control, 22 responsibilities. ITSP carries out its mandate to public transportation issues and chal- Reporting Structure, 25 by offering transportation professionals lenges, as reflected in the study mission’s Course Correction, 28 practical insight into global public trans- overarching theme. Using Performance Data portation operations. The program affords The members of each study team are to Refine Strategy, 33 the opportunity for them to visit and study fully briefed prior to departure. The inten- Conclusion, 34 exemplary transit operations outside the sive, professionally challenging, two-week Appendix A—Study Mission United States. mission has three objectives: to afford team Team Members, 34 Two ITSP study missions are conducted members the opportunity to expand their Appendix B—Host Agencies, 35 each year, usually in the spring and fall, network of domestic and international pub- Appendix C—Abbreviations, 36 and are composed of up to 14 participants, lic transportation peers, to provide a forum for discussion of global initiatives and lessons learned Performance measures are used by U.S. public in public transportation, and to facilitate idea-sharing transportation agencies to direct resources, improve and the possible import of strategies for application to operations, determine the efficiency and effective- transportation communities in the United States. ness of service, and ensure strategic goals are met. For additional information about the Inter- Increasingly, funding agencies are also evaluating national Transit Studies Program, please contact public transport agencies’ performance when deter- Gwen Chisholm-Smith at TCRP (202-334-3246; mining where to allocate public funds for system [email protected]) or Kathryn Harrington-Hughes at expansion and improvement. Harrington-Hughes & Associates (410-770-9192; This study mission brought a team of transit pro- [email protected]). fessionals from large and small systems in commu- nities throughout the United States to Southeast Asia (Appendix A). There, they met with transit operators ABOUT THIS DIGEST and regulators in four cities in four countries to learn The following digest is an overview of a mission how performance measurement systems are used to that explored how performance measurements are improve public transport services (Figure 1). used to achieve organizational goals and enhance The host agencies in the four cities (Hong Kong, quality of service at public transport planning, fund- Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Taipei) were each sent ing, and operating agencies in Hong Kong, Special a list of questions as a starting point for discussion and Administrative Region of the People’s Republic to help them tailor their presentations to the study of China; in the city-state of Singapore; in Kuala mission theme. The questions included the following: Lumpur, Malaysia; and in Taipei, Taiwan. It is based • How are performance indicators determined? on individual reports provided by the mission team • What data are collected? How do you know members, and it reflects the observations of the team you are measuring the right things? How does members, who are responsible for the facts and accu- the data relate to agency goals and objectives? racy of the data presented. The digest does not nec- • What benchmarks are used? essarily reflect the view of TCRP, TRB, the National • What means are used to collect the data? How Academies, American Public Transportation Asso- do you optimize the use of automated data ciation (APTA), FTA, or Harrington-Hughes & collection? Associates. • How do you summarize, store, and report the A list of the study team members is included in data? Appendix A. A list of the public transport agencies • How is the data evaluated and analyzed? By and organizations with whom the team met is included whom? in Appendix B. • How do you use technology or outside ven- dors to ensure the quality of the data? • INTRODUCTION What outputs are used to indicate outcome? • How are data integrated to enable better deci- All organizations need to develop a strategy for sion making? how they want to grow and where they want to be in • How are the outcomes linked to customer and the future. Although many definitions exist for orga- community issues? nizational strategy development, one way to explain • How do you translate the information into it is as strategic and thoughtful planning with stake- action? holders to improve an agency and guide its develop- • How does transit management make use of the ment into the future. Because transportation agencies data? affect the public in such direct ways, organizational • How are performance measures used to strategy development is a vital component of provid- improve customer service? To evaluate cost ing efficient and effective services that meet the needs effectiveness? of the public. Measuring performance is one impor- • How do you make measurement everybody’s tant way to ensure that an organization is moving in job? the right direction. • Do you use performance measures for rewards?

2 Taipei Taipei Rapid Transit Corp. (Taipei Metro) National Chiao Tung University Taipei City Government

Hong Kong Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (KMB) MTR Corp. Transport Department

Kuala Lumpur RapidKL

Singapore Land Transport Authority (LTA) Public Transport Council (PTC) Singapore Corp. (SMRT) National University of Singapore

Figure 1 The study team met with transit operators and regulators in Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, and Taipei.

• Do you use pay for performance in service team members a broad understanding of the history, contracts? political structure, operation, management frame- • How are performance measures implemented? work, and performance measurement systems in How do you get employees to support the per- place at each agency. The systems have much in com- formance measurement system? How do you mon with each other and with U.S. transit agencies. educate them about performance measurement? Quality of service, safety, and cost control, for exam- • How do you tie measurements to strategy? Do ple, present the same challenges worldwide. On the you measure results that focus management other hand, many of the conditions underlying the attention on key strategic objectives? success of transit systems in Asia do not exist in U.S. • How are performance measures used in plan- cities. The political systems, approaches to planning, ning and delivering service, ensuring passen- population densities, and levels of investment in tran- ger safety and security, maintaining vehicles, sit in those systems are dramatically different from contracting for services and vehicles, and what one often sees in the United States. evaluating the effectiveness of service? To structure the study mission and ensure a com- The meetings, presentations, tours, and experi- prehensive review of the agencies visited, the team ences in conjunction with the study mission gave the members decided to organize their review around a

3 model of performance measurement that includes articulated in relatively broad terms, and most sys- the following: tems focus on customer satisfaction, safety, and orga- • nizational learning. From the broader strategies, the Strategy development—the agency’s articula- organizations identified individual goals and objec- tion of a clear strategic vision and direction and tives by department or disciplines. Specific, more the connection of performance measures to that refined targets and the performance measures used to strategy; gauge progress were then identified and monitored. • Measures—the specific items the agency has Base-level performance targets in all cases were chosen to observe, quantify, and document; established by governmental oversight agencies or • Reporting—the mechanisms and media the regulators, and additional targets and performance agency uses to inform appropriate parties within measures were developed internally, as well as and outside the agency about what they have through industry standards, such as those of the Inter- measured, and why; national Organization for Standardization (ISO), and • Quality control—a process the agency has put international benchmarking groups. Similarly, inter- in place to verify and ensure the accuracy of nal systems for gathering, storing, and reviewing data performance measurement data; are used. In most cases, system concepts were bor- • Course correction—how the agency uses the rowed from other organizations or toolkits adapted knowledge gained from the performance mea- for use in a particular system, such as the balanced sures to improve its operations; and scorecard, which is a tool to help organizations align • Strategy refinement—how the agency uses per- strategies with positive outcomes.1 formance information to make adjustments in Figure 2 illustrates the basic model for perfor- the strategic direction of the agency. mance improvement processes used by the transit systems visited during the study mission. The following common themes were noted in con- The transit operators in the four cities receive versations with the host agencies: some capital subsidies, such as land grants to build • It is important to provide a choice for the trav- facilities, initial capitalization for system infrastruc- eling public. ture, and fuel and/or tax relief subsidies to promote • Providing public transportation is a social profitability. But each system’s ability to expand responsibility. and to sustain profitability relies heavily on internal • Global warming/climate change is real, and the strategies. government wants to do something about it. • Roadways can no longer continue to be ex- Hong Kong panded for additional capacity. Cities cannot build themselves out of their capacity and Hong Kong has a population of 7 million in an congestion problems. area of 1,108 sq km. The transit system is privatized, but is overseen by the Hong Kong Transport Depart- These themes provide a context for the various ment, a governmental regulatory agency. There are no strategies and approaches taken by each of the host direct government subsidies in the way of cash out- agencies. lays, but initial system capitalization is funded by the government. In addition, licensing fees are waived, rent on government-owned facilities is below market STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT value, and licensed transit operators are exempt from gasoline taxes. The public transit systems in the four cities visited are seemingly motivated by fundamentally different factors than the public transit providers in the United 1 The balanced scorecard is a performance measurement system, States, primarily because they are largely privatized developed by Robert Kaplan and David Norton, that provides and focus on business strategies that improve prof- managers with several key measures of agency performance itability. This focus on profitability is, together with (customer satisfaction, internal processes, and ability to learn the requirements set by the government regulator, the and improve) that augment the traditional financial perfor- foundation for the business strategies developed by mance measures; the balanced scorecard gives a more complete each of the transit operators. Strategies are generally picture of where a business is, as well as where it is heading.

4 Internal Goals and Regulatory Requirements Objectives

Strategies

Inputs (ISO Standards, Performance Targets Benchmarking, Other)

Performance Measures

Data Assessment, Storage, and Reporting Assess and Adjust Tools (balanced scorecard, other)

Figure 2 Basic model of performance improvement processes used by the transit systems visited during the study mission.

Hong Kong’s public transportation system they consume a significantly larger per capita use of includes heavy rail, light rail, trams, buses, ferries, the road. Pedestrian walkways are typically located minibus systems, and taxis, as well as nonfranchised above or below street level to minimize interruptions bus operators that supplement the franchised bus to traffic. The number of vehicles in the city, includ- services during periods of peak or high demand. ing commercial vehicles, totals 565,000, of which Recently, Hong Kong has experienced a modal only 372,000 are privately owned automobiles, demand shift from bus to rail. The Transport Depart- resulting in a phenomenally low rate of car ownership ment encourages this trend as it will optimize road (53 cars per 1,000 population). capacity by reducing the number of vehicles traveling The study team met with the Hong Kong Trans- on its highly congested road system (Figure 3). Even port Department, the Kowloon Motor Bus Company the use of bicycles is discouraged in Hong Kong, as (KMB), and the MTR Corporation (MTR).

Transport Department Transportation infrastructure is a challenge in Hong Kong due to the mountainous terrain that covers approximately two-thirds of the land. The 2009-km roadway system has limited capacity, and there is just not enough land to expand the roadways. The Hong Kong Transport Department recognizes the importance of increasing the freight capacity of its roadways and thus encourages residents to shift to mass transit, and in particular to rail transit. The Transport Department estimates that its public trans- portation system, including taxis and nonfranchised transit operators, accommodates 12 million passen- ger trips per day. Figure 3 Hong Kong’s roadway system is extremely Approximately 90% of trips are taken on public congested, and there is no land for expansion; the Hong transport, with about 35% on rail transit. The Trans- Kong government encourages travelers to shift from port Department has defined the modes by capacity, bus to rail as a means of reducing the number of buses with heavy and light rail at the top of the list. Trams on the roads. are also considered part of the high-capacity rail

5 network. Franchised buses fall into the medium vide sufficient service at reasonable fares. The capacity category; they serve as feeder service to the Transport Department wants to promote healthy rail lines and provide service in areas not accessible competition among the various transport modes in by rail. order to elevate service, reduce waste, and enhance The Transport Department grants licenses, or sustainability. franchises, to private companies, allowing them to The Transport Department plans to expand its rail operate a variety of public transportation services, transit system with an investment of approximately including rail and bus service. Although the fran- HK$90 billion on five additional lines. As the rail ser- chisee’s performance is not necessarily related to the vice is expanded, bus routes will be reconfigured to renewal of the license, a license can be revoked for ensure integration and avoid competition between the “bad behavior.” As part of the license agreement, two modes. franchisees are required to provide an annual progress The Transport Department gives priority to devel- report to the Transport Department, as well as main- opment of rail transit, but it considers the franchised tain a “forward planning program” to address future bus operations to be an essential component of the needs and operations. overall system. Part of the Transport Department’s vision is pro- The Transport Department has granted six viding a transportation system that is “satisfying to licenses to five competing franchises to operate the both users and operators.” While there is no guarantee 600 bus routes in the city. Routes are negotiated by of profit for the franchisees, the government encour- the Transport Department. Bus companies must pro- ages the use of prudent business practices in deliver- vide the Transport Department with data to justify ing service to the customers in order to expand any requests to modify, change, or eliminate routes. ridership and turn a profit. The government does not In addition to the rail and bus franchises, the Trans- typically directly subsidize the operations of transit port Department grants 18,000 taxi licenses to service providers, but does provide indirect financial 15,000 owners/operators within the city. support through waivers of license fees and depot As part of the license agreement with the Trans- rental fees. Operators are also eligible to apply for fare port Department, transit operators must meet increases if they are operating at a loss. In some cases, government-specified performance measures. Using the government may contribute up to 80% of costs as surveys and site visits, the Transport Department a subsidy. The government always encourages the audits the data that has been submitted. To evaluate franchisees to continually improve productivity so that actual performance, the Transport Department com- they can eventually lower fares. pares the data to the targets that had been established The franchisees are allowed to keep 100% of their and works with the operators to identify problems that profit, up to a 9.7% return. If profits exceed 9.7%, the are keeping the operators from meeting their targets. franchisees are required to share 50% of the excessive They also work together to identify any necessary profit with their customers, through a rider fund that course correction. must be used for the benefit of passengers. The Transport Department recently commemo- Kowloon Motor Bus Company rated its 40th anniversary. Comprehensive transport studies (CTS) are completed about every 10 years. In Hong Kong, where 90% of trips take place on The third CTS (CTS-3) was completed in 1999 for public transit, the Kowloon Motor Bus Company the horizon year 2016. It established the long-term carries 2.7 million passengers daily on roughly strategy for Hong Kong’s transport system. 400 routes. KMB is the largest private bus company Critical pieces of CTS-3 included integrating in Hong Kong, and it is a wholly owned subsidiary of land use and transport planning, optimizing rail Transport International Holdings Limited, a publicly usage, improving public transport services and traded corporation. KMB began operations in 1933, facilities, improving the use of new technologies, and it has expanded significantly since then. Today it and increasing environmental responsibility. The operates and maintains a fleet of 4,300 buses in eight government’s policy is to establish rail trunk lines depots, and it employs 13,000 persons. and to use buses to feed the trunk lines and serve There are two primary motivations for KMB’s sections of the city that cannot or will not be served performance measurement strategies—to achieve the by rail. It is also the government’s policy to pro- regulatory requirements set by Hong Kong Transport

