Transport policy in developed countries has for a long time included the need to increase the usage of public transport. The availability of 'good' public transport is a major strand in policies to achieve greater usage of public transport and to influence modal shift. However, 'good' public transport has many attributes including financial sustainability and the provision of quality services efficiently. This paper addresses two related themes relevant to the provision of 'good' public transport with particular reference to the provision of urban bus services in the UK. The first theme examines the way in which financial stability, quality and efficiency can be measured by urban transport providers: in this context the paper considers the theoretical and practical issues of applying benchmarking by an urban transport provider. The second theme considers the economic framework in which differences in behaviour of public and private firms and differences in legislative frameworks can be a means of explaining the disparity in attitude by transport providers to the potential benefits of the benchmarking tool. Using available benchmarking experience, the paper evaluates the relevance of the theory and identifies key attributes for developing more successful performance measurement for public transport operators in the future. This is important because understanding what is best quality performance and attempting to move towards industry best is one of the most secure ways of ensuring the provision of quality services in a financially stable environment. (Author/publisher).
Abstract