6 Department, which allow KMB to maintain its public can be extended to 1 month, provided an interim transport franchise, and to improve its public image reply is sent within 10 days), and hence improve profitability. The objectives and • Passenger liaison meeting—held six times strategies for meeting these goals are set by the regu- each year, latory agency and by KMB’s board of directors and • Passenger information at bus terminals— are articulated in its Corporate Social Responsibility current route and fare information should be Charter, which focuses on employee engagement, readily available, and caring for customers, effective communication, and • Passenger information at stops—current route environmental performance.2 information should be readily available. Bus operators in Hong Kong must compile and submit performance data to the Transport Department To identify and measure its performance in various at least annually. The Transport Department estab- areas, KMB uses frameworks provided by organi- lishes performance targets based on the prior 3 years zational standards, ISO standards, and regulatory of data. Performance is indexed to targets, and the measures. regulatory agency can recommend improvement mea- The publicly listed company is governed by a sures if an operator does not meet its targets. The board of directors, and two of the board members are Transport Department establishes performance appointed by the Hong Kong Transport Department. measures and targets that are not dissimilar from the KMB considered participating in an international business objectives expressed in KMB’s internal benchmarking group, but elected not to, in the belief strategies. The targets include the following: that the group’s measurements were not relevant to • Reliability, the company. • Bus availability—the ratio of actual bus allo- cation to scheduled allocation, MTR Corporation • Lost trips—a maximum allowable percentage MTR operates nine rail lines serving Hong Kong of total trips scheduled, Island, Kowloon, and the New Territories, as well • Efficiency, as a light-rail network, a bus fleet, and the Airport • Bus utilization—the percentage of the licensed Express high-speed rail line. The Hong Kong gov- fleet that is actually on the road, ernment, once the sole shareholder, now owns • Safety, • 75% of MTR. In 2007, the operations of the other Training program for new bus captains government-owned rail operator, Kowloon-Canton (drivers)—percentage of newly recruited bus Railway Corporation, were merged into MTR’s oper- captains who receive training before provid- ations, making MTR the only rail operator in Hong ing service to passengers, • Kong today. Training for in-service bus captains— MTR’s business interests are quite diverse and percentage of bus captains who participate in include private consultancy services in planning, at least one training session every 3 years, engineering, and design, as well as business devel- • Cleanliness of system, opment. The company also has a flourishing real • Bus body—washed once daily, estate management division. Five new lines, includ- • Bus floors—swept at least twice per day, • Environmental friendliness—percentage of ing one to mainland China, are currently in the fleet meeting Euro 2 (or higher) emission planning phase and are expected to be in operation standards, within the next 6 or 7 years. MTR carries 4.2 million • User friendliness, passengers daily in its 1,200 vehicles; 3.8 million of • Complaints—each person filing a complaint these passengers are on heavy rail. should receive a full response within 10 days There are two discrete streams for establishing (for more complicated cases, the reply period performance: regulatory requirements and business strategies. MTR uses strategy planning as a basis for its budget development, and it requires that sys- tem performance standards correspond to its cus- 2The Corporate Social Responsibility Charter is available at tomer service pledge. Service standards that do not www.kmb.hk/eng/pdf/csr.pdf. drive performance outcomes are identified and used

7 occasionally. MTR tries to optimize performance evaluating outcomes. There are four primary areas improvements by evaluating demand for the improve- that are key in developing performance strategies ments with the associated costs. and objectives; safety, financial performance, regu- The company wishes to create a “lifestyle of latory requirements, and customer satisfaction. health and sustainability,” and the company motto is MTR has developed a set of indices for each oper- “the ride to great living.” ational area, including environmental control sys- MTR’s business strategies are the key drivers for tems, fixed plant fare systems, communications, and improving financial performance, and they are aimed lifts and escalators. Data collection and monitoring at two broad objectives—growth and productivity. is conducted through MTR’s station management MTR concentrates on the following four interrelated system and incident reporting. MTR also monitors areas: customer satisfaction areas, such as train cleanliness • Financial performance, which focuses on and temperature, which are verified through schedul- increasing MTR’s market share, revenue ing reviews and customer surveys. diversity, optimization of assets, and cost effi- MTR publishes its data quarterly. The data are ciencies; reviewed and validated by a public auditor. Directors • Customer satisfaction, which focuses on cus- and managers partake in monthly meetings to respond tomer service, fostering/improving community to specific performance indicators. MTR’s commit- relations, and improving safety; ment to constant improvement through performance • Process and efficiency, which involves sys- targets is evident by its employment priorities, which tem reliability, ensuring service and service include a full-time staff member who focuses on per- expansion are meeting market demand, and formance measures. Other members of MTR commit good safety practices; and 10% of their time to performance measure assess- • Organizational learning. ment, and managers spend 20% of their time review- ing data and reporting performance measures. The MTR’s operating agreement also requires that it resulting performance measurement data is a product meet certain performance criteria in various areas. of these efforts. MTR’s commitment to customers is embodied in MTR uses the balanced scorecard system to align its customer service pledge. The pledge, combined its strategies with performance; the scorecard is inte- with customer satisfaction survey data, informs the grated into its business plan, where it is used to under- company’s customer service target. The target is then stand the data that is being collected and to measure used, in conjunction with other performance require- progress. The balanced scorecard allows MTR to ments, to develop the system performance standards. review a specific performance area and its relation- MTR also provides historical data and performance ship to the factors that influence performance, which trends as input to the system performance standards. helps management understand and determine how to MTR considers multiple factors when establish- allocate resources to specific areas. The three key ing performance measures, including the following: indicators factored into the balanced scorecard are operational statistics, budget variance, and safety and • The requirements set by the regulator (Trans- security (accident and injury rates). The data are port Department); reviewed to gain an understanding of how system out- • Local regulations or standards (e.g., noise comes measure up to system targets. levels); • Customer needs; • Market competition; Singapore • Benchmarking with agencies in other cities; Land Transport Authority • Cost efficiencies; and and Public Transport Council • Targets established by best practices and achievable and acceptable by equipment The city-state of Singapore covers an area of suppliers. 710 sq km, and it has a population of 4.8 million. There are 3,300 km of roads on this small island. Sin- MTR has a highly structured approach for establish- gapore has an extensive rail rapid transit system of ing targets, developing performance measures, and 167 km with 143 stations, combining both heavy rail

8 and light rail technologies. Along with the rail sys- structure that is affordable while still allowing the tem, 3,700 buses serve 4,600 bus stops on 260 routes operators to turn a profit. Operation and maintenance to provide 4.5 million transit trips per day. The pub- costs are expected to be covered by fare and nonfare lic transportation mode share is currently 63%. revenues, including advertisement placements and Singapore’s Land Transport Authority (LTA) leases of station space. and Public Transport Council (PTC) operate within There is no cap placed on operators’ revenues, the auspices of the Ministry of Transport. The gov- but PTC can cut fares to limit revenues. Although ernment provides the transit infrastructure and oper- fares are capped each year, they can change based on ating assets. The operators are beholden to LTA as a number of factors, including inflation and unem- the regulator of public transport service and safety ployment. Opportunities to earn greater revenues standards, and their operating licenses are dependent are encouraged in order to maximize profits. Every on compliance. 5 years, however, PTC asks the operators to extract The Rapid Transit Systems Act gives LTA the some of their profits to give back to the communities. authority to grant operating licenses, regulate terms Adherence to the bus quality of service standards and conditions of concessionaire contracts, and issue is a requirement in each operator’s license agreement. standards for practice, as well as directives, as needed, Public transport operators submit monthly compli- to individual operators. LTA can impose penalties, ance reports that explain any noncompliant perfor- including loss of license, on operators for noncompli- mance and include requests for waivers from the ance. Rail transit operating licenses are granted for performance standards. LTA evaluates the requests 30-year terms and require the operator to follow the by considering the data and justification. Results are operating performance standards and document and presented to PTC two times per year, including rec- implement a safety management system and describe ommendations for penalties. The transit operators its plans for managing operations. have an opportunity to appeal to PTC, and if the tran- LTA integrates its planning efforts with Singa- sit operator does not agree with the PTC’s ruling, it pore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority. The govern- may appeal to the Minister of Transport to overturn ment owns 80% of the land in Singapore, and all new the ruling. development must seek approval from the Urban Public transport operators submit annual reports Redevelopment Authority. and financial statements to LTA and PTC for review. LTA is poised to take over central bus network LTA has authority to conduct audits to ensure that planning. In the future, the department will license operators are in compliance. Random audits are con- bus routes in packages in order to encourage better ducted on a monthly basis. Process audits of the oper- connectivity throughout the system. ators are performed annually, and a system audit takes Historically, Singapore’s urban transport policy place every 3 years. considered the regulation of transport providers as For the rapid transit system, the operating perfor- public utilities. The operators were not meant to mance standards require compliance with compre- compete with each other. LTA currently is taking hensive key performance indicators in service quality, steps to encourage more competition between tran- safety, and equipment performance and reliability. To sit providers. LTA believes that the system should LTA, the customer’s entire journey experience is be profitable and that individual lines should be important enough to require performance standards in regarded as contributing to the entire system. How- these areas. ever, unprofitable routes or lines are not necessarily The Land Transport Masterplan for Singapore less important or less useful. was finalized in March 2008.3 In preparing to rework PTC is a 16-member organization made up of its transportation master plan, the Singapore govern- union representatives, academics, and community ment looked at the trends of increasing travel demand leaders. Members are nominated or recommended to and of increasing use of private automobiles on the the Minister of Transport for appointment. island. The government’s study of the demograph- PTC regulates bus service standards and fares. Its ics of the changing population highlighted the fact responsibility is to balance service standards with the that these trends were not in alignment with the need for financial sustainability of the operating com- panies. This is accomplished through government 3The Land Transport Masterplan is available at http://app.lta. oversight of service quality and by maintaining a fare gov.sg/ltmp/index.asp.

9 expectations of the traveling public. LTA seriously SMRT Corporation considered the impact of increasing private automo- In 1987, the Singapore Mass Transit Rail Corpo- bile use on overall system capacity and environmen- ration (SMRT) became Singapore’s first transit oper- tal sustainability and concluded that drastic measures ator. A publicly traded company, today’s SMRT were needed to change travel behavior. It decided to Corporation provides engineering, project manage- focus the Land Transport Masterplan on the needs of ment, and property management services, in addition the community. The plan’s basic premise is to work to managing a suite of transportation alternatives, toward “a people-centered land transport system.” including heavy and light rail, bus, and taxi. A divi- The master plan contains three main strategies, sion sells and produces advertising media. or thrusts, as follows: The corporation operates two driverless light • Making public transport a choice mode, rail transit (LRT) lines: the Circle Line, or CCL, with • Managing road usage, and 33 km of track and 23 stations, and the Bukit Panjang • Meeting the diverse needs of the people. Line, with 8 km of track and 14 stations. The LRT sys- tem, which is completely elevated, carries 14.3 million Within these three strategies are several objectives. passengers annually. SMRT also operates the Mass The first thrust, “Making public transport a choice Rapid Transit system, or MRT, a 93-km electrified mode,” contains objectives for improving overall heavy rail line with 53 stations serving 1.5 million pas- performance of the public transportation system, senger trips per day. Its bus system includes 860 vehi- including making improvements to the system by cles, which carry more than 270 million passengers expanding the rail network through new lines and each year. SMRT is also the second largest taxi oper- extensions, improving travel times, creating more ator in the region. competition, providing bus priority, and changing The company’s goals are adopted by its board of the fare structure to a distance-based system. More directors and made public. SMRT’s overall goal is to specifically, the transport plan has set targets that become the transit customer’s choice provider through would enable 85% of commuters to complete their its outstanding performance. SMRT’s license and door-to-door journeys within 60 minutes during the operating agreement commits SMRT to meeting per- morning peak through improved transfers, accessibil- formance standards in areas such as operations, main- ity, and frequency. The plan also seeks to double the tenance, and safety, as set forth by LTA and PTC. rail transit network to 278 km by 2020 and increase SMRT’s performance strategies fall into two bus speeds to 20–25 km/h, up from 16–19 km/h. LTA broad areas: those that are set internally to improve has set a goal of increasing the public transport mode profitability, and those set by the regulatory agency share to 70% in 2020, from today’s share of 63%. The (LTA). The internal strategies focus on customer sat- operational key performance indicators that are isfaction, profitability of existing services, and busi- required in the operator licenses address safety, relia- ness diversity (nonfare areas) and growth (operating bility, accessibility, and customer service—all key transit systems in other markets). Specific objectives factors in encouraging or deterring ridership. articulated in SMRT’s 2007 annual report4 include The second thrust, “managing road usage,” is the following: designed to limit the number of cars that use the road- way system by engaging in electronic road pricing, • Maximize long-term shareholder value by allowing market forces to set parking policies, and – Improving group profitability, strictly limiting the number of vehicle registrations – Providing good dividend payouts to share- issued. holders, and The third thrust, “meeting the diverse needs of – Managing risks to mitigate impact on earn- the people,” will be accomplished through engaging ing and prospects; the community, enhancing accessibility by providing • Provide safe, reliable, and friendly travel expe- barrier-free facilities and keeping fares as low as pos- rience at affordable prices; sible, making transfer stations into “lifestyle hubs,” and promoting the use of bicycles and other clean vehicles. 4With SMRT, I Can: 2007 Annual Report. Available at http:// These initiatives set the standards for quality of www.smrt.com.sg/investors/documents/annual_reports/2007/ service by Singapore’s public transport operators. external_pdfs/SMRT_AR_2007.pdf.

10 • Leverage core expertise in operations and main- The surrounding Klang Valley, which includes Kuala tenance for trains and related infrastructure; Lumpur and its suburbs, is home to 7.2 million peo- • Maximize nonfare revenue through rental, ple. Compared with the other three cities visited, advertising, and engineering businesses; and Kuala Lumpur’s public transportation usage is rela- • Enhance and sustain high standards in corpo- tively low, with a mode share of 14%. Car usage in rate governance, corporate transparency, and the city is thus disproportionately higher than in other corporate social responsibility. Asian cities. SMRT also relies on customer feedback to help The Malaysian government privatized public determine its priorities for improvement. As part of transportation in the 1990s and issues concessions this effort, customer feedback is logged and submit- and licenses that allow private-sector companies to ted to each relevant department head for a response. run the mass transit systems. The customer service center is committed to a max- The Malaysian government invests in the initial imum 14-day turnaround period to respond to cus- infrastructure for public transport, but the operator of tomer comments. the system is responsible for maintaining the system. SMRT produces monthly performance reports The operator has little input on the equipment pur- to the regulators. Incident reports are also provided to chased, which can confound profitability and other the regulators on an ad hoc basis. Shareholder reports operational objectives when system equipment fails. are submitted quarterly. As with many other corpora- tions, SMRT also produces an annual report to docu- RapidKL ment its performance and progress in the past year. An example of SMRT’s use of performance mea- RapidKL (Rangkaian Pengangkutan Integrasi sures to change course occurred when ridership grew Deras Sdn Bhd) is the only multimodal public trans- by 9% in 2008, requiring the company to expand port company in Malaysia. Incorporated in 2004, capacity. SMRT’s trainload estimation system helped RapidKL is a subsidiary of Syarikat Prasarana Negara the company determine when additional vehicles were Berhad (Prasarana), a government-owned company. required. For example, crush capacity per six-car train Prasarana owns the assets of the two LRT lines is about 1,600 riders. For comfort, however, SMRT (Ampang Line, formerly known as Star, and Kelana uses 1,200 riders per train as the trigger for additional Jaya Line, formerly known as Putra). The city’s capacity. The daily load was averaged over a period monorail system is managed by KL StarRail, which of one month to determine if the loads had reached the is another subsidiary of Prasarana. tipping point. Service was then adjusted as needed by RapidKL operates both the LRT system and the putting additional trains in operation. The company bus system. Its bus service includes 165 routes in six has established a number of systems for managing areas of the Klang Valley, serving approximately and reporting data, including the trainload estimation 400,000 passengers/day. RapidKL has a fleet of program, a train deviation system, and a safety infor- 978 buses maintained at 11 depots, and it employs mation system. 1,300 drivers. In addition, SMRT’s participation in the Nova RapidKL’s two LRT lines have a total of 56 km international benchmarking group means its key per- of track, with 49 stations. Ridership on the LRT sys- formance indicators can be compared with those at tem is approximately 350,000 passengers per day. other transit properties.5 Nova’s member forums The Kelana Jaya line is a driverless system that runs allow SMRT to follow best practices within the on 3-min headways during the peak periods. The industry to realize continued improvement. Ampang line uses drivers and operates on frequencies similar to that of the Kelana Jaya line. The LRT fleet Kuala Lumpur consists of 35 sets of two-car trains with a capacity of 400 passengers per train. RapidKL has recently pur- Kuala Lumpur, with a population of 1.7 million, chased its first fleet of four-car trains. is the largest and fastest growing region in Malaysia. The government grants a license to RapidKL to operate transit services. Expansion of the system is 5Nova is a consortium of 15 medium sized metro systems undertaken by Prasarana, with input from RapidKL. throughout the world that are engaged in benchmarking. Infor- In 2008, in response to media coverage and cus- mation is available at www.nova-metros.org. tomer comments on its website, RapidKL’s chief

11 operating officer undertook an effort to redefine Using this target, RapidKL would be able to define the organization’s business strategies with the staff training needs within a given timeframe so that intent of changing the image of the organization additional steps could be taken to realize the actual and achieving RapidKL’s mission of being finan- training. cially sustainable. In the long term, as part of their effort to enhance The vision of the organization is reflected in four quality management, RapidKL is building a central- business strategies or “pillars,” which are based on the ized bus control center to ensure the accurate collec- balanced scorecard approach to quality management: tion of data. The company has also hired more staff • Internal processes, and allocated more funds to support this effort. • Financial performance, RapidKL’s performance measurement systems • Customer satisfaction, and are less mature than those of the other agencies • Learning and growth. visited. The company has, however, taken lessons learned from other systems in order to establish Within the four pillars, there are nine objectives and its own processes, and it is realizing some significant 21 key performance indicators. successes with each step forward. RapidKL uses the Vancouver (British Columbia) SkyTrain as its model for operations. RapidKL’s man- Taipei agement team traveled to Vancouver for 3 months of training, during which time they also discussed the The Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (TRTC) performance indicators that are used to evaluate and operates 75 km of rubber-tired, fixed guideway, and improve service in Vancouver. RapidKL then hired electrified heavy rail (electric multiple unit, or EMU, a consultant to assist in the development of its own technology) on eight lines with a total of 70 stations. performance measures. Over a period of 6 months, Daily ridership is in excess of 1.2 million. The Taipei RapidKL’s consultant developed and assigned government owns the guideway infrastructure and weights to each of the key performance indicators. grants TRTC a license to operate the system. The ser- Some performance indicators are based on customer vices provided by TRTC are known by the brand needs, shareholder expectations, and government name of Taipei Metro. requirements. Taipei Metro’s mission is “Providing a Safe, Reli- The pillars and their respective performance indi- able, Cordial, and High-Quality Transportation Ser- cators are integrated into RapidKL’s operating agree- vice” to travelers, and its management philosophy is ment. The operating license requires the company’s “Customers Come First and Quality Above All.” performance to meet certain targets. Data on the per- Eighty-five percent of the company’s revenues formance of the company is collected through event come from fares. The company provides a 20% dis- logs, schedules, and automated data collection sys- count to passengers who use the IC Easy Card, a tems. On a monthly basis, RapidKL reviews the smartcard system implemented in June 2002. Passen- results of its performance as reported in the balanced gers are charged for transfers at a discounted rate. scorecard. Rapid KL reports to the regulators on a These discounts are absorbed in the operating budget quarterly basis. for the organization. Currently, about 90% of the pas- RapidKL relies heavily on peer group input to sengers use the smartcard. validate its definition of performance indicators. As In addition to operating rail passenger service for a reality check, RapidKL benchmarks its perfor- the city of Taipei, Taipei Metro collects revenues mance against similar systems, including those serv- from leasing space at shops, underground shopping ing Vancouver (SkyTrain) and the John F. Kennedy malls, and parking lots. The company also sells International Airport in New York (AirTrain JFK). advertising space in trains and at stations. These rev- RapidKL uses performance data to indicate where enues account for approximately 11% of the corpo- course correction might be warranted. For example, ration’s total revenues, about US$36 million. The within the learning and growth pillar, the company company has also assumed management of the Taipei has an objective to develop skilled employees. The Arena, a 15,000-seat multipurpose facility for sports performance indicator for this objective is the defini- events, exhibitions, and performances, and operates a tion of staff training requirements. The target was to mountain gondola. In total, TRTC earns approxi- complete training-needs analysis within 2 months. mately US$20 million in profit each year.

12 Taipei Metro pays rental fees of approximately city officials recognized the direct link between ser- US$80 million per year to the government to fund the vice quality and ridership. In the context of this ini- replacement of rolling stock, communications and tiative, the Taipei City Public Transportation Office signalization infrastructure, and mechanical equip- (TCPTO), the city department that regulates the ment. Approximately US$18 million (before profit) is quality of service for buses, asked Professor William paid to the government and held in escrow to fund Jen of National Chiao Tung University to conduct a future capital maintenance. study to evaluate the performance of bus companies. In cooperation with the Taipei city government, The research undertaken represents a very early stage Taipei Metro plans to expand its network to 132 km in the use of performance measures to enhance qual- on five lines by 2013, at which time it expects to be ity of service. It is reasonable to assume that this is serving about 2.7 million passengers per day. The the first cut at developing performance measures Taipei government contributes about 50% of the cap- that may eventually become an enforceable standard ital cost of new construction, with the Taiwan gov- when the city grants licenses to operate bus service ernment paying the remaining 50%. in the region. Taipei Metro staff spent 2 full days with the study Dr. Jen worked with the director of public trans- team to share its extensive experience using perfor- port and the bus operators to define the performance mance measures at all levels to improve quality and indicators and create a weighting system to score the delivery of service to its transit customers. Led by quality of service of the bus companies. The 21 mea- Dr. Huai Sheng Tsay, president of Taipei Metro, the sures were divided into the following four categories: discussions focused on several systems and processes • Terminal, the organization has in place to continually improve • Vehicle, operations companywide. • Interaction quality (between passengers and Taipei Metro representatives stated that the suc- drivers), and cessful implementation and use of performance mea- • Management. sures to improve operations was due to a combination of commitment and conviction of the organiza- Within each category, four to six specific items were tion’s leaders, setting achievable goals, and recog- identified for assessment. Quantitative data for some nizing employees when goals are met. performance indicators could be collected from the Taipei Metro historically looked at financial indi- operators. Qualitative data, such as passenger per- cators to advise its business strategies. But in 1999 the ception, was collected through rider surveys. Data company began refining its organizational manage- indicating compliance with government policy was ment processes using four areas of quality manage- subject to assessments and reviews performed by ment based on the balanced scorecard approach: TCPTO. finance, customer satisfaction, internal processes, and The study outlines several steps to fully evaluate organizational learning and development. the bus companies. The process begins with the aca- demic exercise of establishing the performance indi- Performance Evaluation of Private cators and is followed by input from the TCPTO and Bus Companies in Taipei a workshop with the bus companies. From that work- shop, an action plan will be created to begin data col- In contrast to Taipei Metro’s well-developed use lection and analysis. The results are intended to be of key performance indicators, the city of Taipei is reviewed twice per year. only in the early stages of establishing performance By using performance measures to evaluate the measures for its bus franchises. The City of Taipei bus companies, the City of Taipei hopes to encourage understands the importance of the city bus network as bus companies to improve quality of service and thus a critical component of the overall public transporta- increase ridership. This may become a way for the tion system, providing both feeder service to trunk city to enforce high standards of service. The poten- lines and transportation in areas not served by rail. tial loss of an operating license is an incentive for a More than 300 bus lines serve 1.7 million bus company to comply. In addition, bus companies passengers/day in Taipei. There are 14 bus compa- may be eligible for subsidies from the government, nies that have licenses to operate in the region. To depending on their ability to meet the performance encourage higher bus ridership during peak hours, standards.

13 MEASUREMENT ITEMS veying to measure customer satisfaction, user friend- liness, and compliance with the above measures. Hong Kong Performance targets are set for each franchised Transport Department transit operator. The targets are formulated with regard to the operator’s performance in the previous The Hong Kong Transport Department uses sev- 3 years. The operators must compile data on each eral types of performance measures to evaluate pub- performance measure and submit a report to the lic transport in the region. Specific performance Transport Department each year. measures and obligations are written into fran- For each operator, actual achievements are com- chise agreements for each transport provider. pared with the targets. The transport department For monitoring and regulatory purposes, the conducts reviews with operators to determine if department has defined the following six objective adjustments need to be made. If an operator fails to standards: meet the targets, causes are identified, and appropri- • Reliability, ate improvements are recommended. • Efficiency, If an operator continually fails to meet the mini- • Safety, mum standards set forth by the Hong Kong Transport • Cleanliness, Department, the franchise can be taken away or not • User friendliness, and renewed, which has happened in the recent past. • Environmental friendliness. KMB These objectives form the basis for its multimodal performance measures. For reliability, the agency The mission of Hong Kong’s KMB is to provide targets bus availability and lost trips as the primary safe, reliable, comfortable, friendly, and value-for- measures. For efficiency and quality of service, the money bus services. While KMB does have a 5-year agency measures the number of buses on the road ver- comprehensive plan, including financial, planning, sus its total licensed fleet. The agency also determines and maintenance strategies, the ISO recertification and evaluates time-of-day frequencies for each of its process guides its performance measurement system operators. process. KMB believes that there is a direct correla- Safety is highlighted as an important goal and is tion between ISO certification, quality management, measured by implementation of operator training pro- and superior customer service. grams. New hire and ongoing driver training pro- The ISO certification process requires the estab- grams are required for each transport provider. The lishment and use of performance measures. At KMB, transit providers must submit reports on how many each department has specific performance measures operators are being trained annually. that relate back to the ISO process. Each depart- For the cleanliness objective, the Transport ment has regularly scheduled meetings to review Department requires vehicles to be cleaned on a daily the numbers and trends. Both quarterly and annual basis, including daily bus washing and floor sweep- performance targets are set for each department. ing twice per day. The performance targets are primarily set by evalu- The Hong Kong Transport Department has also ating past trends, with an emphasis on setting achiev- developed environmental standards for its transit able and realistic targets. Besides a desire to achieve providers, which includes defining the minimum the company’s goals, improving performance every percentage of existing vehicles that meet Euro 2 emis- year is equally important. sion standards. There is also a requirement that While each department at KMB has set perfor- all new buses comply with latest Euro emission mance measures and targets, there is a strong empha- standards. sis within the company on operational performance, The Transport Department requires that opera- primarily safety and service reliability. Much of this tors respond to complaints and inquiries in a mini- is set by the franchise agreement with the Hong Kong mum timeframe. Transit providers must also conduct Transport Department, but KMB attempts to go much bimonthly passenger liaison meetings and provide beyond the required standards. passenger information at stops and terminus loca- KMB sets a high standard for peak on-time per- tions. The Transport Department uses extensive sur- formance, with a nearly 100% goal of on time depar-

14 tures from terminal locations. Similar high standards In many areas, targets are set to achieve “contin- for vehicle reliability are targeted, with a minimum uous” improvements rather than to respond to over- number of breakdowns that require passengers to arching strategic goals. Nevertheless, KMB identifies be transferred. In 2008, KMB achieved 51,605 km targets and employs measures to ensure that passen- between mechanical breakdowns, well above the set gers are satisfied, which is assessed by a quarterly goal of 45,000 km. In terms of overall vehicle safety, telephone survey. The survey includes questions that KMB has a set standard of 3.35 million vehicle-km address system reliability (adherence to schedules), between accidents. cleanliness, comfort, and so forth. KMB achieved ISO 9001 certification in 1994. KMB has several processes to ensure the quality The company focused first on the performance of its of the data, including both internal and external audit- operating and maintenance facilities, but eventually ing. Under the franchise agreement with Hong Kong improved the performance of the entire system so Transport Department, independent auditing of the that it was fully ISO 9001 compliant by 1999. KMB regulatory requirements is necessary. also recently met ISO 14001 environmental stan- KMB is a for-profit company publicly traded on dards, which appears to satisfy a tenet established in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Its routes often com- its Corporate Social Responsibility Charter. pete with other bus and rail routes, so fast and reliable KMB uses an internal system, referred to as the service is vital if KMB is to successfully attract and executive information system (EIS), to record data retain customers. KMB relies on its performance and assess progress in key areas. The system pro- measures to achieve this goal. vides a clear definition of every indicator and tar- get established for a particular period. The EIS is MTR audited by the regulator (Transport Department) to ensure targets established in KMB’s 5-year (rolling) MTR uses a comprehensive integrated manage- plan are being met. Each KMB department provides ment system to measure performance. The founda- monthly progress reports to the board of directors, tions of the performance management system are and progress is reviewed in depth at quarterly depot linked to the company’s strategy of safety, reliability, meetings and at annual management meetings. customer service, and cost efficiency. Using the executive information system, KMB MTR’s performance management framework is staff can continuously monitor performance. Staff divided into two objectives: members meet regularly to review both the quarterly • and the annual performance targets, and each depart- Operating agreement performance require- ment head must submit performance reports to ments established by the Hong Kong Transport directors on a monthly basis. Performance measure- Department, and • ments are reviewed and targets can be adjusted if The company’s performance goals, which are necessary. The primary goal of this process is to driven by MTR’s business strategies and share- continually improve KMB’s overall performance. holder requirements. All corporate departments’ key indicators are included in the executive information system. The The Hong Kong Transport Department sets stan- intent of the system is to facilitate communication and dards that require MTR to meet customer’s needs and provide unification of all performance indicators. expectations. These are written into MTR’s franchise KMB uses standard measures to ensure oper- agreement, and the targets must be met annually. ating efficiency. These include mechanical relia- These regulatory measures monitor railway perfor- bility (measured in road calls), operational capability mance for three categories: train service (availability (measured by pullout rates—the scheduled number of and reliability), station service (station equipment/ bus departures in the peak direction during the customer interface), and passenger comfort and care. morning peak period), safety (measured by accident For its internal performance management system, rates), customer feedback management (measured MTR utilizes the balanced scorecard method, which in time it takes to respond to complaints), and ser- integrates nonfinancial performance metrics with vice department indicators (measured by use of traditional financial metrics to provide a more “bal- spare parts and technical and apprentice training anced” view of organizational performance. MTR achievements). has been using the balanced scorecard method since

15 1999 and has recently integrated it into its strategic also uses its performance measures and targets to rec- planning and budgeting processes. ognize good practice and achievements. MTR integrates three components into its bal- Monthly management meetings are held to review anced scorecard: the key performance indicators. Every month, man- agers must explain any differences between actual and • Safety, target performance and identify corrective actions that • Operating statistics, and • will lead to improvement. Budget variances MTR has set high standards and targets for its operating performance measures. This is partly a These three elements link back to MTR’s strategic response to the high level of performance set by the plan and guide day-to-day management activities. Hong Kong Transport Department, but also to the The annual strategic plan drives the performance objectives set forth in the company’s own strategic measurement process. The strategic plan determines plan. the goals and objectives for the company. Based on a MTR pledges to ensure trains are always main- top-down performance system, high-level measures tained to provide safe and reliable service. The goal is and targets are set, with “cascading” measures then to have less than one train failure per 500,000 km. determined for each functional department. MTR strives to ensure that at least 99.5% of all sched- For example, safety is one of MTR’s objectives. uled trips will be operated and at least 99% of trips High-level targets are set for overall accidents and will be completed within 2 min of schedule. injuries. These measures are monitored by senior For service reliability, MTR’s measures and tar- management. More detailed performance indicators gets include are set for each operational unit and geographical • area. Then even more detailed safety measures are Train service delivery (provided service) >99.5%, developed and used by each discipline and job cate- • > gory. The cascading performance measures allow Passenger journeys on time 99%, • Train punctuality >99%, and each functional department to be directly involved • > in striving to meet the safety objective. This method Train reliability 500,000 car-km/incident. also provides accountability and enables manage- For station equipment and customer comfort and ment staff to identify specific areas where perfor- care, MTR’s targets are mance is not being met. • AVM reliability >99%, MTR staff stated that their balanced scorecard • Ticket machine reliability >99%, method improves the understanding of business • Ticket gate reliability >99%, processes. An example was given of where the pre- • Ticket reliability >99%, ventive maintenance target of 97% was not being • Escalator reliability >99%, met. Through comparing and analyzing the depart- • Passenger lift reliability >99.5%, mental performance measures, they found out they • Light rail platform octopus processor reliabil- were not meeting their goal because of their existing ity >99%, training methods. Because of the long-term financial • Light rail on-vehicle air-conditioning failures and passenger impacts attributed to a lack of preven- <3 times/month, tive maintenance, alternative training procedures were • Temperature and ventilation >97% reliability developed. on trains and >90% in stations, and MTR places a large importance on the defined • Railway cleanlines >98.5% in train compart- measurement targets. Management believes that set- ments and >99% on train bodies. ting the “right” targets is important. If targets are too high, then they will prove too costly to achieve. If the MTR uses a variety of data sources for the operational targets are too low, then the company will not meet performance measures. Much of the data is collected their passengers’ expectations and requirements. through automatic sources connected with the train MTR also uses the targets to motivate improvement. control system. For the temperature and ventilation, It was stated that precise and clear performance mea- MTR has monitoring units at each station and train. sures and targets help frontline employees understand For its customer satisfaction indicators, MTR makes the company’s goals and business processes. MTR use of frequent customer surveys.

16 Data quality is an important component of the reported weekly and is adjusted for uncontrollable MTR performance measurement system. In addi- issues, which results in more objective statistics. tion to its internal standards, MTR data are audited The Land Transport Authority plans to double externally, as required by both the Hong Kong the rail network by 2020, enhance capacity on Transport Department and the Hong Kong Stock existing lines by increasing train frequencies, and Exchange. enhance safety by installing screen doors on all rail The balanced scorecard method has been station platforms. The plan also calls for creating a extremely successful for MTR. Over the years, the central bus network with enhanced traffic priority, company has been able to maintain a high level of including all-day exclusive bus lanes and other service and sustain profitability. MTR staff says that preferential treatments. The overall goal is for the key to their success has been management’s com- 85% of door-to-door transit trips to be made within mitment to the performance measurement process 60 min. and the employees buy-in to the company’s overall LTA grants two franchise licenses to two rail strategic goals. operators. Currently these operating licenses are for 30 years. Under the agreement, the operators are to manage the transit system in accordance with spec- Singapore ified operating performance standards. The perfor- Singapore’s measurements are simple but effec- mance standards relate to three primary functions— tive, and center on the following: service quality, safety assurance, and equipment performance. • Train availability at 98%, Under service quality, LTA defines standards • On-time performance at 94%, for on-time performance, train service availability, • Accidents limited to no more than two every passenger loading, severity of service disruptions, 4 weeks, frequency of service disruptions, minimum train • Ticket machines are operable 95% of the time, headways, and span of service. • Escalators are in service 99.9% of the time, For safety assurance measures, LTA defines four • Elevators are in service 99% of the time, main standards—passenger injury rate, mainline ser- • The number of service collisions is nil, and vice collisions, service derailments, and fire inci- • The number of fires at stations is nil. dents. These measures have very high standards, with large penalties for failing to meet the targets. The data collected include failures and delays, as well The entire journey experience is important to as loads and safety and are collected using a home- LTA, including equipment performance at station grown system. Within a day of each incident, the cus- platforms. Standards have been set for the reliability tomer service department at SMRT contacts those of general ticketing machines, automatic fare gates, who were involved in an incident to determine how and escalators and lifts. they were affected and what could be done to avoid a Each of these performance measures relates back similar situation in the future. The company relies to LTA’s goal of making public transport a choice heavily on public input, and their track layouts are mode. Frequent, reliable, and safe service is LTA’s designed for efficiency and effectiveness. Closed primary public transport policy goal. loop systems ensure safety, and train loading is mea- There are large penalties associated with transit sured in 15-min blocks for service development and operators not meeting the standards set by LTA; for planning. SMRT staff plan, implement, measure, and example, LTA had recently assessed a $300,000 fine correct as necessary. Their analysis is done just as on one of its rail operators for a 7-hr delay caused by much after adding a train as it is done before. Their overnight track work not being completed on time. measurements are reviewed daily, and they can adjust PTC has six quality of service performance service up to four times a year. categories: Many detailed reports feed into key categories that are based on the SMRT strategic plan. The • Reliability, measurements are collected from smartcards and • Passenger loading, from surveys. Their goals have been adopted by, and • Safety, are supported by, their board of directors. Data are • Availability of service,

17 • Integration and span of service, and These include train availability, on-time arrival and • Customer information. departure at terminals, station equipment reliability, and accidents and safety. Under each of these six categories are a variety of spe- SMRT also participates in, and utilizes the infor- cific measures that each bus operator must achieve or mation gleaned from, a customer satisfaction survey else incur a financial penalty. For example, under the conducted and analyzed by the Singapore Man- reliability category, minimum standards are set for agement University, which is based on the Ameri- three specific measures—actual to scheduled bus ser- can Customer Satisfaction Index developed by the vice operated on each route, headway adherence, and National Quality Research Center at the University bus breakdowns. of Michigan. PTC has set up a penalty framework, with fines The rail operations division relies on a variety of for breaches in each of the quality of service stan- automatically generated data for their performance dards. For example, a bus operator can incur a $100 measures. Besides using smartcard data for estimated penalty for each day on each route where the mini- loads, SMRT relies on a computer tracking system for mum reliability standards are not met and be assessed logging incidents and delays and a web-based train a $10,000 penalty for not meeting each monthly deviation system that logs and shows train on-time requirement. performance. The data for the train deviation system The rail operations division uses numerous per- comes directly from the central train control system. formance measures to monitor and improve its tran- Data from all these systems is validated weekly. sit service. SMRT has two primary objectives with SMRT has a monthly performance process that performance measurement—namely, to meet the reviews the key financial and operating performance regulatory requirements established by LTA and to standards. Each month, division managers must provide customer satisfaction. report on each performance measure and trend. The SMRT has an annual planning cycle that develops intent of the meetings is to improve customer satis- each division’s performance measures and targets. faction and meet the high standards set forth by To meet both the internal and external requirements, Singapore government. monthly and quarterly reports are produced. In one of the team’s meetings with SMRT staff, a The rail operating division performance measures senior manager noted, “there is no room for slack, focus on capacity, reliability, safety, and customer because the Singapore government can take away the service. For customer service, the agency developed franchise.” With the aggressive rail expansion plans a “Customer Integrated Feedback System” that mon- by the Singapore government, SMRT also realizes it itors and tracks customer complaints. SMRT requires needs to perform at high level to compete for these that all issues must be resolved within 14 days and franchises. that a reply must be made within 3 days. SMRT also uses its customer service system to Kuala Lumpur track types of complaints and uses this information in The study team met primarily with RapidKL’s formulating priorities for specific performance mea- bus operations division. The bus operations division sures and tracking systems. Over the past few years, had reviewed its key performance indicators and had one of biggest complaints has been overcrowding. As developed a new strategic performance measurement a result, rail operations developed the “trainload esti- system for 2009. A “bus operations scorecard,” which mation system.” This system uses data from smart- incorporated key performance indicators and targets, cards to estimate trip and station level passenger was developed with the intent to change behavior and loads. This interactive tool allows SMRT staff to improve quality of service. monitor system performance, and it graphically com- The bus operations scorecard has four main areas pares actual data with the performance standards. The of emphasis (pillars), and each pillar has one or more passenger loading performance measure is such a objectives: main concern that senior management uses the graph- ical tool on a regular basis. • Internal process: The SMRT rail operations division uses a vari- – To achieve and monitor daily bus schedule ety of performance measures and standards as well. (on-time performance);

18 – To implement a bus ticketing system; percentage. Their operators actually pay for any short- – To develop standard operating procedures fall in fare collection at the end of each shift. The plan for operations; and is to automate the entire process through a total inte- – To fully satisfy operations quality standards. gration with rail, while developing standard operating • Financial goals: procedures, increasing revenues and customer satis- – To achieve the targeted budgeted revenue; faction, and improving cleanliness. The company is and embarking on a new training program for apprentices, – To maintain operating costs within budget. who will eventually become bus captains (drivers). • Customer: RapidKL is in the process of hiring consultants to – To provide safe and efficient bus service. measure and verify statistical data. • Learning and growth: RapidKL provides operators with a base salary – To retain quality, skilled employees; and plus bonuses for the number of trips they perform, – To develop skilled employees. the number of customers who are left behind, atten- A total of 21 key performance measures and targets dance, punctuality, revenue, accidents/incidents, were developed for these objectives. Management and customer complaints. Employee availability is a has realized that to be successful in achieving these huge problem for RapidKL, with high rates of absen- targets, a limited number of key performance mea- teeism and a staggering shortage of drivers and traf- sures are required. fic regulators (being short 350 drivers and 150 traffic A consolidated effort from all departments is regulators). involved in meeting the performance standards. The intent is to monitor these targets monthly and to make Taipei adjustments and improvements as necessary. It was impressive to hear the process that Taipei Metro RapidKL went through to develop the bus operations Taipei Metro operates the entire rail network in scorecard and key performance indicators. Manage- Taipei, which includes heavy rail and fully automated ment recognized that the bus division was not operat- medium capacity rail. Strategic goals and objectives ing at a high or satisfactory level, and through its are part of the foundation of Taipei Metro. The finan- corporate and strategic planning efforts it identified cial and customer satisfaction success has been based priority actions that would help the company improve upon a history of extremely reliable and efficient and succeed. service. The performance indicators were determined by Over the course of the study team’s visit, Taipei utilizing what they had learned from their visit to Metro presented three separate performance man- Vancouver, peer evaluations, and benchmarking, agement systems used to achieve their objectives: as well as a comparison with Dublin’s LRT (Luas). (a) responsibility centers, (b) quality management, When asked how they measured performance and and (c) reliability growth program. how the measurements relate to objectives, the staff answered that the measurements are based on con- Responsibility Centers tractual requirements, customer needs, shareholder experiences, and regulations. Taipei Metro’s responsibility center system is a The data collection method incorporates main- management tool for motivating employees to work tenance management systems, delays, on-time collectively to reach the company’s goals and objec- performance, stops, and number of work orders tives for the year. The organization is divided into dif- reflecting maintenance performance. RapidKL also ferent responsibility units, and each unit is assigned benchmarks itself against SkyTrain and the AirTrain specific targets. Each unit is then evaluated and JFK, in addition to Luas, and has an automated data assigned a score based on its actual performance collection system with built-in quality checks and against the set targets each year. The motivating balances. They manage by measurements outside the driver is financial. When the company earns a profit, standard deviation range. its employees are rewarded with bonuses, and the RapidKL currently has a 99% cash fare basis, but bonuses are allocated across the responsibility units the company is planning to significantly reduce that based on the scores earned by each unit. The intent

19 is for the unit to work as a team to reach the perfor- Reinforce Human Resource Development: mance goals. • Enhance employee satisfaction, The initial step to developing the key perfor- • Timely hiring and training of employees, mance indicators is to identify the company’s busi- • Increase core professional ability, and ness strategies and strategic objectives, so that each • Enlarge international exchange and learning unit will understand what needs to be achieved to suc- programs. cessfully execute the strategies. These strategies and objectives are identified in the annual business plan. Based on these business strategies, performance For 2009, Taipei Metro established six business objectives are developed for each responsibility strategies, as follows: unit. All the performance indicators are developed in conjunction with each other, and are aligned with • Enhance customer service, the company’s strategic plan. Everyone then works • Strengthen safety management, collaboratively toward the objectives. Taipei Metro • Fortify internal management, management believes teamwork is the key to suc- • Improve transfer service, cessfully achieving the objectives. The financial • Develop diversified management, and reward is very attractive, with the bonuses being • Reinforce human resource development. quite substantial (in some cases equalling 4 months of salary); this creates peer pressure to meet the For each of these business strategies, Taipei Metro targets. has developed individual objectives. Enhance Customer Service: Reliability Management System • Enhance service quality, One of Taipei Metro’s top goals is “to be one of • Enhance service attitude and efficiency, the best metros in the world.” The staff takes this mis- • Provide high-quality metro environment, and sion very seriously and has developed comprehensive • Promote quality of life and improve commu- performance metrics to measure performance. In nity care. order to achieve this goal, the company uses a perfor- mance system based on the four points of their qual- Strengthen Safety Management: ity policy, namely • Reduce accident rate, • Safe, • Increase availability rate and system reliability, • Reliable, • Improve equipment reliability, • Comfortable, and • Enhance safety precautions, and • Fast service. • Improve crisis management abilities. Fortify Internal Management: Overall, Taipei Metro has 34 high-level quality objectives and 85 division-level objectives for the • Accelerate application of info-tech, four quality goals. • Strengthen internal management system, and For the safety objective, Taipei Metro uses met- • Improve employee productivity. rics on: Improve Transfer Service: • Deaths and major injuries, • Increase customers’ willingness to transfer, • Minor injuries, and • Establish comprehensive transfer service, and • Incidences of crime. • Expand operational scope. For reliable service, Taipei Metro’s metrics involve Develop Diversified Management: trains and customer equipment, including • Provide diverse socio-economic environment, • Train reliability (train car-kilometers between • Strengthen budget control, delays of more than 5 min), • Expand reinvestment and affiliated business, • Cars available for peak hour service, • Review important expenditures, and • Train punctuality, • Provide Metro consulting service. • Elevator reliability,

20 • Escalator reliability, System Reliability Growth • Ticket vending machine reliability, and Taipei Metro’s commitment to reliable and fast • Gate, token, and easy card reliability. service is evident in the company’s system reliability growth program. This program was established by the To measure customer comfort, Taipei metro relies president of Taipei Metro to ensure that system delays on five performance metrics: are minimized and that trains run on schedule and run • Train interior cleanliness, as efficiently as possible. • Train exterior cleanliness, The system reliability growth program was • Station cleanliness, started in 2003 after a series of significant delay- • Temperature and ventilation of its trains and causing incidents. In that year, Taipei Metro had a stations, and total of 83 incidents resulting in delays of more than • Jerk rate (rate of change of acceleration) on the 5 min, including six major incidents causing delays train. up to 1 hr. The program was designed to focus on the customers’ highest concern—namely, reducing the For fast service, the following four metrics are number of train delay incidents in order to increase used: system reliability and service quality. The program’s objective is to reduce the occur- • Train service delivery, rence of train delays of more than 5 min. In order to • Peak hour headways, achieve this goal, every delay-causing incident is • Off-peak headways, and reviewed by an investigation team, consisting of the • Passenger inquiry response time. operations, safety, and maintenance departments. The review team conducts an “improvement and cor- Taipei Metro staff believes it is important to set real- rection process” that investigates the direct or indi- istic targets. Therefore, targets are based on the rect cause of the delay. All factors are investigated, previous year’s performance. Understanding that including human error, lack of preventive mainte- improvement is important, challenge values are also nance, and procedural errors. The team determines if set for each performance measure. These challenge the delay is an isolated case or a systematic problem values are set based on the previous year’s third-best- and presents the findings at the weekly operation reli- performance month. ability review meeting. Taipei Metro uses a variety of sources of data for At the weekly meeting, there is a review of the performance metric system. For train reliability weekly operations, including reports on individual and equipment performance, data are collected auto- incidents, as well as the status of ongoing improve- matically from a variety of computer systems, ment measures by each division. As evidence of the including the central train control and the electronic high priority placed on reducing delays, the president fare machines. These data systems are validated of Taipei Metro chairs these weekly meetings. monthly in accordance with the internal ISO 9000 The program has been very successful. Taipei audit process. Each month a project audit is per- Metro has not only been able to significantly reduce formed on all equipment and systems, including the delays, but has also increased the number of kilo- rolling stock, escalators, and station broadcast and meters between incidents to 2,910 in 2009, up from radio systems. The results of the audit are reviewed 615 in 2003. Taipei Metro has also been rated the most reliable metro system among 26 CoMET and by the quality assurance section and are presented at 6 the bimonthly quality management system control Nova consortiums for 4 years running. meeting. Taipei Metro staff attributed a number of factors Every 2 months, directors from all the divisions to the success of the program. These include a firm and the vice president of Taipei Metro meet to review determination and support by top management, a the performance of the quality objectives. Based on clear and simple stated goal, the continuing and effec- the review, any necessary corrective and preventive actions are identified and implemented, and recom- 6 CoMET and Nova are transit international benchmarking con- mendations for improvement are developed. The sortiums. CoMET includes the world’s large urban rail opera- team also reviews customer feedback and the results tors, and CoMET consists of medium sized urban rail operators. of the project audit. Taipei Metro is a member of Nova.

21 tive weekly review meeting, and a special award sys- • To develop standard operating practices for tem for reliability target accomplishment. bus operations; In meetings with the team members, Taipei Metro • To fully satisfy operations quality standards President Dr. Huel-sheng Tsay said that the company (number of internal audits from divisions; per- places such a high emphasis on reliability because centage of summonses); “reliability is the best indicator of quality.” He • To achieve the budgeted revenue (budget ver- pointed out that “reliability is a combination of good sus actual and a shortage-recovery plan); maintenance, good customer service, and safety” and • To maintain operating costs within budgets that “reliability relates to profit.” (actual versus budget and fuel consumption During their visit with Taipei Metro, it was obvi- efficiency rate); ous that employees have bought into this performance • To provide safe and efficient bus services to management process and are working together to the public (customer satisfaction index, num- meet Taipei Metro’s goal of providing the most reli- ber of fatalities, cleanliness, and reduction of able and efficient system in the world. driver’s misconduct); Taipei Metro’s operational strategy is to expand • To retain quality, skilled employees (percent- relationships with customers, strengthen safety age of staff recruitment filled positions based management, and strengthen internal management, on budget); and while expanding transportation services, developing • To develop skilled employees (staff training diverse businesses, and growing manpower assets. requirements, satisfactory completion of the The internal supervisory mechanisms they use to division’s periodic performance management control this are cycle in a timely manner, and percentage of variance of actual training man-days versus • Strategic management—responsibility center target by division). achievement assessment; • Daily ISO management—an internal control system to ensure compliance; QUALITY CONTROL • Project management—stepwise assignment units and interdepartmental organization com- The study team defined quality control as the mittees; extent to which organizations ensure the data they • Employee-motivated improvement—proposal are collecting accurately reflects what it is supposed system, quality control circle activities, and to measure. It also reflects the extent to which there self-motivated research; and is a system of checks and balances to ensure data • High-level diagnosis—management meetings integrity. It is about ensuring that the data being col- and high level meetings. lected is accurate. All of the above are overseen by operational achievement assessments, governmental manage- Hong Kong ment plans, ISO investigation and certification, and Performance measurement data for KMB comes operational maintenance and safety assessments. from mostly automated systems. Manual logs or forms exist but are rare and are quickly being Taipei Bus System replaced with direct input systems (using personal The Taipei bus system has nine measureable data assistants, or PDAs, for example) and auto- objectives: mated direct measures (such as the automated fuel- ing system). KMB staff did not report the accuracy • To achieve and monitor daily bus pre-planned statistics or detailed quality control procedures for and scheduled trips (number of buses avail- automated data collection systems; however, their able for service, percentage of daily buses, data collection systems appear to be quite advanced service levels by route, reduction in accidents, and mature. For example, the Octopus contactless and the implementation of a bus capital over- fare payment system has been in place for several haul program); years and provides a stable source of ridership and • To implement a bus ticketing system; fare information.

22 The strongest form of quality control for KMB sufficient time to refine measures and data sources. comes from external sources. As a publicly traded MTR has built upon and refined its management company, KMB is subject to scrutiny from share- system over the past 20 years. In contrast, many U.S. holders and the stock exchange. As a regulated fran- agencies have cycled through multiple, conflicting chisee, KMB is subject to inspection and audit by systems in that time. the Transport Department of Hong Kong. As an ISO 9001 and ISP 14001 certified company, KMB is subject to annual certification audits of its quality Singapore and environmental management systems. LTA owns and controls the EZ Link contactless KMB submits an annual report on performance payment system, which provides the regulator with to the Transport Department. The Transport Depart- direct access to information on ridership, trainload, ment audits and analyzes the report, conducts site and revenue. LTA and PTC perform regular inde- observations, and conducts its own surveys. The pendent audits of SMRT’s performance. For exam- Transport Department directly surveys customer sat- ple, PTC performs monthly random field audits of isfaction and vehicle condition. Each year, approx- system condition and performance, yearly process imately 80 of KMB’s buses are randomly pulled out audits, and triennial system audits. LTA performs an of service for an unannounced inspection by the independent customer satisfaction survey of all tran- Transport Department. Since the consequences of sit operators in Singapore. On-time reliability infor- providing erroneous information are high—the mation is extracted directly from the automated train potential loss of the franchise—KMB has a big control system. incentive to ensure that its performance information Data from the electronic fare system is validated is accurate. with passenger surveys. New services or schedules are modeled with a software program, implemented, MTR measured, and compared with model projections. When asked about procedures for auditing and SMRT reports its performance to the public and verifying performance information, MTR execu- is subject to audit by LTA, PTC, and the stock tives reported that they had multiple external audit- exchange. Station managers review system perfor- ing and verification requirements. Because MTR is mance weekly, and senior management reviews per- listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange and the formance information monthly. FTSE Sustainability Index, it’s financial and sus- tainability results are subject to verification. In addi- Kuala Lumpur tion, MTR maintains ISO management systems, which require internal auditing of quality and envi- Rapid KL recognizes that it needs to improve the ronmental practices. The Hong Kong Transport amount and quality of performance information Department verifies MTR’s performance informa- it supplies to management. The integrated ticket tion and conducts its own customer satisfaction mechanism was implemented in 2009, and projects surveys. to automate bus reliability reporting are currently The nagging issues of data accuracy and valida- being planned. The Malaysian government does not tion that plague many U.S. transit agencies, whether have a program of verifying or auditing performance for passenger counting, reliability reporting, vehicle information, nor is there a program of independent maintenance tracking, or costs, are not evident assessment of service quality. Rapid KL does con- with MTR. This is probably due to MTR’s level of duct customer surveys and reports results through investment in its automated measurement systems the balanced scorecard system. and databases and the maturity of its integrated man- agement system. MTR began to adopt ISO standards Taipei in the early 1990s. It created its integrated manage- ment system in the mid 1990s and added the balanced Quality control of performance measures is scorecard in the late 1990s. The current structure of achieved through a combination of external audits, its management system is now over 10 years old— internal audits and reviews, coordinator verification

23 of data, and reviews by the quality assurance section. the performance information database. Annual per- As indicated in Figure 4, the Taipei city government formance reports submitted by departments are monitors and evaluates safety and maintenance per- reviewed by a performance management committee. formance. Since departments and employees receive An internal audit of measures is performed as part of significant performance bonuses based on informa- the ISO 9001 quality management system. A monthly tion in the performance measurement system, Taipei process audit of individual systems is also performed. Metro has established several levels of review and The experience of improving train reliability verification of performance information. Depart- showed how Taipei Metro systematically improved its mental coordinators verify data as it is submitted to performance information system while working to

Figure 4 Top-level elements of Taipei Metro’s performance management system.

24 improve service quality. In the beginning, several ardship, and even quality and popularity of their data elements were missing or inaccurate. For exam- website. Achievements are reported through the ple, many train delays were falsely attributed to company website and in company literature, as is operator errors because the system could not distin- the achievement of ISO certification in business guish vehicle faults from operator errors. In response, processes. the operations management installed additional vehicle sensors to record all operator control inputs. KMB Taipei Metro management was then able to identify KMB uses a software program to collect and and correct vehicle failures that had been previously analyze data for measuring continuous improve- obscured. ment. Management is responsible for reviewing the data on a monthly basis and holds monthly perfor- REPORTING STRUCTURE mance management meetings to discuss data trends and areas for possible course correction. Hong Kong KMB then provides its stakeholders with exten- MTR sive annual reports that show trends in operational indicators. Some of the common operational statis- MTR produces an interim report, annual report, tical information includes the following: and summary report every year. These reports illus- trate the fiscal health, organizational direction, and • Total number of passengers carried for the independent auditor’s input. The interim report gives year (ridership), a snapshot. The annual report delves into 10-year • Total number of bus routes operated at the end data comparisons, human resources, remuneration, of the year, and reports from top management. MTR’s quarterly • Fleet size, “Performance Achievements” is a point of pride and • Bus kilometers operated for the year, is easily accessible online. A quick glance at the 2008 • Total fleet capacity at the end of the year, fourth quarter shows MTR actually exceeded expec- • Fleet age, tations in areas such as train service delivery, passen- • ger journey on-time performance, train punctuality, Achievement of schedule (on-time perfor- mance), ticket machine reliability, and escalator reliability, all • of which scored over 99%. Internally, there are com- Average percentage of lost trips, • Average fleet utilization for the year, munications from “top [management] to shop [floor]” • and vice versa, all captured by scorecards for the divi- Operational capability—percentage of actual sion, department, and section. number of bus departures compared with Bus licensees compile data and submit it to the scheduled number of bus departures during Transport Department annually, or more frequently peak hours, • as they see fit. An example of this is with the report- Average number of bus defects per vehicle for ing of average number of bus defects found during the year, • spot checks by the Transport Department. Through Mechanical reliability, • annual spot checks, government regulators sample Average number of bus accidents (per million 2% of the entire fleet per week. All modes report on vehicle-kilometers), ridership and headways. Measurements are acces- • Total service rationalization items for the year sible on the MTR website, as well as in its annual (frequency reductions, vehicle reductions, and corporate prospectus. Internally, each head of depart- route reorganization), ment sends monthly reports to the board of directors. • Total service improvement items for the year, Bus cleanliness reporting is based on direct complaints • Average number of customer complaints per lodged, and that is recorded and reported by the mar- million passenger trips, keting and planning groups that study issues concern- • Total passenger liaison program (passenger ing ridership. attitude services and user group meetings atten- The well-polished corporate image of these bus dance), and companies is publicized through awards that rec- • Bus shelter construction (number of bus shel- ognize their user friendliness, environmental stew- ters available at the end of the year).

25 Other operational performance statistics include lights the strategic plan that has been laid out by the revenues, operating cost, profits, and fixed asset Transport Department. reports. In addition, the Transport Department also has a Other avenues for reporting performance include website (www.td.gov.hk) that has a wealth of infor- the KMB website (www.kmb.hk). The website pro- mation for the general public. vides customers, stakeholders, and employees with vast amounts of information regarding KMB perfor- MTR mance, as well as other corporate information. MTR has very sophisticated mechanisms (tech- Hong Kong Transport Department nology) to report system performance. One of the more significant strategic management performance There are two primary performance reporting systems is the balanced scorecard reporting system. structures in place within the Transport Department. The balanced scorecard was originally used at First, the department holds performance meetings MTR as a test model in the company’s engineering with the service providers/franchises to discuss the department because of the readily available data performance indicators in detail. The meetings iden- used for inputs. MTR executive management was tify achievements, as well as shortfalls, and identify very pleased at the results and intrigued with the root causes for performance measures; a discus- possibility of using the balanced scorecard approach sion on continuous improvement is also held. As part for elevating performance and continuous improve- of the license agreement, the Transport Department ment; in 1999, the balanced scorecard was adopted establishes a set of performance indicators for the throughout MTR. franchise companies to report and follow. The per- The MTR balanced scorecard incorporates the formance management system in place ensures that traditional business perspectives, including the finan- all service providers are delivering service according cial, customer, and internal process perspectives. to expectations. There are several categories that are In addition, MTR decided to name their human used to report performance, including reliability (bus capital perspective “efficiency,” incorporating availability, lost trips), efficiency (bus utilization), human resource principles. The efficiency perspec- safety, cleanliness, environmental friendliness, and tive includes objectives such as: competent staff, opti- user friendliness (customer complaints, passenger mized manpower, and efficient organization. Because liaison meetings, passenger information at bus termi- MTR is a vital public transportation element in Hong nus, and passenger information at stops). Kong, the company also decided to include a safety Second, the Transport Department has the respon- perspective, with the goal of elevating the safety sibility to provide information to the general public commitments to the public. regarding the status of strategic initiatives outlined in MTR uses the principles of the balanced score- the sustainability plans. Data are collected frequently card to develop its annual reports, announce perfor- to assess strategy effectiveness and to determine mance objectives and measurements on its website future decisions regarding strategic initiatives. The (www.mtr.com/hk), and communicate the scorecard Transport Department uses several avenues to dis- results to its own staff. In addition, the balanced seminate information. The Transport Department has scorecard has been extended to the desktop level, so several publications that outline progress of initia- tives. One such publication is Hong Kong Transport that employees understand their contribution to per- 40 Years,7 which outlines a timeline of transport his- formance management. tory and sustainable planning efforts. The second sig- MTR continues its quest for excellence by par- nificant publication is titled A Transport Strategy for ticipating in benchmarking groups such as CoMET the Future: Hong Kong Moving Ahead,8 which high- and Nova.

Singapore 7Hong Kong Transport 40 Years is available at www.td.gov.hk/ filemanager/en/publication/td-booklet-final-251108.pdf. In Singapore, SMRT uses a more formal (and less 8A Transport Strategy for the Future: Hong Kong Moving Ahead public) mechanism for reporting performance, con- is available at www.thb.gov.hk/eng/psp/publications/transport/ sisting of a set of monthly meetings held separately publications/hk_move_ahead_txt.htm. for three main areas of reporting: general perfor-

26 mance, financial performance, and operations per- • Fare gate (downtime no more than 500 hours formance. A monthly report for each of the three per 10,000 hours of operation), areas is then submitted to LTA, the regulator, with the • Escalator (downtime no more than 100 hours required detailed performance statistics. per 10,000 hours of operation), On a quarterly basis, the aggregated information • Lift (no more than 200 hours per 10,000 hours on SMRT’s operating and financial performance is of operation), and published and distributed to the shareholders. SMRT • Customer injury rate (no more than 0.4 injuries also reports all of the performance measures in a year- per million customers). end report to shareholders. Since the government of Singapore is the majority shareholder in SMRT, this In addition, PTC also requires SMRT to publish per- report is also functionally a report to the government. formance standards regarding reliability, loading, SMRT is careful to represent the data accurately, but safety, availability, and information/communication. also to present its performance in the best light, high- If performance measures are not adhered to, PTC has lighting important system performance trends over the authority to impose fines on SMRT. the past 5 years and giving particular emphasis to major accomplishments. On the bus side, PTC has quality-of-service stan- Kuala Lumpur dards, which comprise six main factors: operations reliability, passenger loading, safety, service infor- RapidKL compiles performance statistics for a mation, service availability, and service integration variety of purposes. The most important is internal (span of service). These standards are required report- management. Service punctuality (on-time perfor- ing items as part of the operator’s route authority. mance), a measurement of actual minutes of delay per Two items, headway adherence and average loading, train, is reported as an annual average in promotional are reported daily. materials, by line. Service reliability (expressed as a LTA demonstrates various ways of communicat- percentage) is also reported annually. Service fre- ing success surrounding the three strategic thrusts. quency is reported as average headway for each of the Because its master plan is a people-centered plan, weekday key time periods (such as morning peak and LTA realizes the importance of keeping the public midday). informed of the progress toward its goals. The master Safety and operating statistics specified as part of plan is posted on the Internet (www.lta.gov.sg/ltmp/ the 21 key performance indicators are reported quar- LTMP.html). The LTA website (www.lta.gov) also terly to the board of directors and to the government provides a lot of information regarding performance for compliance purposes. RapidKL is currently in the in relation to its strategic initiatives. In addition, process improving the data flow so that monthly there is a quarterly newsletter, called Connect, that reports can be developed for both internal monitor- informs the public about initiatives and conveys ing and external reporting. To comply with its oper- other messages from LTA. LTA’s annual report dis- ating agreement with Prasarana, RapidKL must report cusses yearly progress, financial information, and these key indicators, and the indicators must meet the investments. previously agreed-upon targets. The Public Transportation Council is responsible On the bus side, ridership and route productivity for delivering performance measures on bus service. statistics are used internally to make bus route ratio- The PTC also publishes annual reports to demon- nalization determinations. These statistics are cur- strate the performance of the bus service providers in rently also reported annually. Bus ridership has seen Singapore. tremendous growth from 2006 to 2008—reaching SMRT reports a set of agreed-upon rail perfor- 400,000/day, up from 130,000—as a result of fare mance measures to PTC, including the following: initiatives and route restructuring. However, transit • Train arrivals (within 2 min of schedule), mode share continues to remain relatively low at • Train departures (96% within 2 min of 19% of all metropolitan area trips. Because of on- schedule), going restructuring and investment, the number of • Train service availability (at least 96%), buses in the active fleet and the number of bus routes • General ticketing machine (downtime no more are seen as important measures of progress and are than 500 hours), reported annually.

27 Taipei rective and preventive actions, customer feedback, and results of audits. At the same time, recommenda- The Taipei city government’s Department of tions for improvements and other issues are dis- Rapid Transit Systems staff compile most of their cussed. Each director leaves the meeting with action own performance data. items and targets for his/her own division in terms of For the most part, Taipei Metro’s performance what they can contribute to improving the overall sys- measures are reported by the operating divisions. To tem performance. If the present indicator is below ensure accuracy, electronic data systems are used to goal, the difference is apportioned out and distributed validate manually entered data, and the results are among all responsible divisions. This gives each divi- subject to audit by the divisional management, the sion a quantitative sense of ownership of the problem. senior management’s internal audit office, and the Because Taipei Metro is a quasi-private com- industrial safety division, as well as municipal and pany, performance data (both financial and operating) national regulators. For data that can be automatically are issued at the end of the year to shareholders. These collected (predominantly automated fare collection annual reports are typically compilation of data from and automatic train control systems), the electronic throughout the year. data system is used. Taipei Metro’s quality management system pro- At Taipei Metro, a proactive approach is taken motes the efforts of service quality in accordance with for quality and reliability management. Corrective ISO 9001:2008 standards. The quality management actions related to declining performance indicators or system is reviewed annually, with the company pres- conditions that may cause a decline in performance in ident serving as chair of the review meetings. Direc- the future are taken at many levels. For the manually tors of all the different business units are required collected data, the data collection process is itself an to attend the meeting. The quality performance indi- opportunity to take corrective action—the data col- cators are reviewed and discussed, and any course lection is part of the quality management process. correction needed is identified at this meeting. In Automatically collected data (such as schedule per- addition, the passenger satisfaction survey is dis- formance) is monitored in real time through video cussed. Quality indicators and regulatory measures feeds from more than 5,000 cameras throughout the are defined. Quality management system data are col- system. This enables “rapid response teams” to be lected, audited, and then reported. Bimonthly meet- immediately dispatched to problem locations to ings are held to discuss the data. address any incidents or possible delays in service. The next level of review is a working group that meets periodically to address performance issues. COURSE CORRECTION For production-oriented measures, this is part of the This section describes the motivating factors for quality management system process, and meetings making course corrections, how the various agen- are held monthly. For operations reliability, a spe- cies carry out course corrections, and the keys to cial meeting is held weekly (on Friday mornings) to successfully using performance information to make review all incidents for causes, direct and indirect, course corrections. The transit operators and regula- controllable and uncontrollable. This search for root tory agencies visited during the mission provided cause, together with learning from after-the-fact the following four reasons for using performance incident analysis, has enabled Taipei to substantially information to make course corrections: reduce delay-causing incidents. For the required regulatory reporting of the • License and regulatory requirements, 21 key performance indicators, Taipei Metro meets • Attainment of agency goals, monthly with the Taipei mayor’s staff to go over the • International standards and benchmarks, and report and discern any apparent trends. Follow-up • Customer input. action items from the previous meetings are also discussed. License and Regulatory Requirements At the highest level, the quality management sys- tem staff hosts a bimonthly control meeting with Performance standards that were part of franchise directors from all divisions to review the status of cor- license agreements and other regulatory requirements

28 were the most common reasons mentioned for course provides oversight through the administration of the corrections. In Singapore, the Ministry of Transport Road Traffic Ordinance, legislation for monitoring regulates public transit services through two bodies: traffic flow and public transit operations, and legis- LTA and PTC. Together, these two agencies allocate lation on vehicle safety requirements. To enforce license and operating agreements that allow private these regulations, the Transport Department inspects companies to run transit services. The license agree- vehicles for roadworthiness, issues speeding tickets, ments set standards for operations, maintenance, and prosecutes drivers of vehicles that have been safety, asset replacement, grants, and insurance cited for safety defects. The Transport Department through specified operating performance standards also requires private transit providers to submit per- and require a safety and management system. formance reports. On a monthly basis, the Transport Currently, SMRT is licensed to operate bus, rail, Department publishes data on ridership, service taxi, and other public-transport services. To fulfill miles, fleet size, and carrying capacity. The Trans- the license and operating agreement, SMRT submits port Department also monitors accident data on a monthly performance reports. LTA also conducts monthly basis. In response to accident data, the random spot and field audits. To meet service stan- Transport Department may revise legislation, increase dards, SMRT reviews data weekly to determine if ser- police enforcement of laws, adjust road designs, cre- vice adjustments are needed. SMRT staff said that ate educational programs, and/or initiate publicity they altered service four times in 2008. By analyzing campaigns. trend data, SMRT can also adjust service to accom- The Transport Department’s safety initiative is modate seasonal peaks or decreases. Given that an example of how the regulatory agency imple- service reliability standards are set in the license ments course corrections. In response to high acci- agreement, SMRT adjusts its maintenance manage- dent rates, the Transport Department developed a ment practices to avoid breakdowns and subsequent safety awareness campaign, with a goal of zero acci- delays. If standards are not met, LTA and PTC will dents (Figure 5). impose fines. For example, just before the study The Transport Department credits its efforts, team’s visit, SMRT was charged a fine for a 7-hour along with those of the transportation providers, service disruption. Operators can provide an explana- with a 50% decrease in transportation deaths and a tion for the low performance, which is reviewed by 40% decrease in serious injury accidents over the LTA and PTC, and can appeal to the Minister of past 40 years. In other words, even if a transit Transport. provider does not have a franchise agreement, the As part of its franchise agreement with the Hong oversight and guidance of the Transport Department Kong Transport Department, bus operator KMB must is still relevant. One can conclude that agencies meet performance standards in six areas: reliability, are making adjustments to ensure adherence to the efficiency, safety, cleanliness, environmental friend- transportation regulations established by the Trans- liness, and user friendliness. The Transport Depart- port Department. ment holds regular meetings with operators to review data, identify causes of low performance, and jointly Attainment of Agency Goals establish corrective actions. KMB documents adher- ence to these standards in its annual report. To cre- The majority of agencies visited also stated that ate an incentive to implement course corrections, a key motivation for course correction was to make bus captains (drivers) receive a monthly bonus related progress toward their strategic goals. One of the best to safety performance and customer complaints. In examples of a strategy-based management structure addition, the performance appraisals for each of the was that of Taipei Metro (Figure 6). senior directors consider KMB performance statis- tics. KMB is also subject to random audits, as docu- mented in the performance measure “annual number of bus defects found during spot checks by the Trans- port Department.” Figure 5 Hong Kong Transport For the nonlicensed transit services in Hong Department’s logo to accompany its Kong, including MTR, the Transport Department goal of “Zero Accidents on the Road.”

29 Vision: Taipei Metro—First Class in the World cific measures, and those are incorporated into each department’s measures as appropriate. A committee reviews each department’s measures, and the com- pany president then gives final approval. Taipei Metro’s mission and vision set the long-term direc- tion for Taipei Metro and, as such, are not frequently changed. The strategic goals are also rarely adjusted. The strategic objectives and performance measures, on the other hand, change annually to reflect current business focus. Every Friday morning, members of Taipei Metro’s senior management team meet with the com- pany president to review performance information. The meeting typically focuses on the number of inci- dents, the cause of each incident (malfunction, human error, procedure failure, maintenance, external, etc.), and the corrective action to be implemented. When Taipei Metro first began tracking performance infor- mation, establishing the cause of an incident was very controversial. As a result, tracking and surveillance equipment (more than 5,000 digital cameras in 70 sta- tions) was set up as a tool for solving disputes. Now after each incident, all involved departments (e.g., operations, safety, and maintenance) document their assessment of the incident and then meet to discuss and establish responsibility for each incident prior to each week’s Friday meeting with the president. If the incident appears to be a systemic problem, then a management alert is released. By linking a perfor- mance measure to agency goals, analyzing the data, and identifying corrective actions, Taipei Metro has seen notable improvement in the number of car- kilometers between every delay of more than 5 min (Figure 7). In addition, each employee can receive a bonus based on their department’s performance. Taipei Metro’s senior management views the bonus as a key motivator for employees to identify course corrective action throughout the year. Figure 6 Taipei strategic framework. MTR (Hong Kong) is another agency that effec- tively makes course corrections based on agency goals and performance information. Every year, MTR As illustrated in Figure 6, Taipei Metro has holds a strategic planning workshop to establish developed a mission, a vision, six strategic goals, and goals, identify key business issues, determine its related objectives. Together these elements provide strategic direction, set performance targets, estimate the strategic direction for Taipei Metro. Every year, budgetary needs, and outline an action plan. The out- each department develops its own performance mea- come of these annual workshops is documented in sures for tracking their contribution to the agency’s MTR’s customer service pledge. Progress is tracked achievement of each objective and goal. Depart- through an integrated management system, which is ment-specific performance measures are guided by an internal online performance system for managers. organizationwide measures. In addition, the Taipei The reliability of service, availability of service, inci- government requires Taipei Metro to report on spe- dent response time, and incident recovery time are all

30 Car-Km (1000s) Between Incidents (causing a delay of 5 or more min.)

3500

2910 3000

2500

2000 1851 1809 1752 Year 2004 Reliability 1665 Growth Program 1508 1500 Car-Km (1000s)

1000 615 489 528 500 292

0 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 Mar-09 Year Figure 7 Trend data for Taipei Metro reliability measure. tracked by system performance standards, while mance targets set for 21 measures. However, during the customer service pledge outlines 18 customer- our visit, RapidKL staff stated that the performance oriented measures. High-level targets are broken targets were conservative and not difficult to meet. down into operational targets for each department. Historically, performance data were collected and The division directors meet monthly to discuss per- analyzed mainly to support getting the buses out on formance information and evaluate progress toward the street. RapidKL would analyze data on bus rider- the strategic goals. For example, the causes of service ship, mode share, fleet size, and number of routes delays (rolling stock, track, signal, power) are ana- to make bus route determinations. More recently, lyzed to pinpoint the source and identify a remedy. RapidKL has also begun to use performance data to MTR takes some elements of the integrated manage- manage assets. They have developed a computerized ment system and produces a quarterly performance maintenance management system, which records data report that is distributed publicly at all MTR stations. pertaining to repairs and maintenance work. The data In some agencies, the connection between course are used to set maintenance schedules. RapidKL is corrections and strategic goals was not as clear. considering tracking performance measures on a For example, just prior to the ITSP study mission, monthly basis, tying salary to performance, and even- RapidKL had established strategic goals, objectives, tually adjusting operating budgets based on monthly performance measures, and targets with the assis- performance reports. Staff appeared enthusiastic about tance of a consulting firm. Their vision, “to provide the concept but concerned about the time required to an integrated, safe, reliable, efficient public transport successfully track and use performance information to service in the Klang Valley on a financially sustain- meet strategic goals and objectives. able basis,” is now posted on RapidKL’s website. The regulatory agencies visited during the mis- RapidKL has mainly been collecting performance sion also presented their strategic plans as motiva- information to meet provisions in their 10-year tions for transit operators to make course corrections. license to operate two light rail lines and bus ser- LTA in Singapore had recently released its Land vices that account for 70% of total ridership in Kuala Transport Masterplan,9 which established a vision of Lumpur. As part of the license agreement, RapidKL must submit a quarterly report that demonstrates to the government that they are meeting the perfor- 9 http://app.lta.gov.sg/ltmp/index.asp

31 a more people-centered land transportation system tive, the Transport Department recommends several that will meet the diverse needs of an inclusive, liv- strategies, including locating future strategic devel- able, and vibrant global city. The plan established opments along rail alignments, supplementing rail- three strategic goals: making public transport a choice way by feeder services using other public transport mode, managing road usage, and meeting the diverse modes, increasing the number of park-and-ride facil- needs of the people. LTA also outlined several steps ities, and expanding the existing railway network. to accomplish each goal. For example, to achieve (HK$100 billion in railway expansions are planned.) the goal of making public transit a choice mode, The Transport Department has set a target that the LTA will become the central bus network planner, share of public transit trips on rail should increase buses will receive priority on roads, the rail transit from 33% to between 40% and 50% by 2016. system will be expanded, competition will be encour- Although the Moving Ahead document clearly out- aged, and rider experience on public transit will be lines strategies, there was no indication how the improved. The plan also included some performance Transport Department was going to track progress of targets, such as “increase public transit share from these strategies. 56% to 70% by 2020.” Although the master plan starts to establish a strategic direction for transporta- tion in Singapore, there is little connection between International Standards and Benchmarks the plan and the franchise performance requirements. The Hong Kong Transport Department conducts Several agencies visited during the mission comprehensive transport studies to establish the proudly displayed ISO certifications. Originally framework for the development of a “balanced trans- developed for manufacturing, ISO standards are now port strategy to facilitate the mobility of people and applied to a wide range of industries, including tran- goods of Hong Kong in an environmentally sustain- sit. To receive ISO certification, an organization able manner.”10 The following seven goals were iden- must adopt several management practices, including tified in the most recent study (1999–2016): the following: • • Integrate land-use, transport, and environmen- Establishment of procedures for each key business process, tal planning; • • Accord priority to railways; Monitoring of processes to evaluate effec- • Coordinate and enhance public transport tiveness, • Data validation, and services; • • Provide transport infrastructure in a more Inspection of outputs to assess quality and iden- 12 timely fashion; tify corrective actions where necessary. • Manage transport with new technologies; An external independent audit will confirm that for- • Give more emphasis to pedestrian needs; and malized business processes in accordance to ISO • Alleviate the environmental impact of trans- guidelines are being applied. port to an acceptable level. KMB staff emphasized that they had received a The Transport Department further refined Hong corporatewide ISO 9001 certification for quality Kong’s transportation focus through the strategic management systems and that several KMB depots action plan, Hong Kong Moving Ahead: A Transport had received ISO 14001 environmental manage- Strategy for the Future.11 This document clarifies the ment certification. To qualify for this certification, strategic goals by outlining objectives and recom- KMB must define, measure, and monitor perfor- mending strategies. For example, the goal of “accord- mance criteria. For example, for each maintenance ing priority to railways” is further defined through the depot, KMB tracks mechanical reliability (average objective “railways will form the backbone of Hong number of kilometers operated before a bus break- Kong’s transport system.” To accomplish this objec- down that requires passengers to be off-loaded). For service delivery, KMB tracks operational capability (percentage of actual bus departures versus sched- 10 www.thb.gov.hk/eng/psp/publications/transport/studies/ uled bus departures). A KMB ISO steering commit- sts2.htm 11www.thb.gov.hk/eng/psp/publications/transport/publications/ hk_move_ahead_txt.htm 12 en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_9001

32 tee meets to evaluate these and other measures to ditions of its vehicles, the easier of the two issues to asses if any course correction actions are necessary. address. In its quarterly performance report, MTR For example, in 2007 the number of accidents also highlighted improvements that had been made increased, so KMB formed a task force that met to platform circulation. every 3 months to identify corrective actions. The SMRT not only tracks customer inquiry response annual budget was adjusted to provide additional time, but also has set a target of 14 days to address resources to target the safety issues. KMB’s Corpo- customer issues. Tracking customer inquires not only rate Social Responsibility Charter states, “KMB enables SMRT to identify correction actions, but also applies and follows international standards to ensure allows them to identify adjustments to their customer that our activities are socially and environmentally service office staff and practices if necessary. responsible and that our performance meets author- itative global benchmarks. KMB is the only public bus company with both the ISO 9001 quality man- USING PERFORMANCE DATA agement system certification and ISO 14001 envi- TO REFINE STRATEGY ronmental management system certification.” A When asked how the transit operators and regula- clear motivation for course corrections was to stay tory agencies made course corrections, none of the in compliance with these ISO standards. agencies said that they adjusted their targets. When Another international benchmarking organization asked if any target was lowered if performance indi- that was highlighted during the study mission was the cators were not up to expectations, the general answer Nova International Railway Benchmarking Group. was “no, we just work harder.” Taipei Metro and SMRT are both members of Nova. From time to time, performance indicators are “The number of car-kilometers between every 5-plus changed at the Hong Kong bus operator KMB. For minute delay” is one of the 33 performance measures example, a fleet reliability indicator was changed tracked by Nova. Taipei Metro has accomplished from “per number of trips” basis to a “per kilometer” the best reliability record ever recorded in Nova’s basis to provide a more consistent measurement. history—1.85 million car-km between two inci- In evaluation of performance, trend improvement dents. Clearly membership in Nova is a motivation from year to year is viewed as more important for Taipei Metro to implement course corrections that than measurement of absolute numbers or target prevent incidents from occurring. achievement. According to senior operations man- agement, this reflects an emphasis on continual qual- ity improvement—targets are maintained as goals Course Corrections—Customer Input and their achievement pursued; however, it is consid- Several agencies noted that customer surveys ered more important that their performance indicator were used to evaluate goals and performance and to trends show improvement from year to year. identify when course corrections were necessary. For The MTR staff in Hong Kong reflected on the example, LTA annually conducts a customer satis- fact that they had to make their findings public to faction survey to evaluate the service standards set in prove to their customers and the politicians that they the license agreements. The latest survey highlighted are meeting their demands for more efficient services. dissatisfaction with frequency of service, which ties Information gained from performance measurement directly to LTA’s goal of “making public transport a is included in the annual report and in the sustainabil- choice mode.” As a result, LTA will require transit ity report that shareholders receive annually. providers to increase capacity by minimizing head- SMRT officials in Singapore use data to make ways during peak period from 3 min to between 2 and budgetary, policy, and personnel changes for future 3 min and from 7 min to between 5 and 6 min during years. For example, because of reports on cleanliness, lunch periods. transit staff are now allowed to ticket riders who vio- MTR is another agency that conducts an annual late rules on drinking, smoking, and eating. customer survey to identify which improvements are Because the performance measurement process at most cost-effective. When MTR customers called RapidKL is in its infancy, staff reported that they are for clean vehicles and less crowding, MTR quickly still in the planning stage of developing a means for adjusted its cleaning schedules to improve the con- using data to alter policy and strategy.

33 At Taipei Metro, the quality management system changes can take place at the policy level or can be plan is reviewed annually by a high-level committee. simple modifications to company goals, but in any In addition, unit heads review data when determining case the desired result is continual improvement in annual budget requests. overall organizational management processes. Course corrections can also provide an opportu- From time to time, performance indicators are nity to re-evaluate performance measures to make changed at KMB. For example, a fleet reliability indi- sure that the best measure is being used. RapidKL cator was changed from “per number of trips” basis to shared an example of this type of change: They began a “per kilometer” basis to provide a more consistent tracking bus driver performance based on “number of measurement. In evaluation of performance, trend trips completed,” with the intent that corrective action improvement from year to year is viewed as more could be identified if a bus driver did not maintain the important than measurement of absolute numbers or schedule. However, this led to some bus drivers rush- target achievement. According to senior operations ing past stops, without picking up passengers, as a management, this reflects an emphasis on continual means of ensuring they met the daily trip quota. In quality improvement—targets are maintained as goals response, RapidKL changed the performance mea- and their achievement pursued; however, it is consid- sure to “revenue per day,” which created an incen- ered more important that their performance indicator tive for drivers to pick up more passengers. This trends show improvement from year to year. example highlights the importance of bringing in qualitative elements into performance evaluation. Managing solely by numbers can result in nonfa- CONCLUSION vorable outcomes. Systems in all four cities visited appear to follow There are many benefits to using performance a common model: establish goals and objectives, information to identify course corrections. Simply stated, by tracking performance, an agency can iden- develop strategies for meeting those objectives, tify and remedy a problem. For example, MTR uses define performance criteria and targets, measure performance-based management to clearly commu- progress, and develop inputs for future objectives. nicate business values, keep employees accountable, At all systems, customer satisfaction was at the top and provide the best service to its customers. Taipei of the priorities. This objective is closely aligned Metro uses performance measurement to motivate with regulatory desires, as well as profitability. staff to adjust their behavior throughout the year to Most of the systems integrated other standards sustain high levels of agency performance; the better such as ISO and benchmarking as a means to establish their department performs, the higher their salary. measures, but it was not always clear how these stan- Based on the experience of the agencies visited dards were integrated with internal strategies or those during the ITSP study mission, the following char- set by government regulators. In addition, most of the acteristics support the effective use of performance performance targets were set based on prior year per- information to guide course corrections: formance rather than targets responding to specific goals and objectives. This would indicate that for most • Link performance measures back to strategic systems, continuous improvement, while somewhat goals and objectives, vague, is a fundamental goal but not always clearly • Have the support of senior management, articulated in an organization’s strategies. • Regularly schedule meetings to evaluate per- formance, • Focus on a limited number of measures, APPENDIX A—STUDY MISSION • Communicate the results internally and exter- TEAM MEMBERS nally, • (Affiliations listed were current at the time of the Present course corrections in a motivational study mission.) way, rather than in a punitive way, and • Include qualitative narrative to accompany the Mark R. Aesch, (Team Leader), Chief Executive metrics. Officer, Rochester Genesee Regional Transporta- tion Authority, Rochester, NY The data collected can be used to develop longer Jerry R. Benson, Ph.D., Chief Operating Officer, term strategies needed to improve the business. These Utah Transit Authority, Salt Lake City, UT

34 Steven C. Callas, Manager, Service & Performance MTR Corporation Limited Analysis, Tri-county Metropolitan Transportation Felix Ng Kwok Wah, Acting S&Q Systems and District, Portland, OR Patricia G. Hendren, Ph.D., Manager, Capital and Knowledge Management Manager Strategic Planning, Washington Metropolitan Jane Wong Mei Chun Area Transit Authority, Washington, DC Mark Johnson, Director of Transit Operations, Lane KMB Transit District, Eugene, OR Tim Ip Chung, Operations Director Lisa Koch, Public Transit Manager, Kansas Depart- Stella Lam, Manager, Customer Service ment of Transportation, Topeka, KS Louisa S. M. Lam, Senior Manager, Traffic Adminis- Nadine S. Lee, Engineering Project Manager, tration Regional Transportation District—FasTracks, Leung Kin Wang, Head of Service Department Denver, CO Mui Lai Man, Senior Manager, Bus Maintenance Catherine B. Miller, Manager, Capital Develop- Daisy Chow, Customer Service Officer ment, Legislation, and Grants, Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District, Oakland, CA Victor A. Obeso, Manager of Service Development, Singapore King County Metro Transit, Seattle, WA Alla V. Reddy, Senior Director, MTA New York SMRT Corporation Ltd. City Transit, New York, NY Chew Hooi Lian, Director Transport Planning, Rail Elizabeth S. Riklin, Deputy Associate Administra- Operations Division tor, Office of Planning and Environment, Federal William T. Bayona, Senior Executive Planning, Transit Administration, Washington, DC Transport Planning Department Alma Scott-Buczak, Assistant Executive director, Low Pui Leng, Deputy Director, Corporate Market- Human Resources, New Jersey Transit, Newark, ing and Communications NJ Vincent P. H. Tan, Vice President, Rail Operations Patricia E. Vidaurri, Manager of Performance Infor- William Ding, Manager, Corporate Affairs, Corpo- mation, Capital Metropolitan Transportation rate Marketing and Communications Authority, Austin, TX Neo Keng Chuan, Senior Manager Transport Plan- Roberta Yegidis, Administrative Officer, Greater ning Network, Transport Planning Department Bridgeport Transit Authority, Bridgeport, CT Calvin Chan, Manager, Transport Business Plan- Kathryn Harrington-Hughes (Mission Coordinator), ning, Transport Planning Department Manager, International Transit Studies Program, Harrington-Hughes & Associates Inc., Easton, Land Transport Authority MD Lew Yii Der, Group Director, Policy and Planning Stephen Poon Chee Ming, Senior Engineer, Transit APPENDIX B—HOST AGENCIES Services, Transit Regulation Ho Li Yah, Deputy Manager, Transit Licensing, Transit Regulation Hong Kong Transport Department Public Transport Council Joseph Tsui, Chief Transport Officer, Bus and Rail- Looi Teik Soon, PTC Secretary way Branch Yeo Kok Ping, Head, Transit Management Michael Ng Shi-hung, Chief Transport Officer, Cor- Gopinath Menon, Council Member porate Communication Daniel Hue Ka-yiu, Transport Officer, Corporate National University of Singapore Communication Kenneth Mok Ying-kit, Chief Transport Officer, Anthony Chin, Associate Professor Ferry and Paratransit Division Paul Barter, Assistant Professor

35 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Kai Yu, Associate Engineer, Industrial Safety Office, Quality Assurance Section Suffian Baharuddin, Chief Executive Officer Rusmala Dewi Raja Affendi, Senior Manager, National Chiao Tung University Network Planning Department Zoolina Mohd Naim, Senior General Manager, Bus William Jen, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Trans- Operation portation Technology and Management S. M. Sabri S. M. Ismail, General Manager, Infor- mation Technology Division Taipei City Government Nor Hassan Ismail, Chief Operating Officer, Rail Chi-Wei Lo, Assistant Director, Traffic Engineering Shahril Mokhtar, General Manager, Corporate Plan- Office ning and Strategy APPENDIX C—ABBREVIATIONS Taipei, Taiwan AVM—add-value machine Taipei Rapid Transit Corp. (Taipei Metro) CoMET—Community of Metros CTS—comprehensive transport studies Huel-Sheng Tsay, Ph.D., President EIS—executive information system Sally Kao, Planning Division EMU—electrical multiple unit Otis Sheu, Deputy Manager, Operations Control IC—integrated circuit Center, Train Operations Division ISO—International Organization for Standardization Alex Su, Manager, Quality Assurance Section, Indus- KMB—Kowloon Motor Bus Co. (Hong Kong) trial Safety Division LRT—light rail transit Ya-Fen Huang, Manager, Development and Evalu- LTA—Land Transport Authority (Singapore) ation Section, Planning Division MRT—Mass Rapid Transit system (Singapore) Henry Yang, Director, Train Operations Division MTR—MTR Corp. (Hong Kong) Ching-Shinn Huang, Center Chief, Training Center PDA—personal digital assistant Chen-yu Chen, Planning Department PTC—Public Transport Council (Singapore) Phoebe Lee, Planning Division SMRT—SMRT Corporation (Singapore) Shi-Tsung Chan, Director, Planning Division TCPTO—Taipei City Public Transportation Office Benjamin Kang, Deputy Director, Administration TRTC—Taipei Rapid Transit Corporation (Taipei Division Metro)

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